Last month The High Lonesome Ranch hosted the Woodwell Climate Research Center and friends for a small gathering of great minds. The Rangeland Soil Health Conference, sponsored by the Mighty Arrow Foundation, was three days of panels, discussions, and workshops centering the role of western range management in climate mitigation strategies.

The first panel featured practitioners from large ranches in California, Colorado and Nebraska. There was a mix of production oriented producers and science oriented ranches. Each ranch had different goals in order to achieve their desired outcomes, but all recognized the various ecosystem services provided by good management of these landscapes. The speakers dove into some nitty gritty details, from how to account for elk grazing pressure to thoughts around market place offerings such as virtual fencing and carbon credits.

The second panel was focused on how to support land managers to optimize ecosystem services, with speakers from The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and The National Audubon Society. Together, along with others such as TomKat Ranch, these groups have dubbed themselves “Green Groups Graze,” collaborating to promote grazing as a critical strategy for improving rangeland soil health. One strategy that was particularly interesting was this idea of “rancher to rancher” learning. It will be critical to bring together the ranching community on a hyper local level to talk about what practices have worked in their context to make them more resilient in a changing climate. Many other topics were covered like financial incentives such as price premiums, educational/technical assistance, ecotourism opportunities, policy and advocacy, and necessary monitoring and research.

The next panel covered what meaningful indicators should be used to evaluate success of a ranch. They considered economic indicators like profitability, social indicators such as community impact and engagement, and ecological indicators as well as methods for monitoring these. Of course not all indicators are necessarily accurately measured, which lead seamlessly into the next discussion about soil carbon sequestration.

Conference attendees stepped out on to the ranch to look at our soils. We looked at 2 soil pits each dug about 5 feet deep. The first pit was in an irrigated hay field. It showed the benefits of extra water- well developed roots, good soil cover, and soil aggregation in the root zone. However, the history of tillage was obvious in this pit with hard compaction layers evident. Next attendees looked at an adjacent soil that had never been irrigated or tilled. The cover of grasses was reduced in this dry land area, but without the tillage layer, fine roots from the native grasses penetrated the full five feet of exposed soil. Woodwell soil scientists stressed the importance of minimizing tillage for boosting soil health and productivity.

The second day consisted mostly of discussions around policy and carbon markets as tools for incentivizing good land stewardship. We began with an overview of the current state of emissions and methods for capture carbon. Tech based methods to capture and store carbon like direct air capture and BECCS proved to be very costly and not tech ready. Natural methods were shown to be low cost, available to scale today, and provide many co benefits. These methods included soil carbon sequestration, biochar and others.

We moved into a detailed presentation about soil carbon markets, particularly soil credits. There are over 170 soil credits, each with its own developer, protocol, practices covered, and program details. In each step of this process there are numerous entities involved, which was acknowledged as a weak point of the design. Each group not only had their own agenda, but they also take their own fee off the top, which detracts from the payments to the land managers actually capturing the carbon. Through a detailed analysis of a dozen or so of these soil credit protocols, it was shown that none were rigorous enough to prove actual impact.

The last day of the conference was dedicated at exploring advocacy and advancing policy to support ranchers and land stewards. Speakers walked conference attendees through the legislative process emphasizing where the participants, whether non-profit workers, scientists, or ranchers, could help to better inform law makers on the needs of ranchers. More support for ranchers means better outcomes for wildlife, soil, recreation, and healthier rural economies.

The ranch staff was excited to host such a dedicated and dynamic group of stakeholders in the ranching community. HLR’s mission is to support regenerative ranching practices and to help support ranchers. This conference is a great example of what we hope to do, providing a center and facilities for these conversations on Colorado’s Western Slope.

There is a lot of talk out there about the environmental impact of cattle. One thing needs to be made clear: not all cattle have the same environmental impact. Not all grass-finished beef helps build soil. Not all grain finished beef destroys our planet.

It all depends on management.

This is why we say “it’s not the cow, it’s the how.” And that’s the truth!

The truth is, herds of ruminants and grasslands depend on each other to thrive. Grasslands cannot be healthy without fertilization of manure, urine and even saliva (tons of microbes in that saliva!) of ruminant animals (like cattle, bison, and elk). And the reverse is true as well- healthy grasslands make healthier animals (that one is obvious though).

This is why we manage our cattle in a way that mimics how historic herds of elk and bison moved across the landscape- in one big herd that moved frequently. We don’t let our animals loaf and overgraze, and we let the land recover for about a year before we return.

This practice builds soil.

Healthy soil stores carbon, absorbs and filters precipitation, cycles nutrients, grows better forage, breaks down methane, supports more wildlife- I could go on and on.

So the answer to the question “Do cows help build soil?”- Yes, they can with proper management, and yes OURS DO.

It is nearly impossible to trace the life cycle of beef you buy in a grocery store. So many questions go unanswered- what did the cow eat? How long was it transported? What was the butchering process like? When you buy directly from a rancher you can get answers to all of these questions.

Our grass-finished beef is processed in a couple different ways right here in Western Colorado.

No-Stress Field Harvest

When you pre-order a quarter, half or whole cow we use a State Inspected Facility for several awesome reasons.

The first reason is that the processing costs are kept down.

Another great reason is that the butcher comes to the ranch to do a no-stress field harvest, which means no travel time for the animal.

The butcher takes the pared down carcass back to their facility, and any extra remains are composted right on the ranch.

Usually the meat is hung and dry aged for 2-3 weeks before butchering, BUT we do offer another option.

Non-aged Beef. When you pre-order a half or whole you can opt out of the aging process and have your beef frozen within hours of harvest. This option accommodates the needs of low histamine diets. The short time from harvest to freezer eliminates the opportunity for bacteria to thrive. Pre-order your low histamine non-aged beef today!

Low-Stress Harvest

When you buy a ready-to-ship Rancher’s Choice bundle on the website, this beef was processed at a USDA Inspected Facility in Montrose, which is 2 hours away from the ranch. This is a relatively short distance for an animal to travel be processed. In the US, it is not uncommon for animal to be transported 8,10, or even 14 hours to be processed. That’s a long time and a stressful proposition. Our cattle (like most) are accustomed to being transported a few times if not more throughout their life. But we only haul them short distances, never more than a couple hours. When it comes time to be transported to the butcher, the 2 hour drive proves to be easy and low stress as they load right into the trailer.

The animal is harvested the same day it arrives, then the beef is dry aged for 2-3 weeks before butchering.

If you still have questions please do not hesitate to reach out.

The High Lonesome Ranch and its’ Board of Directors are pleased to announce that Travis Brooks is joining the Ranch as our new General Manager.

As General Manager, Travis will help lead and support the HLR team in its operations in Livestock & Agriculture and the growing regenerative agriculture practices the Ranch is undertaking to care for the nearly 225,000 acres of deeded and permitted lands while providing guests with an unparalleled experience with the many activities on offer.

Travis was raised in northern Arizona spending his childhood outdoors. He is an avid sportsman with interest in archery and rifle hunting big game, upland bird hunting, fly and cast fishing, shooting sports, and horsemanship.

After high school, Travis attended Arizona State University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture. Subsequent to working in the development field for 8 years, he attended Colorado State University earning a Masters of Natural Resource Stewardship in Range Ecology. He has worked for several large ranches across Colorado as Operations Director and Ranch Manager before coming onboard with The High Lonesome Ranch as the General Manager.

As a private land manager, He has a passion for land stewardship as well as capital improvement projects. This is especially true when working in collaboration with others and designing projects with multiple advantages such as irrigation and wildlife habitat improvement.