Whole-Ranch Unit Analysis of Multipaddock Grazing on Rangeland Sustainability in North Central Texas

Becker, Wayne M.; Kreuter, Urs P.; Atkinson, Sam

doi:10.1016/j.rama.2016.12.002

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In contrast to year-long (or growing season) continuous grazing, rotational grazing has been recommended as an effective tool to maximize livestock production and maintain sustainability of the operations since the mid-20th century [5][6][7][8][9]. However, there has been a long history of debate over continuous versus rotational grazing by both rangeland managers and research scientists across the world that is yet not resolved [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate Effects on Tallgrass Prairie Responses to Continuous and Rotational Grazing

et al. 2019

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Cattle grazing is an important economic activity in the tallgrass prairie systems in the Great Plains of the United States. Tallgrass prairie may respond differently to grazing management (e.g., high and low grazing intensity) under variable climate conditions. This study investigated the responses of two replicated (rep a and rep b) tallgrass prairie systems to continuous (C) and rotational (R) grazing under different climate conditions over a decade (2008–2017). The enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and gross primary productivity (GPP) were compared between grazing systems (C vs. R), while EVI was compared among paddocks under rotational grazing to show the impacts of time since grazing. The average EVI in rep a was usually higher than that in rep b which could be explained by different land characteristics (e.g., soil types) associated with different landscape positions. Similar to EVI, GPP was usually higher in rep a than rep b. The average growing season EVI and GPP were higher in rotational grazing than continuous grazing in rep b but not in rep a. The average EVI of paddocks in rotational grazing systems only converged in the growing season-long drought year (2011). In other years, EVI values varied from year to year and no paddock consistently outperformed others. The variations in EVI among rotational grazing paddocks in both reps were relatively small, indicating that rotational grazing generated an even grazing pressure on vegetation at annual scale. Overall, climate and inherent pasture conditions were the major drivers of plant productivity. However, the stocking rate in continuous grazing systems were reduced over years because of deteriorating pasture conditions. Thus, the results indirectly indicate that rotational grazing improved grassland productivity and had higher stocking capacity than continuous grazing systems under variable climate conditions. Adaptive grazing management (adjustment in stocking rates and season of use to adapt to changing climatic conditions) instead of a fixed management system might be better for farmers to cooperate with changing climatic conditions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The responses of vegetation to continuous and rotational grazing are usually examined from the perspectives of vegetation canopy structure, species composition, primary productivity, and forage quality using field survey data [14][15][16]18,23,29,30,[32][33][34]. Field data collection is time-consuming and labor intensive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Effects on Tallgrass Prairie Responses to Continuous and Rotational Grazing

et al. 2019

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“…There are two potential explanations for the inconsistency between expected and empirically assessed outcomes. First, until very recently [16,17], few studies evaluated the ecological outcomes of actual management decisions at a management-relevant scale-the ranch or pastoral grazing territory. Second, existing studies conducted at a management scale do not isolate the effects of specific practices [18,19], but rather evaluate the aggregate effects of the whole suite of practices implemented on a particular ranch on multiple indicators (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using an integrated social-ecological analysis to detect effects of household herding practices on indicators of rangeland resilience in Mongolia

Fernández‐Giménez

Allington

Angerer

et al. 2018

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Temperate grasslands, including those of northern Eurasia, are among the most imperiled ecosystems on Earth. Eighty percent of Mongolia's land area is rangeland, where interacting climate, land-use and changes in governance threaten the sustainability of Mongolia's rangelands and pastoral culture. Particularly concerning are the potential ecological impacts of changing pastoral grazing practices-namely declining use of grazing reserves and pastoral mobility. However, like other grazing practices globally, there have been no empirical studies to evaluate the effects of specific Mongolian grazing practices on ecological function at a management scale. We collected data on the grazing practices of 130 pastoral households across four ecological zones and sampled ecological conditions in their winter pastures. We used a novel social-ecological analysis process to (1) develop integrated, holistic indicators of ecological function using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and (2) assess the effects of individual grazing practices on these indicators using statistical matching to control for confounding management and contextual factors. We identified two latent factors related to ecological and pastoral resilience: Factor 1 represents resource retention and soil stability and Factor 2 represents species richness and functional diversity. Using these two factors as response variables, we found that the values of both resilience factors were higher in pastures where households made fall or winter otor migrations or set aside grazing reserves. This study provides the first management-scale empirical test of the ecological response to specific grazing practices in Mongolia, using an approach that can be applied in other rangeland systems. Our findings highlight the importance to ecological and pastoral resilience of supporting traditional pastoral practices of mobility and grazing reserves, while also controlling stocking densities, increasing rangeland monitoring, and ensuring equitable access to state-designated emergency grazing reserves at local, regional, and national levels.

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“…However, adjustments to grazing are often limited because of complex environments, such as soil and water resources, nutrient and weather conditions [16,17]. The relevance of broad-spectrum studies conducted by researchers do not reflect a broad understanding of the ranchers' perspectives regarding the efficacy of alternative grazing systems [18] and their rigid treatment structure could omit the adaptive nature of management commonly found on grazing lands at which livestock production occurs [14l, leading to inconsistencies in the outcome of these management investigations. Moreover, the vast majority of research experiments are performed separately in isolation, and thereby lack the systematic connection necessary to reach a consensus of scaling-up strategies due to the inconsistence and very limited context data.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the vast majority of research experiments are performed separately in isolation, and thereby lack the systematic connection necessary to reach a consensus of scaling-up strategies due to the inconsistence and very limited context data. This is in part due to limitations of narrowly imposed experimental grazing research due to different soil, landscape and climate conditions and in part resultant knowledge transfer between researchers and ranchers [14,18,19]. Some studies found that even at low stocking rates, animal preferences lead to patch-selected overgrazing due to inadequate recovery of the palatable species [20,21].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Grazing Management on Spatio-Temporal Heterogeneity of Soil Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Grasslands and Rangelands: Monitoring, Modelling and Upscaling

Wang¹

2019

Preprint

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The sustainability of grazing lands lies in the nexus of human consumption behavior, livestock productivity, and environmental sustainability. Due to fast growing global food demands, many grazing lands have suffered from overgrazing, leading to soil degradation, air and water pollution, and biodiversity losses. Multidisciplinary efforts are required to understand how grazing lands can be better monitored, assessed and managed to attain predictable outcomes of optimal benefit to society. This paper synthesizes our understanding based on previous work done on impacts of grazing on ecosystem goods and services, identifies current knowledge gaps, and formulates a plan forward. We review the impacts of two contrasting grazing systems, continuous and multi-paddock rotational grazing, on soil carbon (C), nutrient cycling and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). We then extend our review to explore challenges of incorporating spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability into monitoring and modelling C and nutrient cycling in grazing lands. We revisit two process-based models (i.e., DNDC and DayCent) and two watershed models (i.e., SWAT and VIC) widely used to simulate C, nutrient and water cycles of these lands. Finally we identify research directions for improving the knowledge base which is essential to conserve grazing lands and maintain their ecosystem goods and services.

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Whole-Ranch Unit Analysis of Multipaddock Grazing on Rangeland Sustainability in North Central Texas

Cited by 17 publications

References 39 publications

Climate Effects on Tallgrass Prairie Responses to Continuous and Rotational Grazing

Climate Effects on Tallgrass Prairie Responses to Continuous and Rotational Grazing

Using an integrated social-ecological analysis to detect effects of household herding practices on indicators of rangeland resilience in Mongolia

Effects of Grazing Management on Spatio-Temporal Heterogeneity of Soil Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Grasslands and Rangelands: Monitoring, Modelling and Upscaling

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