Land Management Objectives

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Before starting a project using sheep, goats, or other livestock as land-enhancing tools, several assessments must be made. First, the landowner should set a land management goal and describe the final goal for the landscape. This should then be discussed with the targeted grazing service provider. An effective service provider conducts an initial site analysis, stays in communication with the landowner, and makes the final decision as to whether livestock are the best solution to attain the landscape goal.

Using the vegetative grazing preferences of animals like sheep, goats, and cattle, one can suppress or eliminate certain undesirable plants from a landscape and encourage other more desirable species. If a landowner’s management needs coincide with an animal’s grazing preferences, targeted grazing can be a powerful and cost-effective tool for reaching those land management goals.

For targeted grazing services to work effectively, however, the land manager must have a clear long-term vegetative goal. What should the land look like when it has been restored? This is the most important question that a land manager must answer for targeted grazing to be effective. Once the desired outcome is clearly known and described, a skilled service provider can employ the correct animal species and advise the best options to reach these landscape goals.

Site restoration using grazing entails two phases. The first is to suppress undesirable plants and restore a desired plant community. The second is to maintain that desirable community indefinitely. These two phases use different grazing approaches, take different lengths of time, have different costs per acre, and, in some cases, may even use different species or breeds of livestock.

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