Working together to strengthen and support noxious weed management efforts in Montana.

Grazing

Turning Livestock into Land Management Tools at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

by Christina Miller,
Natural Resources Specialist, DSC Socks, Spackle, and Ginger Snap are only a few of the newest weed control managers at Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS. They successfully completed a seven-step program that modified their preferred cuisine and made them effective rangeland stewards. These new weed control managers dutifully spend their days grazing in the pastures, working toward the eradication of exotic invasive weeds. Oh, by the way, they’re cattle, affectionately termed “smart cows.”

Read the complete article about these weed eating cattle.

An Overview of Targeted Grazing and the Montana Sheep Institute

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

By Becky Kington, Montana Weed Control Association Executive Director and Dr. Lisa Surber, Research Scientist, Montana Sheep Institute.

The following is an interview that was conducted on October 23, 2009, between Becky and Lisa regarding targeted grazing.

Sheep grazing dalmatian toadflax, photo credit: L. Surber

Sheep grazing dalmatian toadflax, photo credit: L. Surber

Lisa, the MSU Sheep Institute has been involved in numerous targeted grazing projects in Montana over the past few years, and I have to credit MSI with elevating targeted grazing as an integrated control method for noxious weeds. How many targeted grazing projects have you [MSI] been involved with over the years and what specific weeds have been chosen to experiment with?

The Montana Sheep Institute (MSI) oversees approximately 15 targeted grazing projects with monitoring sites utilizing sheep and goats from multiple sheep producers.  Montana Sheep Institute weed projects directly involved over 50,000 acres of weed-infested Montana rangeland and about 500 landowners. Currently major weed projects are targeted at leafy spurge, spotted knapweed and Dalmatian toadflax.

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