Sustainable Rangelands Through Low-Input Grassfed Production
An organized oral session at the 63rd annual meeting of the Society for Range Management
Thursday, February 11, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, Governor's Square 10
Printable Agenda (pdf)

Ranchers Dale Lasater, Kit Pharo, Dennis Moroney, Meg Cattell, Richard Parry, George Whitten and Julie Sullivan will discuss how they produce grassfed and grass-finished livestock with excellent grazing management on ranches that are ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable. Ed Fredrickson will present on cattle adapted to arid lands, and Harvey Sprock will discuss grazing management for grassfed livestock. The American Grassfed Association and the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance will discuss how their organizations support producers, including the AGA's American Grassfed certification program.

Grass-based livestock production is inherently sustainable as this production system relies on biodiversity and ecological complexity to maintain production without the use of costly inputs. Low-input grassfed production keeps land in permanent vegetation, which is more ecologically and economically sound than row cropping used for supplementing livestock confinement operations. Benefits of grassfed production for the environment include: reduced or eliminated pesticide use, greatly reduced soil erosion, increased soil fertility while eliminating commercial fertilizer application, increased carbon sequestration which helps combat the greenhouse effect and global warming, increased plant diversity versus monoculture crops, and improved wildlife habitat for native species.

Registration for the conference -- a joint annual meeting of the Society for Range Management and the Weed Science Society of America -- is available at www.rangelands.org/denver2010/registration.shtml. One-day registration will also be available on-site for $125.

The session is sponsored by the American Grassfed Association. For more information about the AGA, visit www.americangrassfed.org or contact Carrie Balkcom at carrie@americangrassfed.org.

For more information about the session, contact Dan Nosal (daniel.nosal@co.usda.gov) or Matt Barnes (matt.barnes@co.usda.gov).