Strategic Grazing Management for Complex Creative Systems

Abstract

Rangelands are complex systems because the dy- namic relationships between their parts result in self-organization, emergent properties, and unpredictable behavior. This panarchy of nested adaptive cycles1 that oscillate between order and chaos is what many land managers call “the real world.” Considerable debate in the rangeland profession, and especially within the ranching community, surrounds our notions of the ef cacy of planned grazing management to achieve plant commu- nity, livestock production, and pro tability goals. A variety of rotational deferment, rest, and grazing approaches have been promoted and applied by managers from geographically disparate regions. Rotational grazing (a single herd moved through multiple paddocks) in particular has been applied in many variations (e.g., rational, high-intensity/low-frequency, short-duration, time-control, management-intensive, or cell grazing). Often rotations are installed on a rigid calendar ba- sis, sometimes adapted to unique on-site conditions.

DOI: 10.2458/azu_rangelands_v35i5_barnes