Cows Found To Actually Reduce Nitrous Oxide
Posted on: Thursday, 8 April 2010, 15:20 CDT
RedOrbit.com
A new study found that cattle grazed on the grasslands of China actually helps reduce the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide.
Environmentalists have been urging people for years to stop eating meat because of the methane produced by cattle.
According to the Telegrpah, the researchers said this does not mean that producing livestock to eat is good for the environment in all countries. However, it can be better for global warming to let animals graze on grassland in certain circumstances.
Klaus Butterbach-Bahl of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany carried out the study in Inner Mongolia in China.
Butterbach-Bahl discovered that grassland produced more nitrous oxide during the spring when sheep or cattle have not been grazing. This is because microbes in the soil release nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. Once the grass is long, snow settles keeping the microbes warm and providing water. However, when the grass is cut short by animals the ground freezes and the microbes die.
He said the study turns assumptions about grazing goats and cattle around. Read More
Grass and the environment where it grows have a symbiotic relationship with the animals that consume it. That’s why the healthiest grasslands are those that are being grazed properly. Common sense, which is in short supply, would dictate that grazing has to be beneficial to everything involved or else it wouldn’t have survived this long. We continue to hear calls for grazing on public lands to be stopped. But people forget that the grass doesn’t care if a deer or a cow eats it, it just needs to be eaten for the everything to be healthy.
Showing posts with label grassland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grassland. Show all posts
Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Livestock Keep Grasslands Healthy
Livestock Can Help Rangelands Recover from Fires
By Ann Perry
September 30, 2009
A 14-year study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Oregon found that rangelands that have been grazed by cattle recover from fires more effectively than rangelands that have been protected from livestock. These surprising findings could impact management strategies for native plant communities where ecological dynamics are shifting because of climate change, invasive weeds and other challenges.
Much of the rangeland in the western United States is threatened by the spread of cheatgrass and medusahead, invasive non-native annual grasses that fuel wildfires and readily infest landscapes, especially after fires. These rangelands historically were burned by wildfires every 50 to 100 years, but over the past century these fires have been suppressed by humans. This suppression allowed some dead plant litter to accumulate, but when cattle were introduced to the region, their grazing helped keep litter accumulation in check.
The scientists conducted a controlled burn on all the sites in 1993, and then measured vegetation cover, vegetation density and biomass production in 2005, 2006 and 2007. They found cheatgrass had infested a large portion of the ungrazed sites, leaving these areas even more vulnerable to future fires.
However, cheatgrass did not become problematic on the sites that had been grazed. On these sites, native bunchgrass cover was almost twice as dense as bunchgrass cover on the ungrazed sites. The team concluded that the litter in the ungrazed sites fueled hotter fires that killed off much of the perennial vegetation, which allowed quick-growing invasive annuals to become established. Read More
A healthy grassland is a properly grazed grassland. Not only do livestock reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, but this study shows that it helps them recover when fire does occur. Not only does grazing keep our grasslands healthy, but it allows us to utilize this great natural resource by having livestock convert these grasses into a usable protein source for humans.
By Ann Perry
September 30, 2009
A 14-year study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Oregon found that rangelands that have been grazed by cattle recover from fires more effectively than rangelands that have been protected from livestock. These surprising findings could impact management strategies for native plant communities where ecological dynamics are shifting because of climate change, invasive weeds and other challenges.
Much of the rangeland in the western United States is threatened by the spread of cheatgrass and medusahead, invasive non-native annual grasses that fuel wildfires and readily infest landscapes, especially after fires. These rangelands historically were burned by wildfires every 50 to 100 years, but over the past century these fires have been suppressed by humans. This suppression allowed some dead plant litter to accumulate, but when cattle were introduced to the region, their grazing helped keep litter accumulation in check.
The scientists conducted a controlled burn on all the sites in 1993, and then measured vegetation cover, vegetation density and biomass production in 2005, 2006 and 2007. They found cheatgrass had infested a large portion of the ungrazed sites, leaving these areas even more vulnerable to future fires.
However, cheatgrass did not become problematic on the sites that had been grazed. On these sites, native bunchgrass cover was almost twice as dense as bunchgrass cover on the ungrazed sites. The team concluded that the litter in the ungrazed sites fueled hotter fires that killed off much of the perennial vegetation, which allowed quick-growing invasive annuals to become established. Read More
A healthy grassland is a properly grazed grassland. Not only do livestock reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, but this study shows that it helps them recover when fire does occur. Not only does grazing keep our grasslands healthy, but it allows us to utilize this great natural resource by having livestock convert these grasses into a usable protein source for humans.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Large Bison Range Proposed
September 16, 2009
Ranchers criticize plans for bison herds at BLM meeting
By KARL PUCKETT
Tribune Staff Writer
HAVRE — Ranching interests sharply criticized a private grassland preserve in northeastern Montana as well as a new federal initiative in which new free-roaming bison herds could be established in the West.
The criticism came Tuesday at a meeting of the Bureau of Land Management's Central Montana Resource Advisory Committee.
The 60,000-acre American Prairie Reserve in Phillips County, launched by the not-for-profit American Prairie Foundation in 2006, includes about 100 bison. The reserve consists of private land and property leased from the BLM for grazing.
In a separate bison project, last year the U.S. Department of the Interior, under the Bush administration, called for federal agencies to coordinate management of existing bison herds on federal land, research bison genetics and disease, and study partnerships to increase existing herds or establish new ones.
Both bison efforts were discussed for 90 minutes Tuesday in Havre, with ranchers and some RAC members raising concerns over the spread of disease, loss of public lands for cattle grazing and lack of local input.
"People shouldn't have to drive five hours to testify for three minutes," Malta rancher Dale Veseth said, adding he believed the meeting should have been conducted in Malta, where most of the people affected by bison live.
Ron Poertner, a RAC member from Winifred, said he did not see any difference between the fenced bison in the private reserve and free-roaming animals that can be introduced under the public conservation initiative.
"We are not anti-cattle," Scott Laird, APF's director of field operations, told the crowd.
The reserve is a grassland conservation project, not a bison project, Laird added. He said APF has worked hard to be a good neighbor and has done a good job managing the bison. Read More
There have been plans even bigger than this that have been tossed around in the past. Years ago, the Buffalo Commons project proposed turning entire states into large bison pastures. The purpose of these projects is never very clear and there are some real concerns. It’s not a matter of population because the bison are no longer threatened with extinction by any means. These projects take land out of food production as well. Ranchers can manage grasslands quite well with cattle and it’s quite insulting and uninformed to suggest that just turning bison out into a pasture is better for the grass than the intensive management ranchers utilize.
Ranchers criticize plans for bison herds at BLM meeting
By KARL PUCKETT
Tribune Staff Writer
HAVRE — Ranching interests sharply criticized a private grassland preserve in northeastern Montana as well as a new federal initiative in which new free-roaming bison herds could be established in the West.
The criticism came Tuesday at a meeting of the Bureau of Land Management's Central Montana Resource Advisory Committee.
The 60,000-acre American Prairie Reserve in Phillips County, launched by the not-for-profit American Prairie Foundation in 2006, includes about 100 bison. The reserve consists of private land and property leased from the BLM for grazing.
In a separate bison project, last year the U.S. Department of the Interior, under the Bush administration, called for federal agencies to coordinate management of existing bison herds on federal land, research bison genetics and disease, and study partnerships to increase existing herds or establish new ones.
Both bison efforts were discussed for 90 minutes Tuesday in Havre, with ranchers and some RAC members raising concerns over the spread of disease, loss of public lands for cattle grazing and lack of local input.
"People shouldn't have to drive five hours to testify for three minutes," Malta rancher Dale Veseth said, adding he believed the meeting should have been conducted in Malta, where most of the people affected by bison live.
Ron Poertner, a RAC member from Winifred, said he did not see any difference between the fenced bison in the private reserve and free-roaming animals that can be introduced under the public conservation initiative.
"We are not anti-cattle," Scott Laird, APF's director of field operations, told the crowd.
The reserve is a grassland conservation project, not a bison project, Laird added. He said APF has worked hard to be a good neighbor and has done a good job managing the bison. Read More
There have been plans even bigger than this that have been tossed around in the past. Years ago, the Buffalo Commons project proposed turning entire states into large bison pastures. The purpose of these projects is never very clear and there are some real concerns. It’s not a matter of population because the bison are no longer threatened with extinction by any means. These projects take land out of food production as well. Ranchers can manage grasslands quite well with cattle and it’s quite insulting and uninformed to suggest that just turning bison out into a pasture is better for the grass than the intensive management ranchers utilize.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Coalition For Conservation Through Ranching
Unique partnership promotes conservation
By Drovers news source Monday, September 14, 2009
A group of respected ranching and conservation organizations have come together to form a unique broad based coalition to enhance ranching practices that consider important conservation issues throughout the West. The Coalition for Conservation through Ranching is a new multi-stakeholder partnership between national conservation-minded groups that share an interest in promoting open space for ranching and healthy landscapes. The recently signed agreement marks the beginning of the unique relationship. Steering committee members of the coalition include the Public Lands Council (PLC), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Family Farm Alliance (FFA) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Other organizations that have joined the coalition at this time are the American Farmland Trust, the American Forage and Grassland Council, the California Farm Bureau Federation, the Society for Rangeland Management, the Wild Sheep Foundation, and the Wilderness Society. The Bureau of Land Management serves as an advisor to the group.
“Cherished iconic western landscapes depend upon productive partnerships between ranchers and conservationists. The Coalition for Conservation through Ranching will promote solutions that will keep western landscapes healthy and in the process benefit working ranches, wildlife and other natural resources,” says Dan Grossman, Rocky Mountain Regional Director, EDF.
Read More
No matter what the anti-agriculture people say, farmers and ranchers make taking care of their land a top priority. No matter if they are growing crops or livestock they depend on their land as the foundation of everything they do. This new partnership is bringing together many different groups that all realize the importance of healthy land and I look forward to seeing the great work that they can no doubt accomplish.
By Drovers news source Monday, September 14, 2009
A group of respected ranching and conservation organizations have come together to form a unique broad based coalition to enhance ranching practices that consider important conservation issues throughout the West. The Coalition for Conservation through Ranching is a new multi-stakeholder partnership between national conservation-minded groups that share an interest in promoting open space for ranching and healthy landscapes. The recently signed agreement marks the beginning of the unique relationship. Steering committee members of the coalition include the Public Lands Council (PLC), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Family Farm Alliance (FFA) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Other organizations that have joined the coalition at this time are the American Farmland Trust, the American Forage and Grassland Council, the California Farm Bureau Federation, the Society for Rangeland Management, the Wild Sheep Foundation, and the Wilderness Society. The Bureau of Land Management serves as an advisor to the group.
“Cherished iconic western landscapes depend upon productive partnerships between ranchers and conservationists. The Coalition for Conservation through Ranching will promote solutions that will keep western landscapes healthy and in the process benefit working ranches, wildlife and other natural resources,” says Dan Grossman, Rocky Mountain Regional Director, EDF.
Read More
No matter what the anti-agriculture people say, farmers and ranchers make taking care of their land a top priority. No matter if they are growing crops or livestock they depend on their land as the foundation of everything they do. This new partnership is bringing together many different groups that all realize the importance of healthy land and I look forward to seeing the great work that they can no doubt accomplish.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)