Outcome-Based Grazing is a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) initiative that aims to offer increased flexibility in livestock grazing authorizations, to promote ecological health and livestock operation sustainability.
What is Outcome-Based Grazing?
Outcome-Based Grazing is an approach to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grazing authorizations intended to improve the BLM's management of public lands livestock grazing. By incorporating objectives, flexibilities, and monitoring plans into the terms and conditions of grazing authorizations, Outcome-Based Grazing allows the BLM and livestock operators to better respond to changing on-the-ground conditions such as:
Environmental Changes: Including drought, extreme weather, wildfire, stockwater and forage availability
Operational Changes: Including BLM or ranch staff turnover, livestock manager changes, and variation in herd composition
Outcome-Based Grazing incorporates pre-authorized grazing plan modifications, called flexibilities, into grazing authorizations, to give livestock operators an increased ability to respond in a timely way to changes Mother Nature has in store for us.
Some examples of flexibilities:
Changes in livestock numbers
Changes in rotation timing and duration
Changes to grazing season dates in response to an annual conditions
Targeted grazing implementation
The Goals:
Ensure livestock operators have the ability to collaboratively manage ranching operations to provide for healthy rangelands and wildlife habitat, while being economically sustainable
Decrease response time to changing field conditions
Support enhanced partnerships for managing public lands livestock grazing
Implement grazing based on conservation and ecological outcomes
Cooperatively improve, manage and protect public lands
Provide livestock managers the ability to make decisions based on experience, objectives, monitoring, and knowledge of local conditions
Achieve positive economic and social outcomes
Learn more:
Outcome-Based Grazing Demonstration Projects
The goal of Outcome-Based Grazing is to provide rangeland managers with the flexibility to change their grazing plan in ways that will help adapt to challenges that arise in their particular landscape in any given season.
Every livestock operation is different—and therefore each Outcome-Based Grazing authorization is designed to provide flexibility options tailored to the needs of each operation.
Demonstration projects on specific ranches are being used to demonstrate and develop best practices for the Outcome-Based Grazing program. Eleven livestock operations across the West were selected as Demonstration Projects that included an OBG alternative in their authorization renewal process. Eight of these projects have fully processed and are now implementing the objectives, flexibilities and monitoring plans that were developed collaboratively in their grazing authorizations.
As the projects progress, they give BLM and partners information and experience for developing consistent national policy to implement Outcome-Based Grazing as a standard practice.
Click on the following to read about each of the ranches demonstrating Outcome-Based Grazing:
Battle Mountain, Nevada
Frenchglen, Oregon
Craig, Colorado
Plush, Oregon
Hollister, Idaho
Wells, Nevada
Rawlins, Wyoming
