By: Larry D. White, Extension Range Specialist; William E. Fox, Extension Range Associate
Have you ever needed something bad enough to plan, scheme, maneuver and work hard to achieve it? Did you succeed? What happened if you failed to achieve what you needed? Did you give up, or did you re-evaluate the situation and try again?
What do the above questions have to do with rangelands and natural resource management?
The primary function of management is to identify goals (needs), develop a plan, implement the plan, allocate resources and activities and achieve goals. For a ranch owner, the highest priority “needs” may be to avoid bankruptcy for another year; increase net worth; improve range, animal, personnel, physical or financial resources; and provide an adequate lifestyle for one’s family.
Management decisions and personnel activities should focus on achieving identifiable goals or objectives. For example, consider a hired employee working on a ranch. Why is the employee willing to work? Although he may like ranching, he has two types of goals to be achieved. He “needs” adequate financial returns to buy food, shelter, clothing, medical care, transportation, pay taxes, etc. for himself and his family. He also “wants” a more enjoyable and secure lifestyle. The employee must achieve financial “needs” each and every year, while accumulating savings or borrowing capacity to cover any potential crisis situations. The amount of resources he or she will have available for “wants” is his or her financial return minus survival expenses (needs).
Effective management carefully allocates income to pay survival expenses before using funds to satisfy wants. Sometimes sacrificing or delaying purchase of a “want” so that resources can be invested may improve future income and one’s overall standard of living or future security. It is risky to jeopardize long-term sustainability for short-term gain.
Rangeland resources reflect the way they have been managed as well as environmental factors. Like the employee described earlier, a ranch, pasture, range site or animal has specific needs. Management must effectively allocate resources to specific activities within natural environmental processes occurring at the time and plan for future needs.
For a natural resource manager to properly allocate resources, the “needs” and “wants” of each resource must be defined. “Needs” must be achieved and, therefore, become the goals of management. Goals must be achievable, realistic and not conflicting. A ranch, pasture, range site, animal or employee cannot sustain excessive expectations without damage. A healthy natural resource will out-produce and withstand adverse circumstances better than one that is damaged and not allowed to recover.
Most rangeland resource managers aspire to maintain what they have for the future. Consequently, sustainable development becomes an over-arching goal. It is important to remember that goals do not have to be quantitative; there are many goals that are qualitative, such as making management choices that produce a healthy rangeland.
How does a rangeland resource manager establish natural resource goals?
Although most people practice some form of goal-setting, these goals are often poorly defined or analyzed. They may not be achievable or the best use of limited resources. Goalsetting requires setting priorities, quantifying each goal and identifying a time table of mileposts (objectives) to monitor progress. Goals and objectives need to be SMART—S (specific), M (measurable), A (attainable), R (related) and T (trackable). SMART goals establish priorities for allocating limited resources from an ecological, economic and socio-political perspective.
Long-term (strategic) goals mandate that enterprises (tactical solutions) must satisfy specific annual objectives. Selected enterprises and needed resources minus available resources determine monthly and daily activities (operational goals). Management can select the correct actions to ultimately achieve the strategic goals. If these operational decisions are not properly adjusted and carried out, both the long-term and short-term success of the resources are in jeopardy.
How does a Total Resource Management Plan help a landowner/manager?
A Total Resource Management Plan defines each goal and the needed activities and achievements (objectives) that will meet the “needs” and, when possible, satisfy “wants.” For example, a landowner has a goal of maintaining ownership of his property to pass on as an inheritance to his children. Is this a SMART goal? Achieving that goal depends on the current situation and future decisions. Annual overhead and family debt obligations cannot exceed the annual productivity unless income is available from other sources (off-land) to make up financial deficits. Since this particular goal also requires long-term survival, the landowner cannot satisfy the yearly goals if he or she is sacrificing sustainability and improvement of resources. Resources must be renewed to achieve sustained returns.
For example, if annual overhead and family expenses are $10.25 per acre (overhead and family expenses of $56,375 on 5,500 acres) and a cow/calf enterprise can be realistically operated to produce $200 gross margin (gross income minus expenses) per animal, the operation requires a break-even stocking rate of 19.5 acres/AUY (animal unit year — the amount of forage required for one animal for 1 year of grazing) and annual forage production of 1,945 pounds/ acre (Example 1). Is this realistic? If not, costs must be reduced and/or enterprises need to be improved or added.
If a wildlife enterprise were added at $2.00/acre gross margin, then the cattle enterprise needs to achieve only $8.25/ acre or a stocking rate of 34.2 acres/AUY with annual forage production requirements being 1,569 pounds/acre. To calculate this in the example below, one would subtract the income for the wildlife enterprise from that needed to survive to provide the base number from which to determine production requirements and stocking rates.
For more information on this subject, see Extension publication B-1646, “How Much Forage Do You Have?”
Reference
B-1646, “How Much Forage Do You Have?” Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
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