Wildfires are an escalating global crisis, marked by increasing size, frequency, suppression costs, and devastating losses. In the search for effective mitigation strategies, targeted grazing has emerged as a promising technique, strategically employing livestock to manage vegetation and diminish wildfire risks.
[Read more…] about Grazing Against the Flames: Using Targeted Grazing to Combat Wildfires
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) has released 2022 Census of Agriculture data. The graphic presents a fascinating snapshot of the ranching landscape impacting four West Texas counties: Tom Green, Schleicher, Crockett, and Menard. Using data from the 2017 and 2022 USDA Agricultural Census, we can glean valuable insights into trends and shifts within this vital sector of Texas’s economy and heritage.
[Read more…] about A Comparison of the 2017 & 2022 USDA Ag Census Data for West Texas Counties
StockSmart is a new decision support tool that is used for grazing management. StockSmart can be used to calculate stocking rates for cattle, horses, and sheep on any landscape.
[Read more…] about A New Tool for Calculating Stocking Rates: StockSmart
What is Cheatgrass? Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), is an invasive annual species. This species poses a significant ecological threat to the Southern Great Plains of Texas, particularly in the Rolling Plains Region. Cheatgrass will displace native grasses such as sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium). These dominant, perennial, native grasses are key to maintaining soil stability, biodiversity, and forage quality (D’Antonio & Vitousek, 1992; Chambers et al., 2014).
Did you know that having goats in your pasture could potentially complement the existing cattle operation while boosting livestock productivity and plant community diversity? Goats normally prefer and preferentially consume various types of woody and forb species more so than cattle do, and that their presence in a pasture does not alter what the cattle preferentially select to eat.
[Read more…] about Impact of Goats on Cattle Diet Composition
Check out the 2023 Rural Land Value Trends Report from Texas Agriculture Law Blog by Tiffany Lashmet! https://agrilife.org/texasaglaw/2024/05/06/2023-rural-land-value-trends-report-is-here/
West Texas:
Strong demand for quality tracts continues to hold up prices in the region. At $2,410 per acre, prices rose 8.02 percent YOY. Tract size has also decreased from highs in 2021 and 2022, coming in at 385 acres this quarter, 10.65 percent below one year ago. Annualized sales volume declined 50.97 percent to 431 sales. Total dollar volume at $155.54 million decreased by 72.39 percent. At 64,540 acres, though a slight increase from last quarter, total acreage declined 74.44 percent YOY. Fourth quarter only sales volume fell 26.09 percent below that of fourth quarter 2022, a much less drastic drop compared to YOY.
Region 3 Take Homes:
Counties included: Archer, Baylor, Childress, Clay, Coke, Collingsworth, Concho, Cottle, Crockett, Dickens, Donley, Edwards, Fisher, Foard, Glasscock, Hall, Hardeman, Haskell, Irion, Jack, Jones, Kent, King, Kinney, Knox, Mitchell, Motley, Nolan, Reagan, Runnels, Schleicher, Scurry, Shackelford, Stephens, Sterling, Stonewall, Sutton, Taylor, Throckmorton, Tom Green, Upton, Val Verde, Wheeler, Wichita, Wilbarger, and Young.
For the 2023 and previous years report, be sure to download it here – https://www.txasfmra.com/rural-land-trends
Rural Land Trends – Texas Chapter ASFMRA. (2024, March 29). Texas Chapter ASFMRA. https://www.txasfmra.com/rural-land-trends
The Society for Rangeland Management recently released their Rangeland Ecosystem Services Report: Connecting Nature and People. The report includes five key rangeland service topic areas including; food and fiber, water as an ecosystem driver in rangelands, carbon sequestration and security, plant and insect biodiversity, and wildlife habitat provision.
Photo: Rangeland Ecosystem Services Report
[Read more…] about SRM Multidisciplinary Rangeland Ecosystem Services Report
With newborn livestock on the ground, predators can increase on your lands. Depending on where you live, some of the most common predators include; coyotes, birds, dogs, hogs, and snakes.
Four separate projects have been funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative with West Texas Rangelands Involvement! These projects will combine the expertise of Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service to provide livestock producer support and increase the use of conservation principles on grazing lands.
Did you know that Texas Landowner demographics are surveyed by the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute (NRI)? This type of information is incredibly valuable and insightful to the changing demographic occurring across Texas working landscapes.