Document: MIC-3-11-2

Managing for cattle and wildlife on Deseret Ranch.

WOLFE, M.L.* ¹, M.E.RITCHIE ¹ and R.DANVIR ²

Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-5210 USA ¹
Deseret Land and Livestock Company, Woodruff, UT 84086 USA ²

Abstract:
Management of a privately owned ranch in northeastern Utah exemplifies a progressive approach to utilizing domestic livestock and native ungulates for economic return while maintaining land health and biological diversity in a sagebrush, Artemisia, spp.-grass ecosystem. Its large size (775-km²), the vegetational diversity associated with an elevational gradient spanning ~900 m and ~150 km of riparian corridors endow the ranch with an inherently high biological diversity. Approximately 6,000 to 7,500 cows are grazed in large pastures in a short-duration, high-intensity pattern, with a typical grazing event that lasts 5-10 days and timed to occur during the period of active growth of herbaceous plants. Controlled grazing by bands of domestic sheep is sometimes used to displace concentrations of summering elk, Cervus elaphus, from sensitive drainages and "rest" the vegetation from continuous grazing. Consequent efforts to control predators such as coyotes, Canis latrans, or potentially competing herbivores such as lagomorphs and prairie dogs, Cynomys leucurus, are not practiced. These management practices have led to an increase in the percentage of plant ground cover and generally improved quality of riparian systems, this despite substantial increases in the stocking rates of both cattle and elk and a period of drought during the late 1980's. The effects of these practices on plant production and the species diversity of plants and animals are being monitored in on-going investigations.

Keywords: cattle, elk, biological diversity

This abstract is being presented at: 8:45 AM in session:
Symposium # 25: Cows and Conservation: A Role for Ranching in Protecting Biodiversity.