(BPT) - With cattle ranching featured front and center in America's living rooms due to the popularity of shows highlighting the western lifestyle, and with Climate Week piquing interest in sustainability, it's a good time to raise awareness about how farmers and ranchers - and their cattle - do a lot more for the country and environment than just being the backdrop of a popular western drama series.
According to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, it's about ranchers as stewards of sustainable land management, their cattle playing a crucial role in mitigating climate change and wildfires, and beef's role in a healthy, sustainable diet.
New research links cattle grazing to wildfire mitigation
New research by the USDA Agricultural Research Service recently reported some surprising findings: Grazing actually benefits invasive sagebrush communities and more than that, can combat wildfires. With much of the western U.S. beset by wildfires in recent years, it is crucial for people living in those areas to understand that cattle grazing actively mitigates the effects and spread of fires by consuming plants that would otherwise act as fuel.
Outdated dogma suggests livestock grazing in the sagebrush steppe in western rangelands negatively impacts those ecosystems. This new research, published in the scientific journal Ecosphere, found the opposite is true. According to the report, the ARS discovered that "strategically applying livestock grazing prior to the occurrence of climate-induced wildfires can modify sagebrush steppe characteristics in ways that decrease fire probability in the communities, promote biodiversity while reducing postfire annual grass invasion, fire-induced loss of native bunchgrasses and fire damage to soil biocrusts."
In plain language, it means that if cattle graze on the sagebrush steppe regularly, it will induce shorter flame lengths if a fire occurs, slow the rate of fire spread and prevent invasive grasses from popping up after the fire moves through. That's because, when cattle graze, they're munching away on grass and plants that could otherwise act as fuel during wildfire season, and they're doing so on land that is most often unsuitable for growing crops.
How cattle grazing can benefit the land
"As we talk about climate change, and the dryness that we see, cows are a great mitigator of wildfires," said Janey VanWinkle, a fourth-generation cattle rancher in Colorado. "In a lot of areas where there are invasive plant species, for example, cheatgrass, cows will eat that forage down, which slows the burn once a wildfire is started."
Ranchers like the VanWinkle family are conservationists. While caring for their animals, they're also caring for the land.
"When talking about land use, you could ask, 'Could this land be used for producing crops and other types of food?' and the answer is, most likely not where I live, with one of the limiting factors here being water," VanWinkle explained.
The ways cattle grazing can benefit the land go even deeper than preventing wildfires. According to 2024 UC Davis research, grazing:
- Decreases the potential for soil erosion and regulates the return of nutrients to the soil
- Promotes plant diversity and abundance by regulating weed growth
- Preserves open space and regenerates soil and plant life to promote carbon sequestration through the biogenic carbon cycle.
Cattle and bison have been grazing on U.S. lands for centuries. With careful stewardship of ranchers like the VanWinkle family, they can be helping the planet for centuries more.
"Cattle grazing truly is the best use of this land as it provides wildlife habitat and a very high-quality source of protein," VanWinkle said. "What really matters is protecting our landscapes. I assure you that I want my grandchildren to know what it's like out in nature and on the ranch."