Researchers Receive Grant To Study Grazing Management

Montana State University researchers from the Department of Animal and Range Sciences and the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences have received a $1.5 million grant from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation with funding through the Ranchland Stewardship Program to study adaptive grazing practices with ranchers across the state.

The project will begin this fall and continue through 2029, with fieldwork planned for 2027 and 2028. The funding will support three graduate students and one postdoctoral researcher.

Noah Davis, an assistant professor of grazing ecology and management for the College of Agriculture’s Department of Animal and Range Sciences, leads the project. Co-principal investigators are Dan Atwater and Georgia Harrison, both in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences, and Sophie von Fromm in the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences. The team combines Davis’ expertise in livestock, Atwater’s and Harrison’s expertise in vegetation and von Fromm’s expertise in soil carbon. Together, they aim to answer a central question: What does good grazing management look like in the 21st century?

“Historically, research and practice of grazing management have focused on two things: stocking rate and the season of use,” said Davis. “With what is available to us today, there is a lot more that can be done.”

Satellite imagery and drones can provide a detailed view of pasture conditions, while temporary electric and virtual fencing give ranchers more flexibility in where livestock graze. Through existing relationships and connections with ranching organizations, the team will select 10 to 15 Montana ranches already using adaptive approaches to studying grazing practices and their effects.

The project will examine how grazing practices affect three areas: livestock, vegetation and soil. Together, those findings could help researchers identify grazing practices that maintain healthy land while supporting productive ranches.

Researchers will document stocking rates, meaning the number of livestock grazing a pasture over a given time period; stocking density, or the number of livestock grazing a specific area at one time; and livestock performance, including weight gain. They will also examine how grazing practices affect plant communities and soil health and whether particular practices increase the amount of carbon stored in soil.

Davis said he hopes those relationships will continue beyond the project and give students opportunities to learn from participating ranchers.

“What excites me, but what is also very important to MSU, is the landgrant mission of MSU and collaborative relationships with producers across the state,” Davis said. “Rather than us designing a project that may be able to answer one specific component, our multidisciplinary team is going to be working hand in hand with producers that are already doing it and already doing it well.”