Sheep Industry News March 2025

ASI Releases Targeted Grazing 101

N early 20 years ago, ASI published a handbook that in troduced many in the American sheep industry to the concept of targeted grazing. It’s value to the industry has grown exponentially in the two decades since, and is driving an expansion of America’s flock for the first time in recent memory. The demand for these services led to the need for a resource to guide new and existing sheep producers who want to add targeted grazing as an income source to their operations. ASI’s newest pub lication – Targeted Grazing 101: Starting and Sustaining a Grazing Service Enterprise – fits the role perfectly. Interviews with more than three dozen experienced targeted grazers led to the creation of a 300-page manual that will help aspir ing grazers understand what it takes to get started in the industry. “I think this book will really help people who want to get into tar geted grazing,” said John Walker, Ph.D., who worked on the original targeted grazing handbook and oversaw the review process of the new book, as well. “While the first handbook relied a lot on the aca demic world, the new book draws more on input from people who are out there actually doing targeted grazing on a daily basis.” Experienced sheep producers who are looking to make the transi tion into targeted grazing will benefit from the book’s chapters on Getting Started and Keys to Success, Logistics and Business Basics. Those who are new to livestock will find the chapters on Animal

Husbandry and Animal Welfare and PR helpful in learning to handle their grazing animals. Additional chapters on plants and de veloping plans to graze plants at the right time and season will prove beneficial to those who lack a background in that area. “The first book was more Western-oriented, but this book covers grazers from all over the country,” Walker said. “We really wanted to help people who want to get into targeted grazing and give them some basics to consider. It’s really a great resource for people to con sult on all phases of the industry. But if you look at all of the grazers who contributed information, stories and photos for the book, they are also a great resource that newer targeted grazers can reach out to for assistance.” Targeted Grazing 101 lays out the growing interest in the concept in its opening chapter. “The idea of developing a service business based on using livestock to manage vegetation began to form in the 1960s and was further developed in the 1980s and 90s. Land grant universities like Montana State University organized programs connecting rangeland managers with sheep producers to help control invasive weeds and add value to their operations. In 1994, the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) published The Role of Sheep Grazing in Natu ral Resource Management in a special issue of the Sheep Research Journal. The first prescribed grazing conference was held in Sparks, Nevada, in 2003 and was attended by over 300 people. Three years later, ASI published Targeted Grazing: A natural approach to vegeta tion management and landscape enhancement . This ‘Targeted Graz ing Handbook,’ as it came to be known, compiled the latest research and technical knowledge on the subject and gave recommendations for targeted grazing of 21 forbs (i.e., broadleaf weeds), shrubs and grasses. Since then, over 90 journal articles (and counting) have been published on targeted grazing. “Interest has continued to grow. In 2009, the Society for Range Management created the Targeted Grazing Committee, which sends out an e-newsletter to 400 plus subscribers and hosts quarterly webinars. Targeted Grazing: Applying the Research to the Land was published in Rangelands in 2012 and shared case studies of service providers on various projects. A synthesis paper, Targeted Livestock Grazing: Prescription for Healthy Rangelands , was published in Rangeland Ecology and Management in 2019. This review strength ened the use of targeted grazing as a vegetation management tool. Most recently, a 2021 meta-analysis of 70 published targeted grazing studies in 17 countries concluded that targeted grazing significantly reduced undesired plants and significantly increased plant species richness.” The new book is available in two formats: a hard copy book for $39.95, or as a PDF on a USB flash drive – which includes the 2006 handbook, as well – for $14.95. Both formats are available for pur chase at SheepUSA.org/shop.

8 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org