Utah ranchers forming LLC in innovative grazing plan

Ranchers in northern Utah are consolidating their grazing permits and livestock to implement rest rotational grazing across 10 allotments and 136,000 acres. The project aimed to demonstrate good stewardship, switching to rest rotational grazing across 136,000 acres, consolidating 3,200 cows into two herds of 1,600 and facilitating three summer bands and four winter bands of sheep. The allotments allow 17,218 AUMS, and the plan is to rest about 20 percent of range annually. An AUM is the amount of forage needed to sustain one cow and her calf, one horse, or five sheep or goats for a month. The management principles incorporate duration of grazing, season of use and grazing intensity, focused on animal and plant health. Most of the fencing to facilitate a large-scale pasture system already existed, but improvements to the water system were needed.