Upcoming trainings showcase decision tool for better rangeland management

Rangeland scientists, ecologists, and web developers from Washington State University and the University of Arizona are hosting an upcoming series of trainings introducing a new free online tool that helps ranchers and land managers effectively and sustainably care for their land and grazing livestock.

The StockSmart decision support tool lets producers and land managers access remotely sensed information to calculate stocking rates - how many cattle, sheep, or other animals can be sustainably fed for a season by a particular rangeland area.

"StockSmart allows managers to better understand how much of their forage is actually usable and accessible by their animals," said Tipton Hudson, WSU Rangeland & Livestock Extension Specialist and project leader.

A StockSmart virtual workshop series begins Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, and runs through Dec. 11, with a second round of trainings planned in 2025.

To determine stocking rate ranges, ranchers and federal, state, and Tribal rangeland managers need to know how much forage their land produces each year. But forage can vary from one end of a rangeland management unit to the other, or in the same spot from year to year. Drought can reduce production by nearly half, while plentiful precipitation can double it.

Some forage comes from shrubs that grazing animals may not favor. Some must be left untouched so that grasses thrive, stabilize the soil, and continue to produce the following year.

Until now, rangeland managers have relied on general estimates of forage production based on soil types or sparse sampling. Neither approach adequately reflects variation or the problem of extrapolating to large scales.

StockSmart calculates stocking rates using data for every quarter of an acre over the last 40 years, allowing managers to better understand how much of their forage is usable and accessible by animals.

StockSmart calculates stocking rates using remotely sensed forage production data for every quarter of an acre over the last 40 years. This provides much more information than previous datasets on how production varies across geography and from year to year, according to Hudson.

"Proper grazing means keeping forage consumption below supply, then distributing your animals in a way that supports the ecosystem," he said. "While there are many variables to consider, 'How many animals for how long?' is the unavoidable starting point in a grazing plan. Our tool helps producers and range managers make that plan as accurately as possible."

Developed by researchers at WSU, the University of Arizona, and the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the StockSmart tool allows users to define their livestock's terrain use with key parameters, such as steepness of slopes that livestock traverse and how far from water animals disperse. It also allows managers to explore potential scenarios, such as how the amount of forage and stocking rate might change if they invest in new water developments or fencing.

Funded by USDA's Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension program, the team will launch series of webinar-based and in-person trainings this fall to help rangeland professionals across the western U.S. understand how StockSmart can help them deal with the complexities of maintaining healthy herds and healthy rangelands, now and under a changing climate. A series of online tutorials will follow in summer 2025.

"We are excited to give rangeland managers the opportunity to explore what the tool can do and discuss how StockSmart can be useful to them," said co-leader Sonia Hall, agricultural climate resilience specialist at WSU's Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources.

"These conversations will also give us feedback on what works well and where we should focus efforts to continue to improve the tool," Hall added.

Register or learn more about the training series online, or contact Hudson at [email protected] or by phone at 509-962-7507.

To try StockSmart or learn about the tool, visit Stock-Smart.com.

Media Contacts

• Tipton Hudson, Professor and Rangeland & Livestock Extension Specialist, 509-962-7507, [email protected]
• Sonia Hall, Agricultural Climate Resilience Specialist, WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, 509-293-8797, [email protected]

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