Ask a rancher: Surveys draw on hard-won wisdom for surviving drought

Roche team lands $1 million to help ranchers stay strong

California ranchers benefit when they plan ahead for extreme weather variability, according to rancher surveys and interviews conducted by a team headed by Leslie Roche, a professor of Cooperative Extension in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.

But while wise planning and climate-smart adaptations helped ranchers survive the state's record-breaking 2012-2016 drought, those strategies by themselves were not enough, ranchers reported. Nearly 50 ranchers shared their experiences, and their collective wisdom is summarized in a paper written by Grace Woodmansee. She completed her master's degree with Roche and is now a UC Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resources advisor for UC Agriculture and Natural Resources in Siskiyou County.

The scientists also looked for how to apply that wisdom: To weather the increasingly severe and lengthy droughts that producers in the American West can expect in the future, ranchers could use more help, the researchers recommended. That includes gaining new skills and resources to better organize, inform and manage their operations; learning how to be flexible when their drought plans need to turn on a dime; and drawing from the experience of colleagues to improve future decisions.

Building on that work, Roche and members of the statewide team have landed a $990,000 federal grant to help ranchers stay strong. The team includes colleagues from the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources and partner organizations. The project draws on members' diverse expertise and regional knowledge rooted in UC Cooperative Extension, while at the same time linking up with trusted networks at the local level.

Both Woodmansee's paper and the new grant are based on more than a decade of surveys and interviews with ranchers and other agriculturalists. That work all points to the economic and social barriers that hinder producers from adopting the climate-smart practices that could help them stay profitable amid the changes to come.

"It's really important to listen to agricultural producers - the people who live and work on the land - and draw on their experiences to develop practical solutions," Roche said. "Extension can play a key role in sharing this valuable knowledge statewide, so others can learn from it and, hopefully, apply it to navigate their own challenges."

Partners on the project include individual livestock producers, statewide livestock organizations, local conservation organizations and local agencies. Programs like this could become an example for ranch managers across the American West.

Cattle is California's No. 3 agricultural commodity, with cattle and other livestock worth about $3 billion in 2021, the state Department of Food and Agriculture reported. In addition to facing climate change, the sector is beset by rising costs, high interest rates, wildfire impacts and land use pressures. These additional challenges make it crucial for people managing the state's 14,000 livestock operations - counting beef, sheep and goats - to take steps now to survive future droughts.

Rangeland drought strategy: Mix up the livestock

In the past 12 years, ranchers have increasingly adopted sustainable agriculture practices to cope with drought and other threats, Woodmansee and colleagues found.

A key finding from the surveys is the enormous benefit amid drought of grazing more than one kind of animal on rangelands, Woodmansee wrote. Although most ranchers interviewed grazed only one species during the drought, typically cattle, the few who mixed up their livestock reported doing better economically. Because they have different grazing habits, stock such as sheep and goats can take advantage of different kinds of forage and broaden a rancher's economic base.

In addition, ranchers who used genetic information to think ahead about culling their herds, when that step became necessary, were left with a stronger remainder, Woodmansee wrote.

Ranchers also found it was important to have plans both for preventing problems and reacting to them, Woodmansee added. But surveys done ahead of the 2012-2016 drought, and interviews done four years in, also revealed that only a little more than half of ranchers had planned ahead.

"There is a substantial opportunity to increase preparedness by aiding ranchers in developing drought management plans," Woodmansee wrote. But she advised, "drought plans are not 'one size fits all,' and policy must be designed to support drought adaptation and mitigation strategies at the ranch level."

Grant part of nationwide effort

Roche and team's $990,000 grant comes from the United States Department of Agriculture through the National Resources Conservation Service. It's part of a $22-million, nationwide effort to help American ranchers overcome these and other barriers they face to adapting. Based on all they've learned through the surveys and interviews, the team is now launching a comprehensive education, outreach and training program. Their own wide range of expertise and networks reach deep into ranching communities, and they'll leverage those, too.

UC Cooperative Extension will have an important role in that work, as a trusted source of information. Training also will embrace conservation planners and technical service providers who work with ranchers.

"Activities will include workshops, field tours and demonstrations on conservation practices to address local natural resource concerns," the team wrote in their proposal. Their work also "will target opportunities to support underserved communities, including new and beginning ranchers."

They'll also add resources specifically about the state's grazing lands to the California Climate Hub, a website developed by USDA to provide the latest information to help producers statewide adapt to new climate realities.

People trained in all these areas must be brought up in the ranks: The project calls for networking, mentoring and hands-on learning to spark career choices among young people, and grow skills among beginning ranchers and early career natural resource professionals.

Scientists co-leading the project are Tracy Schohr and Dan Macon of UC Cooperative Extension; Roselle Bush and Gabriele Maier, both UC Davis assistant professors of Cooperative Extension; and Steven Ostoja, California Climate Hub director. The project will provide opportunities for a broad range of UC ANR colleagues as well, Roche said.

Partnering organizations include the Sierra Valley Resource Conservation District, the California Cattlemen's Association, the California Wool Growers Association, the California Rangeland Trust and the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Read the science

Woodmansee's paper, "Building Ranch Resilience to Drought: Management Capacity, Planning, and Adaptive Learning During California's 2012-2016 Drought," is online now. It's set for print publication in the January edition of Rangeland Ecology & Management.

An earlier paper that laid the foundation for the subsequent research: "On-ranch adaptation to California's historic 2012-2016 drought, Woodmansee et al., 2021."

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