Balancing ecosystem service outcomes at the ranch-scale in shortgrass steppe: The role of grazing management

Abstract

• Grazing management for providing multiple ecosystem services at the ranch scale requires balancing desired outcomes. • Abundant challenges involve matching the spatial heterogeneity in soils and associated plant community characteristics with the temporal variability in precipitation. • Prescriptive grazing (season-long continuous and time-controlled rotational grazing) removes the human experiential knowledge to adapt to changing conditions, whereas adaptive multipaddock (AMP) grazing often invokes high stock densities, which reduce livestock weight gain. • A “mix-and-match” or blending of both approaches for grazing management in the shortgrass steppe can result in reduced drought risk, enhanced breeding habitat availability for grassland bird species of concern, and sustained livestock production. © 2022