Interactions
Post by Clemson Montana Summer Program student Josh Cary
Spending the week at High Meadows Ranch learning about the intricacies of ranching and the rancher’s lifestyle has been eye opening. These people are as tough as they come and they have to be. They are constantly fighting an uphill battle against disease, mother nature, and a buyer’s market. A good rancher has to be a mechanic, veterinarian, meteorologist, nutritionist, salesman, plumber, grass specialist, husband, and a father all in a single day. I’ve never experienced another line of work where you had to wear so many hats. Unlike row cropping where if you have a bad year you start again next year these ranchers have to get their animals through even the worst years just to have the possibility of a better next year. Ranching is a complex symphony of science, gut feelings, and knowledge passed down from generation to generation.
Ranching is also the place where livestock, humans, and wildlife all come together, each try to scratch out a living for themselves. This blending of different worlds can lead to both conflicts and opportunities. During hunting season, many ranchers will open their properties to out of state hunters who will pay upwards of twenty thousand for a trophy bull elk. This can be a much needed source of income for ranchers who without these side projects struggle to break even. Because of the value held by these elk, ranchers who outfit are protecting certain areas of their properties for the benefit of the wildlife even at the cost of grazing land. Another practice that benefits both ranchers and wildlife is fencing off natural water sources so that livestock have very limited or no access to it. The rancher will have to create another water source like a stream fed trough or a well but keeping animals out of water will increase the health of the herd saving him money on vet bills. It will also have the added benefits of decreasing soil erosion and nutrient pollution leading to a healthier downstream, something very important for fish fanatics such as myself.
Not all wildlife interactions on the ranch are end in something good though. Just this spring a second time offender grizzly bear had to be euthanized near Red Lodge, MT after killing three cows and two calves. That being said, instances like this are extreme rare. Much more commonly ranchers are fighting with prairie dogs. Prairie dogs are a hotly contested topic currently. Scientist view them as ecosystem engineers needed to maintain a health ecosystem but to ranchers, they’re pests that create leg breaking holes and eat the grass that their cattle need to survive and grow. Whether or not prairie dogs deserve this hate isn’t the issue. They are hated and it’s our job as conservationists to figure out a way to benefit both ranchers and the prairie dogs. There have been studies that have shown a certain percentage of prairie dogs on a property can actually increase the forage quality and increase cattle growth. The problem is getting ranchers to believe you when you say that prairie dogs are actually good. It’s easy for ecologists to come in quoting scientific studies but convincing someone who has been taught their entire life that prairie dogs are the enemy is a challenge.
I often struggle with the role of scientists in today’s world. Whether it’s enough for us to attempt to educate the public or whether it is our duty to put in place legislation that protects every imperiled species. It becomes even more complicated when you tell someone to do something that you know is going to cost them money but benefits wildlife. It’s really easy for someone to say all ranchers have to protect prairie dogs when it’s not that person’s livelihood being effected.
Moral and economic issues aside it’s our job as wildlife biologists to come up with no nonsense ways to allow for the grazing of cattle and wildlife. Finding a way to manage for people’s bottom line and for wildlife is a complex issue but one that must be addressed in order for us to continue sharing this home we call earth. Due to their proximity to wildlife and their similarities to the original natural system ranches seem like a logical place for this conversation to take place. Hopefully we can find a way to interact before anymore species are lost due to human ignorance.
Spending the week at High Meadows Ranch learning about the intricacies of ranching and the rancher’s lifestyle has been eye opening. These people are as tough as they come and they have to be. They are constantly fighting an uphill battle against disease, mother nature, and a buyer’s market. A good rancher has to be a mechanic, veterinarian, meteorologist, nutritionist, salesman, plumber, grass specialist, husband, and a father all in a single day. I’ve never experienced another line of work where you had to wear so many hats. Unlike row cropping where if you have a bad year you start again next year these ranchers have to get their animals through even the worst years just to have the possibility of a better next year. Ranching is a complex symphony of science, gut feelings, and knowledge passed down from generation to generation.
Ranching is also the place where livestock, humans, and wildlife all come together, each try to scratch out a living for themselves. This blending of different worlds can lead to both conflicts and opportunities. During hunting season, many ranchers will open their properties to out of state hunters who will pay upwards of twenty thousand for a trophy bull elk. This can be a much needed source of income for ranchers who without these side projects struggle to break even. Because of the value held by these elk, ranchers who outfit are protecting certain areas of their properties for the benefit of the wildlife even at the cost of grazing land. Another practice that benefits both ranchers and wildlife is fencing off natural water sources so that livestock have very limited or no access to it. The rancher will have to create another water source like a stream fed trough or a well but keeping animals out of water will increase the health of the herd saving him money on vet bills. It will also have the added benefits of decreasing soil erosion and nutrient pollution leading to a healthier downstream, something very important for fish fanatics such as myself.Not all wildlife interactions on the ranch are end in something good though. Just this spring a second time offender grizzly bear had to be euthanized near Red Lodge, MT after killing three cows and two calves. That being said, instances like this are extreme rare. Much more commonly ranchers are fighting with prairie dogs. Prairie dogs are a hotly contested topic currently. Scientist view them as ecosystem engineers needed to maintain a health ecosystem but to ranchers, they’re pests that create leg breaking holes and eat the grass that their cattle need to survive and grow. Whether or not prairie dogs deserve this hate isn’t the issue. They are hated and it’s our job as conservationists to figure out a way to benefit both ranchers and the prairie dogs. There have been studies that have shown a certain percentage of prairie dogs on a property can actually increase the forage quality and increase cattle growth. The problem is getting ranchers to believe you when you say that prairie dogs are actually good. It’s easy for ecologists to come in quoting scientific studies but convincing someone who has been taught their entire life that prairie dogs are the enemy is a challenge.
I often struggle with the role of scientists in today’s world. Whether it’s enough for us to attempt to educate the public or whether it is our duty to put in place legislation that protects every imperiled species. It becomes even more complicated when you tell someone to do something that you know is going to cost them money but benefits wildlife. It’s really easy for someone to say all ranchers have to protect prairie dogs when it’s not that person’s livelihood being effected.Moral and economic issues aside it’s our job as wildlife biologists to come up with no nonsense ways to allow for the grazing of cattle and wildlife. Finding a way to manage for people’s bottom line and for wildlife is a complex issue but one that must be addressed in order for us to continue sharing this home we call earth. Due to their proximity to wildlife and their similarities to the original natural system ranches seem like a logical place for this conversation to take place. Hopefully we can find a way to interact before anymore species are lost due to human ignorance.
