A Closer Look at Rangeland
Post by 2016 Montana Summer Program student Caroline Guerry
During this section of the course we visited those that are researching and working, trying to answer the burning questions of those involved with rangeland and its management. It was eye opening so see the amount of people that have dedicated so much time and effort in order to make ranching easier and more efficient for everyone. Rangeland management is a science and an art. It requires extensive knowledge, patience, and experience in the field. We are very fortunate to have met with these individuals and to have seen parts of their research and daily lives.
On our first morning with Dr. Scott we met with Gary Ellingson who is a forestry consultant. He told us about his job and what he thought about the Ponderosa pine stands that surround both the Segars' and the Frost’s ranch. We learned that in this area of the country, stands like the ones we’re surrounding by were historically controlled with fire. It was interesting to see the perspective of a forester who was seeing a property for the first time. As we drove around the property, Gary pointed out the things that he would suggest doing in order to make the stands healthier as well as protect the area is there were a forest fire. We were able to see the land from the perspective of private forester as compared to the Bureau of Land Management forester that we had met with a few days before during Dr. Lascano’s section of the course. Both foresters had some similar ideas of management and techniques, however their jobs were different in that a BLM forester has to deal with the limitation of the government land. Most of the time is surrounded by private land, making it difficult to access. Also most projects take years before they can even begin, so when they do work with private owner, they can lose interest. A private forester wouldn’t have to deal with those obstacles, however they would have to work with the budget of the private land owner.
The next day we traveled to Miles City where we visited those at Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory. While we were there we were given a tour of the property and we met researchers who are working hard to improve our ranching practices. At this facility they test things such as water quality, bull reproductive performance, and forage quantity and quality under certain conditions. We were able to walk through their facilities and see their labs where they use state of the art technology and also their historical barn where we were able to see a cannulated cow. This is when the researchers surgically put a rubber plug into the cow’s rumen so that the contents can be easily accessible in order to test the contents for quality and species of grass. It was interesting to see all of the research that we have been told about be put into practice. So much work is goes into making sure that beef cattle are healthy and are producing the best quality meat possible. It was eye opening to see and hear the people that we don’t normally think about when we think of who produces our beef and much of their work goes unrecognized.
On our third day with Dr. Scott we left early in the morning to travel to Bozeman where we would visit Montana State University. We first met with Patrick Hatfield who is the head of the animal science department. He told us about the school and how the students there have interests in rangeland management and fields within animal science. We then drove to the edge of campus to Fort Ellis which is the University’s agriculture experimentation station. There we met with a graduate student who gave us a tour and showed us his project that involved the sheep that the university uses. It was great to see another type of livestock and how they are kept and the different products they can provide. Our last stop at Montana State was the wool lab which is one of two left in the nation. We were given a tour and shown how wool is checked for quality and which qualities were used to make different types of clothing. I had no idea that wool could be used to make soft and thin materials instead of thick and scratchy ones.
This section of the course was very interesting because we were able to see more of the behind scenes work that goes into ranching research. These hard working men and women are making ranching more sustainable as well as making it easier to produce the healthiest and highest quality cattle possible. Rangeland management and the animal sciences are much more complex than I could have ever anticipated. I respect those that work in those fields appreciate all of their hard work.
During this section of the course we visited those that are researching and working, trying to answer the burning questions of those involved with rangeland and its management. It was eye opening so see the amount of people that have dedicated so much time and effort in order to make ranching easier and more efficient for everyone. Rangeland management is a science and an art. It requires extensive knowledge, patience, and experience in the field. We are very fortunate to have met with these individuals and to have seen parts of their research and daily lives.On our first morning with Dr. Scott we met with Gary Ellingson who is a forestry consultant. He told us about his job and what he thought about the Ponderosa pine stands that surround both the Segars' and the Frost’s ranch. We learned that in this area of the country, stands like the ones we’re surrounding by were historically controlled with fire. It was interesting to see the perspective of a forester who was seeing a property for the first time. As we drove around the property, Gary pointed out the things that he would suggest doing in order to make the stands healthier as well as protect the area is there were a forest fire. We were able to see the land from the perspective of private forester as compared to the Bureau of Land Management forester that we had met with a few days before during Dr. Lascano’s section of the course. Both foresters had some similar ideas of management and techniques, however their jobs were different in that a BLM forester has to deal with the limitation of the government land. Most of the time is surrounded by private land, making it difficult to access. Also most projects take years before they can even begin, so when they do work with private owner, they can lose interest. A private forester wouldn’t have to deal with those obstacles, however they would have to work with the budget of the private land owner.
The next day we traveled to Miles City where we visited those at Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory. While we were there we were given a tour of the property and we met researchers who are working hard to improve our ranching practices. At this facility they test things such as water quality, bull reproductive performance, and forage quantity and quality under certain conditions. We were able to walk through their facilities and see their labs where they use state of the art technology and also their historical barn where we were able to see a cannulated cow. This is when the researchers surgically put a rubber plug into the cow’s rumen so that the contents can be easily accessible in order to test the contents for quality and species of grass. It was interesting to see all of the research that we have been told about be put into practice. So much work is goes into making sure that beef cattle are healthy and are producing the best quality meat possible. It was eye opening to see and hear the people that we don’t normally think about when we think of who produces our beef and much of their work goes unrecognized.
On our third day with Dr. Scott we left early in the morning to travel to Bozeman where we would visit Montana State University. We first met with Patrick Hatfield who is the head of the animal science department. He told us about the school and how the students there have interests in rangeland management and fields within animal science. We then drove to the edge of campus to Fort Ellis which is the University’s agriculture experimentation station. There we met with a graduate student who gave us a tour and showed us his project that involved the sheep that the university uses. It was great to see another type of livestock and how they are kept and the different products they can provide. Our last stop at Montana State was the wool lab which is one of two left in the nation. We were given a tour and shown how wool is checked for quality and which qualities were used to make different types of clothing. I had no idea that wool could be used to make soft and thin materials instead of thick and scratchy ones.This section of the course was very interesting because we were able to see more of the behind scenes work that goes into ranching research. These hard working men and women are making ranching more sustainable as well as making it easier to produce the healthiest and highest quality cattle possible. Rangeland management and the animal sciences are much more complex than I could have ever anticipated. I respect those that work in those fields appreciate all of their hard work.
