Sheep Industry News April 2022

Industry Sees Opportunity With Targeted Grazing

JOHN WALKER, PH.D. Texas A&M AgriLife T argeted grazing is becoming an increasingly important sector for the American sheep industry. Recognizing the importance of this segment to the industry, ASI published the first Targeted Grazing Handbook in 2006 (SheepUSA.org/wp- content/uploads/2022/01/Targeted-Grazing-Book-compressed. pdf). Since then, targeted grazing has grown in the number of ser vice providers, acres managed, use by land management agencies and scientific publications on the subject. Much has been learned as a result of this growth, and because of that ASI is developing a new handbook. The goal of the new hand book is to combine the practical knowledge of producers engaged in the targeted grazing business with the latest research findings, creating a user-friendly guide for people who are new targeted gra ziers or contemplating starting a targeted grazing business. To support this effort, a survey and focus group discussions with targeted grazing service providers was conducted during 2021-22. The survey had 101 respondents representing 38 different states and two Canadian provinces. In addition, six virtual focus group dis cussions – each with 20 or more participants – were held in January and February of this year. On average, survey respondents’ targeted grazing experience was 8.5 years. While most of the respondents have been provid ing services for 10 years or less, 23 percent have practiced targeted grazing for more than 10 years and with five respondents have been

in business for more than 30 years. In terms of business opportunity, large full-time operators reported the most growth, while medium and large part-time operations tended to stay about the same size. Participants in focus groups said they had more opportunities than they could handle, indicating the opportunity for growth in the targeted grazing in dustry is promising. Forty percent of operations had fewer than 20 animal unit equivalents, which is equivalent to 100 or fewer sheep. Thirty-five percent had 20 to 100 AUE and 25 percent had more than 100 AUE. On average, graziers combined two classes of livestock with the most common being hair sheep and goats. Forty-seven percent of survey respondents were on paid proj ects four to five months of the year, but responses varied from only one to two months to more than eight months. Flock size tended to determine how many months were spent on grazing projects. A higher percentage of targeted graziers with large flocks provide services on a full-time basis with targeted grazing as their primary business model. However, there were significant numbers of large flocks that were less than full-time, which likely indicates that com modity production is their primary business model. In comparison, medium and small flock operators were more likely to be half or part-time. When asked what types of landscapes survey respondents provide services for – private land rural, public land rural, urban rural interface or urban – distribution was fairly even across these disparate areas. On average respondents worked in three of the four areas, which is an indication of their ability to adapt their services to different situations. Targeted plant species reported included 45 different problem atic species. The top 10 species included woody brush and trees, broadleaf weeds, annual grasses, blackberries, thistles, multiflora rose, knapweed, kudzu, pine and leafy spurge. Woody brush and trees were the most common plants targeted grazing was used for. The types of jobs for which targeted grazing is applied are diverse and graziers report working flocks in multiple settings. The most common targeted grazing projects are directed at controlling inva sive plants, forest plantations, fuels management and open space conservation. Landfills and solar grazing projects are becoming more popular. Less well-known areas of application include wild life habitat improvement and cover crop management, as well as orchards and vineyards. There are a host of other types of projects that primarily deal with cleaning up difficult terrains.

14 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org