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New federal grazing plan seen as long-term boost for cattle producers

The immediate past president with the Public Lands Council says updates to USDA’s grazing plan could provide long term stability for the cattle sector.

Mark Roeber, a producer from Wyoming, says about 60 percent of cattle graze on federal lands in the western United States. “The West depends on federal lands to keep the industry going. The industry regardless of where it’s at is dependent on one another for the supply chain. This is a really big impact.”

He says access to additional forage allows operations to expand similar to his. “The private land that we own, we could be a hobby farm. We run about 400 mother cows. If it was just our private land without the federal land grazing permits, we could maybe run 50 or 100 at most.”

The Grazing Plan includes a memorandum of understanding between USDA and Department of Interior to help strengthen partnerships with producers. Roeber tells Brownfield it’s long overdue. “We’ve asked for many of these things for years. This is a step forward to get where we think we need to be, and communication will need to be a big part of this.”

He says several priorities stand out, including improving targeted grazing to help reduce the risk of natural disasters. “There is somewhere between 40 and 80 percent depending on the ecosystem you’re in that grazing can reduce the risk of wildfires. That’s a big plus.”

Roeber says the MOU also includes agency staff training to help fill positions that need agriculture experience, wildfire liaisons and expedites permitting processes.

Mark Roeber: