The Art of Range Podcast

Maurice and Beth are a father-daughter team who raise and sell farm-finished beef in Eastern Washington and are perhaps the first two-generation pair trained in holistic management. They have experienced the highs and lows of making a family ranch run well: for people, for land, for animals, for consumers. They reflect in this interview on decades of practice and adaptive learning and offer entrepreneurial lessons for others interested in doing direct meat sales and identifying other profit centers connected to a truly sustainable ranching operation.

Beth operates a Cowgirl Camp (http://pnchm.org/educational-opportunities/new-cowgirl-camp/) for women in ranching, and the ranch website offers a good example for others working to promote their meat sales: https://www.lazyrbeef.com/.

WEBSITES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

https://www.lazyrbeef.com/

http://pnchm.org/educational-opportunities/new-cowgirl-camp/

https://csanr.wsu.edu/case-studies/

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/2OTpYbI

Some people are called to work at the intersection of theory and practice and to challenge unchallenged ideas about what we do and why we do what we do. Clay Conry is one of those people. His Working Cows podcast is occupying a niche in livestock agriculture. As both a practicing rancher and a thinker, Clay is influencing sustainable agriculture for the good, for healthy land and animals as well as human flourishing. Join Clay and Tip for a discussion about what Clay has learned through three years of recording a weekly podcast on cows.

Subscribe today to the Working Cows podcast. Go to https://workingcows.net/podcasts/ and click on your favorite podcasting app.

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/2M74aYT

The Society for Range Management's annual meeting will be held virtually Feb 15-18, and the keynote speakers for the plenary sessions will address three 'wicked problems' in range. Drs. Lynn Huntsinger and Nathan Sayre, who are moderating two of the plenary sessions, discuss the outline of these wicked problems to introduce the important subject matter for this year's conference.

SHOW NOTES

Register for the conference at http://annualmeeting2021.rangelands.org/.

Establish a membership for reduced registration at https://rangelands.org/.

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/2Y0Mcd5

Decisions about how and whether to suppress fire on semi-arid rangelands are full of "if, then" statements. Altered plant communities, the absence of historic fire regimes, costs of restoration, and risks of human property or life are just the beginning of considerations necessary for sound wildfire management. Tip and Matt Germino discuss the big picture of how to think about fire on rangelands and fill in a few of the questions that are always answered with "It depends . . . "

For more on wildland fire management, listen to episodes 34, 39, 44, 52.

For more on invasive grass management, listen to episodes 5, 11, 31, 24, 52.

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/2LJZeZr

The relationship between grazing and fire is complex. And the national conversation about using livestock grazing as a control measure is sometimes controversial. Wildfire in general is a difficult topic because of the higher fire potential of many altered plant communities, the recognition that periodic fire is probably necessary in fire-adapted plant communities, and the economic consequences of catastrophic wildfire in suppression costs and direct property damage. Using fire to fight fire and to create fire-resistant or fire-resilient plant communities, is important because it reduces the likelihood of megafires. But grazing is a more controllable tool than even prescribed fire but accomplishes different results than fire. And it's much cheaper than chemical or mechanical treatments on acreage of any size. Join Tip's conversation with Devii Rao (Univ. of California Davis Extension Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor), Felix Ratcliff (LD Ford Consultants in Rangeland Conservation Science), and Sheila Barry (UC-Davis Extension Advisor) about recent fire and grazing research and the idea of maximum residual dry matter as a management tool.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Blog article on results of grazing and fire research. https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=43618

For more information, contact Devii Rao, http://cemonterey.ucanr.edu/about/contact/?facultyid=28070.

TRANSCRIPT: https://artofrange.com/episodes/aor-52-fire-risk-reduction-through-grazing-uc-davis-research-roundtable

To fertilize or not to fertilize? That is NOT the question. Nitrogen is a driver of plant growth but its complex relationship with soil carbon and soil microorganisms makes fertilizing rangelands a complicated subject. Simple solutions often miss the mark, and adding nitrogen to natural plant communities as opposed to agricultural monocultures is usually not a good way to boost forage production. Tip and Matt Germino probe the depths of this fertile question.

RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

Nutrient Network (NUTNET) -- https://nutnet.org/home

The textbook Matt referred to is "Exotic Brome-Grasses in Arid and Semiarid Ecosystems of the Western US: Causes, Consequences, and Management Implications (Springer Series on Environmental Management)". Some chapters are available for download without a fee at https://greatbasinfirescience.org/research-publications/exotic-brome-grasses-arid-semiarid-ecosystems-western-us-available-chapters-causes-consequences-management-implications/. See Chapter 3 for impacts of exotic invaders on range ecosystems.

Hard copies are available for purchase here https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319249285 or here https://www.amazon.com/Exotic-Brome-Grasses-Semiarid-Ecosystems-Western/dp/3319249282.

TRANSCRIPT: https://bit.ly/2Kkn1yC

Climate influences vegetation, and a variable climate challenges land management. Cliff Mass, University of Washington atmospheric scientist, discusses climate drivers in the Pacific Northwest, how topography affects weather, whether 2020 wildfires can be attributed to global warming, and state-of-the-science approaches to modeling future climate. This tight episode finishes with Dr. Mass's recent analysis of climate out to 2050.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Cliff Mass's popular blog is at cliffmass.blogspot.com.

And his book "The Weather of the Pacific Northwest" is available at https://www.amazon.com/Weather-Pacific-Northwest-Cliff-Mass/dp/0295988479.

TRANSCRIPT

The full transcript of this episode is available at: https://bit.ly/35ezhII

Did you think of dormant-season grazing as grazing standing hay--not much to worry about? There's more going on in the plant than you think. Dr. Steve Fransen sheds some light on multiple dormancy and root shedding periods in grasses as well as eight other growth phases where there is more than meets the eye. Knowledge of these phases should change how we think about grazing grass throughout the year. Dr. Fransen is leading a Pacific Northwest Inland Pasture Calendar project designed to guide grazing management through detailed understanding of plant physiology and phenology. This project will help ranchers and other varieties of 'grass farmers' optimize pasture and rangeland and hay productivity for maximum profitability. Dr. Fransen, Washington State University's forage specialist, has a team of experts offering a 3-day training that is available to anyone interested. This material is applicable to anyone anywhere who is growing cool-season forage species.

Register for the November 3-6, 2020 online conference and training at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pnw-inland-pasture-calendar-training-tickets-118686349065.

After the event, we will post the conference materials webpage in this same space. That website will host ongoing training opportunities.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Pasture calendar for Western Oregon and Washington: https://pubs.extension.wsu.edu/the-western-oregon-and-washington-pasture-calendar

PNW Publication, PASTURE AND GRAZING MANAGEMENT IN THE NORTHWEST

https://www.extension.uidaho.edu/publishing/pdf/pnw/pnw0614.pdf

TRANSCRIPT

The full transcript of this episode is available at: https://bit.ly/3m6jNfJ

The last few decades have brought significant technological transitions in rangeland science and animals, specifically with advances in wireless and sensor technologies and access to “big data”. Dr. Cibils answers a few key questions: How can we direct inevitable change in desirable ways? Through these transitions, which can sometimes be disruptive economically or socially, how can we sustain the flow of rangeland products to consumers and improve environmental conditions in order to maintain or increase the well-being of those who live, work, and recreate on rangelands? Dr. Cibils and Tip discuss using technology to reduce ranch operational costs, GPS-enabled animal trackers that provide real-time location data, renewed interest in heritage breeds such as Criollo and Raramuri, and more.

Learn more about Dr. Cibils' work at https://southwestbeef.org/

Recently published papers are available here: https://jornada.nmsu.edu/user/10211/biblio.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/3cgfYRq

It is cliche but true that most range grazing problems are animal distribution problems. And no one's name is more closely tied to distribution than Derek Bailey. Dr. Bailey and Tip discuss frontiers in understanding and manipulating livestock distribution to conserve rangeland health. The conversation includes animal selection, attractant placement, herding, and technologies for range livestock management.

Learn more about Dr. Bailey's work at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Derek_Bailey

Transcript available at: https://bit.ly/2FOO7Mb

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