Western Ranchers Can Have Beef AND Bobwhites … New NBCI Publication Details How

A new, online, 8-page publication from the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI) details how western beef producers can increase bobwhite populations on their ranches with minimal impact on their bottom line.

“Rangeland in the western reaches of bobwhite range, when grazed appropriately, provides tremendous opportunities to support the NBCI goals for population recovery,” said NBCI Grasslands Coordinator Jef Hodges. “We believe ranchers interested in increasing bobwhite numbers while not sacrificing their bottom line will find this publication helpful.

“Grazing Strategies for Beef Production and Bobwhites in Western Bobwhite Range” provides numerous strategies for maintaining both beef and bobwhites, noting that “… as a general rule, good range management [for cattle] is paramount to producing quality bobwhite habitat,” and … “there are techniques for grazing that have no or minimal impact on your bottom line, and under some circumstances may actually improve your profit while improving overall health and vigor of targeted native species and habitat for bobwhites.”

The publication examines continuous grazing, deferred grazing, deferred rotation, patch-burn grazing and multi-paddock rotational grazing, as well as experimental systems.

The new publication is available for downloading on the NBCI website at https://tinyurl.com/y6ruhyt3.

About NBCI

Headquartered at the University of Tennessee’s Institute of Agriculture/Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, NBCI is a science and habitat-based initiative of the National Bobwhite Technical Committee (NBTC) to elevate bobwhite quail recovery from an individual state-by-state proposition to a coordinated, range-wide leadership endeavor to restore wild bobwhites on a landscape scale. The committee is comprised of representatives of 25 state wildlife agencies, various academic research institutions and private conservation organizations. Support for NBCI is provided by the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Program, state wildlife agencies, the Joe Crafton Family Endowment for Quail Initiatives, the University of Tennessee, Quail & Upland Game Alliance, Park Cities Quail and Roundstone Native Seed.