A Rangeland Stock Handling Concept: Inherding on the Hat Creek Grazing Allotment, Ellis Idaho

We exceeded all Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management standards and guidelines for 2016. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management employees and managers are very interested in our project, and are on board to partner with us during the field season of 2017. The Forest Service conducted additional monitoring to ensure that we were actually meeting our objectives, and were pleased with the results. They plan to use this allotment as a test allotment for sage grouse habitat assessment and monitoring, expanding on the partnership we established with them over the past few years.

Specific results for each of the objectives of the project are as follows:

Train staff in ecological principles, stockmanship, horsemanship, monitoring, and horse packing.

Teams of herders for inherding need to incorporate a range of skills for success. Individuals must have and understanding of the ecology of riparian areas and native range plants in order to make judgements in the field about which areas to avoid and how long to allow animals to graze in a particular area. Individuals must also be able to ride a horse in difficult terrain. Herders must have some skills for living outside for extended periods. And finally, herders must be able to “read” cattle and adjust their trajectory and movement across the landscape.

For 2017, we are planning additional training in all of these areas, especially targeting further education in monitoring and ecology.  Ecological understanding was the greatest staffing shortfall; getting the team to grasp the functionality of rangeland systems was difficult in spite of having individuals on each herding team with ecological college degrees.

Stockmanship is also a critical skill, and at least one person on a team must have skill and experience moving cattle. The Hat Creek Allotment is remote, rugged, and steep, and moving cattle in a controlled way through such a landscape is not easy. We were unable to fill all of these positions with individuals knowledgeable about stockmanship, and were forced to hire from within our regular staff, creating staffing shortfalls on the home ranch.

Training included 2 days of stockmanship school. While this was adequate for team members, it was inadequate for team leaders/crew bosses. We ended up adding knowledgeable individuals from our home ranch staff.

The difficulty of locating individuals with these skills was discussed by members of the Central Idaho Rangelands Network (CIRN), and there is talk of creating a “conservation rider” career path in cooperation with the University of Idaho. Brainstorming sessions by the group have resulted in a list of desired skills and abilities for a conservation rider, and a committee is developing a more extensive list. University of Idaho, The Nature Conservancy, and the CIRN have already worked on some projects together, and this is a reasonable extension of that relationship.

Implement ecological monitoring on the allotment to access ecological success of inherding.

   GPS tracking of cattle movement

Using the handheld Garmin units was a low-budget way of tracking cattle movement and was effective. It did, however, require significant post-processing time in order to generate a useful set of data points and maps of the area. Ideally, cattle would be fitted with tracking collars similar to those used in wildlife studies. This would eliminate operator error in remembering to turn on or take along the GPS units, and would make processing easier because each unit would produce a single file, rather than the multiple files that our approach created, all of which had to be manually put together and scanned for duplication.

Maps prepared from this data are very useful. Never before has the information about where exactly cattle grazed within the 70 square miles of the Hat Creek Allotment been available. The information is very useful to biologists monitoring wildlife and fish habitat on the allotment to know where to target their efforts. It was also useful to us as operators on the allotment working with resource specialists for each agency to plan grazing for the 2017 field season.

Results of GPS data tracking by herders. Boundaries in yellow are 100 ft buffers around tracks, and represent a reasonable estimate of the areas that were grazed during the 2016 grazing season. These data are only useful because the herd was kept together throughout the grazing season. No other cattle grazed the allotment, and the location of every beef animal on the allotment was known at all times. The herd  essentially followed a clockwise pattern around the allotment, moving from low country to higher country as lower elevation forage cured. Elevation gain was approximately 4000 ft. The entire center of the allotment was ungrazed.

   Permanent Photopoints.

The 249 permanent photopoints established as part of this study- upland, camp areas, and riparian- bring the total number of permanent photopoints on this allotment to over 600. No other allotment in Idaho has this extensive of a photographic record of range conditions, and the points are well distributed over the allotment. While no interpretation was done as part of the 2016 work, the photopoints will provide an extensive qualitative data base of the condition of the allotment for future reference.

These photopoints are unique in that each photo is geotagged with the UTM location of the photo. In addition, the full series of 24 photos taken at each photopoint allows for interpretation of plant community composition and ground cover. This is in contrast to typical rangeland photopoints that often only have one or a few photos associated with the photopoint, a holdover from earlier days when photo points were recorded with film, and were expensive to process and curate.

   Upland Utilization

Typically, utilization patterns are heavily influenced by water locations and slope. Inherding changes that.

The image below is from the Bear Basin pasture. No live water, riparian vegetation, or mesic meadows occur in this pasture. The only source of water is a tank, depicted by a red dot. Around the tank is the "night paddock," where cattle are confined during the night hours, and where they access water during the day. The night paddock is depicted by a green rectangle. This paddock is constructed of two strands of electric fence (hot and ground), charged by a solar powered energizer.

Thumbtacks represent the start and end points of utilization transects. The numbers associated with the transects are the utilization level on the key species, bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata). The same utilization number is associated with the start and end of the transect, so transect location and direction are shown by those matching numbers.

Utilization levels ranged from a high of 59% to a low of 3% and clearly do not follow typical utilization levels that occur when cattle are simply left in a pasture (very heavy use near the water, light or no use further out). Our goal for this project was to maintain 30% or less utilization but there are some lessons in the pattern and the areas of use that were higher than our goal.

Cattle were typically taken from the night pen and moved northwest along the two track leading from the water tank. The crew had been told that no grazing could occur east of the road, and utilization measure there showed that they heeded that directive, with utilization below 4% (likely grazed by native ungulates). To avoid this area the typical daily path to reach grazing to the north and west was to move cattle northwest along the road and then southwest up the draw. The other common path was to continue past the draw and then west through the area marked by the turquoise circle. These data made us realize that we had to think harder about ingress and egress from the night paddock, and in 2017, we planned movements from night paddocks in order to avoid higher levels of utilization along paths radiating from the night paddock.

These utilization data also demonstrated that crew members needed training in getting an "eye" for utilization levels, so that they could move cattle on once limits were approached. Nearly all of the crew participated in capturing utilization data for this pasture, which gave them a sense of what various utilization levels looked like on the ground as the remainder of the season progressed.

   Streamside utilization/greenline transects

Of the 51 randomly located utilization sampling locations shown in the map below, only at two locations was there measurable domestic livestock use. The 22% location shown in the map below is in a water gap area, and a portion of the transect was used as a deliberately placed and fenced water gap (approximately 1/5 of the sampled stream length). The 35% transect shown on the map was a crossing spot chosen to impact riparian values as little as possible. The remaining locations showed no domestic livestock use.

It is important to note that the locations showing livestock use were ones that had been deliberately planned, and were judged to be areas where use would minimally affect riparian attributes. The purpose of using a random sample of all available riparian areas was to demonstrate that in spite of grazing much of the allotment, the only locations where cattle used riparian areas were areas that were selected. The sampling clearly demonstrates the success at meeting this objective.

One non-riparian observation is worth noting. Standards for sage grouse not only address riparian vegetation along streams, but also include mesic meadow vegetation. We avoided these areas through herding, but on the tour with agency biologists we examined several of these mesic meadows. None of them made standards, which means we were technically in violation of our permit stubble height standards for these areas. The culprits, easily identified by scat, were native elk, not cattle.

   Sampling at Previous 2015 Camps

Visually, the difference at the sampled site between inside and outside the Bear Basin Pasture night pen one year after use was barely detectable. Point line intercept found minimal differences between litter and canopy cover. Basal cover was significantly less within the night pen, but bare ground was also less (Table 1. Both significant at p=0.10).  More cushion type plants that provide both canopy and soil surface coverage (Phlox hoodii, Happlopappus uniflorus, Eriogonum cespitosum, Penstemon aridus) occurred outside the night pen, but this seemed to be a natural distribution rather than one caused by cattle. Similar higher density areas of these plants occurred within the night pen, suggestion soil features likely caused the pattern.

Table 1. Canopy cover, percent bare ground (with no cover at all), basal vegetative cover, and litter values inside and just outside the night pen at Bare Basin Pasture. (* p=0.10, n=5)

Plant composition measurements of frequency, density, and cover showed no significant differences between the area used as a night pen in 2015, and vegetation ungrazed in 2015 immediately outside the night pen. While there may have been some differences that would have been detected with a higher sample size (n=5), it could be argued that these differences would not be ecologically meaningful anyway. Table 2 shows results for frequency.

Table 2. Percent frequency inside and outside the night pen at the Bear Basin Pasture for the three primary species of bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), and three-tipped sagebrush (Artemisia tripartita).

While results for the night pen at the Bear Basin Pasture showed little difference inside and outside the night pen, observations at other camps where the night pens were smaller and sites less harsh did demonstrate a visual difference. The photos below show the vegetative response at the Big Hat Camp. Plant composition remained similar, but plant vigor and cover were clearly higher within the night pen area compared to the plants just outside the night pen.

This suggests that although night pens appear heavily disturbed immediately after use, recovery the following year is complete.

Vegetation inside the 2015 night pen photographed early July 2016. Plants are perennial natives.

Vegetation just outside the 2015 night pen, photographed in early July 2016. Photo is approximately 20 feet away from the night pen photo above.

Implement herding and assess level of control by herders.

This was considered a complete success. No cattle were lost, cattle were controlled 100% throughout the entire grazing season, no losses occurred due to poisonous plants, no wolf interactions occurred, and no unplanned use of riparian or spring areas occurred.

One of our objectives on this allotment since we began using it in 2005 was to encourage recovery of aspen stands, many of which were comprised of decadent old even age overstory and a continually browsed understory. Throughout much of the allotment aspen regeneration is now above browse height for cattle. This picture also shows that with inherding, areas with abundant deadly larkspur (the bright blue flower in the picture) could be safely grazed. These stands are grazed quickly and lightly and we observed that cattle actively avoid larkspur as long as there is abundant alternative forage available.

Track costs and benefits in order to economically assess Inherding as a potential viable tool for range managers.

Costs were tracked for labor and equipment costs throughout the summer of 2016 and into the fall.

Table 3. Inherding costs by activity for labor.

Table 4. Inherding Costs: Supplies and Equipment

Table 5. Summary of costs by class for inherding in 2015.

Total costs in 2016 (using amortized values for some of the supplies) is $82,103.15. Total number of head of cattle grazed was 210 and the average daily gain was 1.52 lbs/day over a 95 day grazing season.

Excluding costs that were not directly a part of herding and animal care and summing up only costs classified as logistics, herding, and training, the total cost of inherding in 2016 was $64,803.10, or $3.25 per day per animal.

Clearly the model implemented during our pilot project is in no way cost effective in comparison with private pasture rates of approximately $1.00/ day. But there are several factors that can be changed that may make inherding more competitive with private pasture rates:

1. Increase number of head. All herders agreed that 2-3 times the number of livestock could be controlled with the same number of herders. This change alone would bring costs closely in line with private pasture rates.
2. Increase gain. 2016 was a very dry year. Forage cured early, water systems were inadequate, and cattle were not watered sufficiently. Daily average gains of 1.5 lbs is disappointing. Changes made for the 2017 grazing season in water systems and camp locations should improve weight gains.
3. Decrease costs. The allotment in which inherding was trialed is one of the most difficult grazing ranges in central Idaho. Access is very poor and vehicle access requires over an hour of travel over very poor roads, thus increasing costs for time, vehicles, and other equipment. While the nature of the allotment is obviously not going to change, there are opportunities to reduce these costs. In 2016, crews were switched every three days. This will be increased to four days in 2017. Horses will be kept in larger paddocks in camp for most of the summer, thus reducing trailer trips with horses. Teams will generally be 2 person rather than 3 person teams as they were in 2016. Through changes in camp locations and the addition of stock dogs, 2 people can provide adequate control, even with additional cattle. Training costs can be reduced by forgoing the pre-herding training (about a week in 2016), and replacing it with on the job training during the first 2 weeks of herding.

Coordinate with stakeholders and potential partners / Disseminate information.

Coordination and information sharing is a never-ending task, so it is difficult to assess success. Three operators from a 3 state area are asking for guidance from us on how they can implement the inherding concept on their ranges in 2017. We hope with the additional press in the next few months that we will have more interest.

A few members of the Central Idaho Rangelands Network were so interested in the project that they proposed we develop an “ecological range rider” job description and proposed curriculum to bring to state universities.

The Idaho Office of Species Conservation recognized that the inherding approach was a potential solution to predator conflicts with ranchers, and partnered with us to implement inherding for the 2017 grazing season.

What We Learned

The closeout sessions with the crew, and additional discussions during the fall and winter, yielded valuable insights. These are summarized here.

About Camps

The camps provide a base of operations for grazing and herders. Camps included a human area with a tarp "cook shack," small backpacking tents, and in some camps a fire ring (for part of the summer before fire restrictions on public lands). Gear included: small propane cook stove, hard-sided bear-proof camp cooler (stayed in camp), first aid kit, GPS hard sided storage containers, camp chairs, camp table, lantern, clothesline, bear line and bear bag, sleeping pads in the tents. Herders brought their own food, clothes, sleeping bag, and tack on each switch cycle. All herders agreed that the camps were adequate and comfortable for the riders.

Camps were designed to be leave-no-trace. At the end of a camp's use, all equipment was removed, the fire ring dismantled, and the area raked.

Camps also included a horse area that was large enough to include good grazing and an access to water- either a tank or a small water gap. Horses needed to be able to eat in their grazing pen, since some horses were used for a few days in a row. Horse pens were constructed with single wire hot wire. Depending on the horse, animals that were not be used were sometimes allowed to roam freely with the herd for the days graze. Some horses required confinement because they knew the way home, even though it was 20 plus miles to the home ranch. Herders agreed that horse pens were sometimes inadequate to provide enough forage for horses to maintain body condition.

Camps also included a night pen for cattle. In some camps, these could be sited in dark timber that naturally had deep duff and little ground vegetation. These areas could be raked and reclaimed at the end of the use period with little visual evidence left to a casual observer. In other camps, night pens were constructed in sagebrush/ grass plant communities, and the physical impacts of woody plant breakage and ground trampling created a visually obvious use area- but only for the remainder of that growing season. By the following growing season, these areas had recovered, and actually looked "better" than areas outside of the night pens. Night pens remain, however, the most difficult aspect of this project for agency personal to accept, in part because of the visual impact, but also because of the requirements for outfitters to leave no trace of their stock.

About Water

Water remains a difficult issue. There are limited off-stream water developments within the allotment. While one of the objectives of the project is to minimize use of riparian areas and springs, cattle performance is also critical to the economic success of the project. In 2016, weight gains were impacted by lack of water. If the project is going to continue to limit livestock access to natural water, more water developments are needed. In 2017 we will be experimenting with temporary water systems that keep cattle from riparian areas while providing adequate water for good weight gains and cattle health.

About Herding Crews

Stockmanship training on the open meadows of the home ranch failed to provide necessary skills for herding cattle on the more difficult country of Hat Creek Allotment. Staff suggested to possible solutions. The first was to set up an obstacle course on the home ranch that would test some of the stockmanship skills taught during training. The second was to have the entire staff work on the range for the first week or two, with experienced herders working one on one with new hires. All agreed that it was unreasonable to expect the crew boss to be both in charge of moving cattle, and watching and correcting new staff on stockmanship during the first few weeks.

Herding can be done with 2 people and a couple of good dogs, but three people provides more control and flexibility.

Ecological training is too complex for new hires, who are also learning herding, horsemanship and stockmanship. Crew bosses should receive ecological training before the field season starts, and then communicate that knowledge to teams while on-site.

We found crews comprised of both men and women to be more effective than crews comprised of a single gender.

In Summary

Results from 2016 were encouraging enough to pursue continued efforts with the project in 2017. We will continue to adapt the model to improve the economic feasibility, while meeting ecological objectives. It is our hope that the model can serve to demonstrate that full time herding can transform domestic cattle from a negative impact on western wildlands to being recognized as a potentially powerful ecological tool.