Using chemicals to help manage grazing lands

We often get asked if we use chemicals for managing invasive and noxious weeds on our grazing lands, and the simple answer is yes. But there's a longer explanation about why and how we use chemicals that doesn't fit neatly in an Instagram post so I wanted to take some time to get into the weeds, so to speak.

The majority of Colvin Ranch is protected by a conservation easement, so we work closely with our partners at NRCS on our grazing plan. We make yearly adjustments based on the weather, how plant populations are growing (or not), and a number of other factors. There's flexibility built into the management plan because that's what nature requires - if you manage the same piece of ground the exact same way for decades, things eventually shift in a way you might not want them to.

We use a variety of techniques for managing and restoring our pastures, including hand-pulling noxious weeds like tansy and thistle, strategically grazing during certain times of the year to target undesirable plants, mowing brush, and spot-spraying with chemicals. One field we have been working on restoring to silvopasture had a bad Scotch broom problem, and spraying was the only realistic way to deal with it at that scale. 

No one wants to eat beef that has been eating chemicals, and I get that. That's not something I would want to feed my family. So we take a strategic approach to the use of chemicals. We don't broadcast spray in fields where we have cattle. We target our spraying to invasive and noxious weeds like Scotch broom, Himalayan blackberry, and other species that would be impossible to eradicate otherwise, and that cattle don't eat anyway. It's just another tool in the toolbox that we use to the manage the land in the best way possible for the wildlife and the cattle that live here. 

If you have any questions about how we raise our cattle, we'd be happy to chat. Send us an email at info@colvinranch.com or give us a call at 360-339-8465.