Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays is talking with the Director of Sustainability at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Samantha Werth, about grazing management.
Werth offered resources to help producers with their grazing management decisions, from templates to put their ideas on paper to regional contacts to ask about rotational grazing, adaptive management, or stocking rates.
NCBA has worked with the Texas A&M Center for Grazing Lands and Ranch Management to develop a value for creating a grazing management plan. Working through a set of “if/then” scenarios, the two organizations are researching the financial benefits of adopting certain practices.
“The true value is giving yourself the time to sit and really think about every parcel of your land and where the opportunities lie and what sorts of goals you can set to reach your ultimate profitability goals,” Werth described.
The priority of Werth’s work is to ensure the sustainability of both the lands and the operations working on them.
“The biggest thing that we are starting to look into is the land use change aspect,” Werth described. “That has been a huge issue, especially in Texas. It has been experiencing the most rapid rate of conversion from grazing lands to other development types, and that is truly scary to think about. We have to think about what the drivers are to the land use changes, and what are ways that we can help work with our producers so that they are able to keep their lands.”
Werth also serves as the executive director of the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, and some have asked why NCBA is involved with it. Werth answered, “NCBA is at the table representing that diverse producer prospective. One of the things that we determined early on in the formation of the roundtable was that there was a lot going on in sustainability without consideration of producers and what that means for them. We really wanted to form a space where we could have those conversations.”
NCBA has found its space at the roundtable to be very valuable in hearing the needs of retailers, sharing the needs of producers, and finding a productive space in the middle that serves both ends of the chain.
“It is a way to understand these corporate and financial pressures that we are seeing further down the supply chain and finding how to work together to ensure that producers are able to do what they love to do,” Werth commented.
Grazing management planning is one area where Werth is seeing benefits for the producer at the roundtable. “We are able to focus on what is good for you and your operation. What will give you the best decision making that we can do?” she said. “Then, we use that information to have more fruitful discussions further down the supply chain to help them understand that here’s what we can do versus here’s what you are asking us to do. Then, ultimately, getting the same result.”
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