Sheep Industry News July 2023

Taking on Targeted Grazing

A ndrée Soares employs thousands of sheep and goats whose only job is to mitigate fire danger throughout California’s Bay Area. So, it’s a bit ironic that she spends most of her days putting out fires of an administrative nature. As the sheep and goats who make up most of Star Creek Land Stewards’ employees were just getting started on the important work of targeted grazing in fire prone areas this spring, Andrée found herself battling the sparks of a po tential wildfire close to home in an olive grove. The Merino ewes that make up the flock of Talbott Sheep Company – which belonged to her father, Ray Talbott, who passed away in August 2022 – had stripped bark from a few of the trees and the farmer was concerned. Andrée headed out to investigate and was happy to find minimal damage and no signs that the unacceptable behav ior was going to be a reoccurring problem. In some ways, it was nice for Andrée to have a reason to get out into the field and see the animals for a couple of hours. There was a time when she first purchased Star Creek in 2014 that she was out there more regularly. “Now, there’s just so much paperwork and planning that goes into it all,” she admits. “Targeted grazing comes with a lot of administrative work. We have to bid on projects and get contracts signed and deal with insurance. And then there’s the constant communication with the clients that goes on throughout the grazing season.” The season started a bit later in 2023 thanks to an unusu ally high amount of rain and snow in the state during the winter and early spring. But things have a way of drying out fast in California, especially when vegetation gets such a great jumpstart on the growing season with the kind of moisture that California hasn’t seen in a decade or more. Grazing companies in the state might all need more ani mals to eat their way through contracted land between now and the fall. It’s a good problem to have in some ways, but creates just as many (albeit different) headaches as drought years. “Targeted grazing is a nice additional income stream from sheep and goats – or in my case the main income stream – but it is very different from just running a com mercial sheep flock,” Andrée says. “It requires more levels of leadership and organization, and more herders. At dad’s, we typically ran one herder to 1,100 to 1,200 animals. Dur ing the grazing season, we need one herder for every 400

animals. The contracts don’t usually call for that specifi cally, but the way we manage and move them, we’ve found that herd sizes of 400 work well for the typical size projects that we get. For larger ones, we might put two herds of 400 together, but we still need two herders with them. “These aren’t remote areas we’re grazing. They’re quite public, so the liability is greater if the animals were to get out of the area or if people are trying to feed or pet them.

And lots of that kind of stuff goes on. We use temporary fencing on all of our projects, but there are some places where we can’t because of the terrain. In that case, we have to look at other ways to contain the animals.” FROM NURSING TO GRAZING Andrée grew up with sheep run by her grandfather, father and uncle, but followed in her mother’s footsteps to become a nurse. By the time she decided to take the plunge and buy Star Creek Land Stewards, she was overseeing three neonatal intensive care units throughout the San Joaquin Valley.

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