Ranching in Harmony with the Land: Portraits of Stewardship

Interested in running a ranch successfully? Right from the get-go, you need to understand that ranching requires great vision, an ability to balance animal health, plant diversity and water quality with a ranch's profitability in a sustainable way. This 35-minute video from the University of Idaho Extension and the Idaho Rangeland Resource Commission (2001) will help you think through these issues in profiles of three long-standing family ranching operations in southwestern Idaho. Along with presenting an overview of the changing dynamics involved in range management, the ranchers discuss how strategies like rest-rotation systems and management-intensive grazing have helped to reduce fire hazards, displace invasive plant species and strengthen plant diversity.