Oklahoma’s Noble Research Institute is working with Ranch Management Consultants to offer a “Ranching for Profit School” in Ardmore next month.
The school looks to teach farmers and ranchers to increase their profit, improve management, better the health of the land and livestock and sustainability for the future. The research institute is focusing on ecology and grazing principles.
Fifth-generation farmer Patrick Jones is the Noble Research Institute’s regenerative ranching adviser. He said incorporating grazing management practices on his cattle operation changed the way he thinks.
He’s not in the business of raising cattle, Jones said he grows grass instead.
“We use our cattle to make our grass better, and it changed our mindset,” Jones said. “We're still in the early stages of it, but it's changed our place a lot.”
Traditionally, a producer would leave cattle on one pasture year-round to graze. But a regenerative strategy aims to reduce overgrazing through practices like moving cattle to different areas to let the ground recover.
Jones said this creates the condition for more animals to graze.
“For a lot of years, we degraded our soil health and removed our pastures from a native standpoint,” Jones said. “This gives us an opportunity to make our soil health better and increase our forage.”
Although there are producers who practice grazing management, Jones said some people do not because of tradition.
This comes as the research institute is offering other upcoming sessions on ranch management.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
