By Jeff M. Martin, Jameson Brennan, and Kristi Cammack
Originally published in RMBA’s January 2025 newsletter.
The SDSU Center of Excellence for Bison Studies (BisonCOE) has been busy creating resources for bison producers.
They are always freely available on our website: www.sdstate.edu/BisonCOE. There, you will find on the right-hand side links to resources and to Extension materials.
In particular, a new bison management planning document was released, developed in collaboration with USDA-NRCS, and can be found on our “Resources” page (https://shorturl.at/87a2W). This new document provides summary information for producers and USDA-Farm Production and Conservation agents to become more acquainted with applying various NRCS Conservation Practice Standards (CPS) with bison, such as CPS-528: “Prescribed Grazing”.
For example, CPS-528 aims to manage vegetation harvest with grazing animals to achieve ecological, economic, and management objectives that work with the natural behaviors of bison that are uniquely different from those of beef cattle, including daily movement distances, forage preferences, and water use. Overall, the section emphasizes the importance of tailored, flexible grazing plans that consider the bison’s unique behaviors and ecological impacts.
At this upcoming RMBA spring conference on March 1-2 in Fort Collins, Dr. Jameson Brennan will provide a presentation on how to make the connection between grazing practices and soil health and discuss measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification practices to open up new markets for Climate Smart practices.