Western Rangeland Livestock Production Systems and Grazing Management

Abstract

AbstractRangeland wildlife ecology and conservation is strongly influenced by domestic livestock systems. Domestic livestock production on rangelands in North America is dominated by ruminant livestock, with beef cattle being the largest industry. Rangeland ruminant livestock production systems are unique in that land/animal managers develop production systems that attempt to optimize the use of limited-nutrition forage bases. This involves the strategic selection of calving/lambing dates to coincide with forage resources and labor limitations. Likewise, the species, breed, and age of animal is selected to be productive in sometimes suboptimal nutrition and environmental conditions. In addition, the role of this industry in the conservation and enhancement of wildlife diversity and ecosystem services is important now and paramount in future management goals. Grazing systems that are unique to the needs of ecosystems are designed to enhance soils, vegetation, and wildlife diversity. In addition, understanding how wild and domestic animals utilize landscapes of varying topography is an ongoing area of research. Continued investigations into how animals use landscapes, grazing distribution/behavior, botanical composition of diets, and dietary strategies will be important in designing management approaches for all animals that are dependent on rangeland resources. The paradigm of sustainable management of livestock systems needs to view herbivory as a tool to manage vegetation for optimal biological integrity and resiliency. Only by the optimization of biological processes within plant communities on rangelands, will managers create systems that benefit both livestock and wildlife.