Wildfire Risk Reduction with Good Livestock Management

Friday evening I was sitting on my sister’s deck as we phoned my brother about the fire fighting on his ranch about 250 kms north of us. The last 36 hours had been hectic but they managed to prevent the spread of the fire from getting too deep into their large ranch. With several thousand cattle on the property, including over a couple thousand cows actively calving, there was a lot at stake. While smaller operations were able to evacuate livestock, at the scale of this farm the focus remained on fighting fire and fire guard preparations to protect critical livestock areas. Evacuation of a herd this size at calving time is an impossibility.

After the call, my sister and I started talking about the smoke plumes growing to the west of her own house adjacent to a large residential area. There is a small bush line about three blocks to the west of her house that seemed to be the source. After going for a quick drive up the hill the flames became visible, as were the emergency lights of the firetruck onsite with several other emergency vehicle lights approaching. Luckily in about 20 minutes the fire was under control.

Much of the province is very dry after a dry fall and winter, before new growth takes hold.

An hour later my brother, at close to 11:00 pm, sent a disturbing image of a new fire raging about two miles to the southeast of his ranch, opposite the mostly extinguished fire that ripped through the west end of the ranch the day before. The wind was strong and gusting from the southeast.

As I drove up in the morning after picking up supplies, my sister-in-law called and explained after a long night that things were under control and the raging fire was diminished. We agreed to meet up after they got home and had some rest.

Meanwhile, the strong easterly winds continued to rage and communities further west remained in danger. Evacuations and road closures were in force in the region. On Sunday, Alberta would declare a state of emergency. ?

At the time of this writing, the ranch missed much of the limited rain of the last few days since the weekend. Significant risks remain and fire breaks are expanded.

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Excellent livestock management reduces wildfire risk

On Saturday after they had some rest, my family gave a tour to some extended family and myself to survey the damage and monitor the situation. The relatively dry conditions the last 6-8 months and the fire’s behavior really highlighted the benefits of good livestock management practices, particularly the rotational grazing and other grazing practices on the ranch. Despite the dry conditions, the grass is taller and greener on the ranch than on nearby ranches that continually graze.

Rotational grazing:

• During the growing season the cow herd and yearling groups are divided into smaller groups and moved every 1-2 days to a different parcel of pasture. This reduces the grazing damage to the active area and the grass will grow back at a faster rate. Root systems develop deeper over time. In a drought year, this means greener grass sooner in the season and was a main contributor to the relatively slow movement of the ground fire that enabled a small crew to keep the fire contained while fire breaks were constructed on perimeters. ?
• ?As an aside, from a land use and productivity benefit, such practices allow the pasture to hold about three times the volume possible compared to land being continually grazed. As a result, the ranch is also home to large numbers of elk and other wildlife, without really impacting the overall productivity of the ranch.

Winter bale grazing:

• Most farmers feed livestock over the winter with tractors or feed trucks daily. On this ranch, less-intensive bale grazing methods are utilized instead. In the fall many hay and straw bales are placed in rows and twines are removed. During the winter, an electric wire fence keeps the cows limited to a small area of the field until the bales are cleaned up, then the fence is moved to allow access to new bales.
• In the spring these fields are brown due to the trampled residual organic matter left from the bales along with plenty of manure left from the cows, especially around the rows where the bales were. This is excellent fertilizer value that promotes growth for years to come. ?
• We drove past a section of a pasture bale grazed the prior year - after a full growing season rotationally grazed. While the entire field was far greener and lusher than the brown, dry continually, grazed pastures of neighbours - it was clearly apparent where the bales were placed in rows. New grass growth was about twice the height where the bales were than the rest of the greening pasture.

Forest grazing:

• Much of the ranch is an idyllic mix of pasture and forested areas over miles of rolling hills. Since last year was dry, the cows grazed also within the treed areas. In a wet year there is plenty to eat on clear pasture, so cattle do not bother to graze the bush. Years ago my brother and his wife contemplated clearing sections of forest to allow larger grazing spaces. However, they determined that leaving the forests provided an exceptional natural habitat for other creatures as well as provided a feed source reserve during drought years.
• When the fire entered grazed forests, it found little fuel besides the shorter growth left from fall grazing and smaller trees. The fire blackened larger trees’ trunks but didn’t get to burn long enough to engulf the forest or burn fence posts. However, the ranch contains several adjacent and internal forested properties that landowners do not want to be grazed. These properties were hit a lot harder by the fire as there was plenty of ground-level fuel to create enough heat to take out the forest and surrounding fence work. ?

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Many of the methods used on the ranch are a great example of the best ways to manage a cow-calf herd. Regenerative agriculture is a term that has come into fashion in the last half-decade. My brother’s wife and he have been managing this way for a couple of decades.

In the beginning, such methods faced opposition from the older generation at times. It takes patience to let overgrazed pastures heal before the benefits are realized. Less human intervention with livestock can also be eyebrow-raising.

Many ranchers talk about busy calving seasons with a couple of hundred head of cows – there are over 4000 cows calving this year under their management across a couple of regions and managed by a minimal crew. The cows and their offspring are thriving.

I have been impressed over the years watching my brother and his wife manage and expand operations. When we were growing up our dad farmed with three of his brothers. The operation today is roughly three or four times the size. Managing this fire during seeding time and calving season is an incredible additional stress and workload that could break managers. ?Instead, they are calm, measured, and balanced. In the spaces between urgency, their four children played with us and provided necessary comedic relief. ?

I hope the rains come and remove the fire risk from this season soon. In a month the pastures will be lush and calving close to wrapped up. There will be a lot of work to do to build fences and repair the damage caused by the fire breaks. They are hoping the worst of the damage is behind them.