SPRAGUE, Wash. — A new agriculture program is working with local cattle ranchers to raise healthier livestock.
The Grazewell program brings together scientists, researchers and ranchers to improve cattle health and reduce greenhouse gases.
The ranchers at Golden West Cattle Company in Sprague hope that participating in the program will help lessen the harmful side effects the beef industry has on the environment.
The program utilizes regenerative ranching, an agricultural approach that focuses on maintaining healthy soil as the basis of a healthy environment.
“To keep the ecosystem healthy is essential for us to have a nutritious food variety years into the future,” said 4th generation rancher, Danielle Harder.
In the program, ranchers and scientists take soil samples from around the Golden West cattle ranch to assess the ranch’s health.
The ranchers hope the testing will give them information about how to give their cows a healthier diet, which will make for healthier beef.
“It will create a consistent product. The practices of the ranchers in those programs are centered on maintaining the land,” said 3rd generation rancher, Rex Harder.
The program is backed by research from the University of Utah.
“Eating a biodiverse, phitonutrient-rich base, makes the meat more nutrient dense, and therefore we are eating a more nutrient dense food,” said rancher and soil scientist, Anna Clare Monlezun.
The research also shows that when the plants the cows are grazing on are healthier, the cows emit less methane, which is a greenhouse gas.
“This is kind of the beginning of people’s real awareness of the opportunity that our vast grasslands have to be a carbon sequestration vehicle in our efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change and reduce the carbon in the atmosphere,” said Danielle.
Every five years, a scientist will return to Golden West to collect soil samples and continue to find new ways to improve the local environment.
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