Why are there cattle in the park?!?!
Adaptively grazed cattle increase soil health, creates better ground nesting bird habitats, increases plant species diversity, develops plant structural diversity, increased insect diversity, sequesters more carbon, and reduces run off.
A common goal between our farm and the Toledo Metroparks is more diversity of plant species, wildlife, and improved ecological function. Our cattle help achieve this goal!
Don’t take our word for it, check out the published science from the most comprehensive study on adaptive multi-paddock grazing (AMP).
More ground nesting bird habitats mean more ground nesting birds! Grassland obligate species are the most threatened in our country and we’re working hard to give them a home. Our grasslands, and thus grassland birds, co-evolved with large herds of ruminant grazers. We cannot have ecosystem function without them!
But wait, won’t the cattle harm the birds nest if they’re grazing during nesting season? When cattle are left to graze continuously or set stock they will trample nests, BUT when adaptively grazed they actively graze around nests and leave them unharmed. When we tighten animals up and move them everyday they act more naturally like a herd and keep their symbiotic relationship intact.
Why Not Bison?
Bison, while a beautiful native grazer, are not known for their friendliness or ease of handling. These animals are meant to roam on vast swaths of land without roads, fences, or homes being in their way. To avoid any liability of property damage or personal injury the fencing infrastructure would need to be considerable and cost prohibitive. There are many people who walk, bike, ski, run, and drive down the Metroparks roads and trails and this would put their safety at risk. We are also grazing on smaller acreages, not the thousand acre plots that bison prefer, and need to be able to intentionally manage the grazing of our ruminants. Bison do not respect electric fence like cattle do, this would limit our ability to manage them with precision like we can with cattle. Putting bison in a field and letting them continuously graze would have the same ecologically disastrous result as continuously grazed cattle. All these reasons lead to cattle being the preferred tool to implement our adaptive grazing and reintroducing the grazers soil building disturbance.
