Native grasslands are among the many most imperiled ecosystems on the earth — and one of many least protected. All through the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, these crucial ecosystems are dwindling at an alarming charge, as tracts are fragmented and degraded by unsustainable agricultural makes use of, proliferation of invasive vegetation, encroaching human growth, and poor grazing practices. Because of this, many birds and different wildlife are edging nearer to extreme inhabitants decline and even extinction.
Audubon goals to deal with these challenges by the conservation of focal chicken species and the habitat they rely on. We assist the atmosphere by serving to birds. For the reason that overwhelming majority of remaining grasslands are privately owned, we work with the farmers and ranchers that dwell and work on these lands. The Audubon Conservation Ranching Initiative is an modern, market-based method that connects conservation-conscious shoppers to farmers and ranchers that make use of bird-friendly administration practices in elevating their livestock.
In 2025, Audubon counts 15 taking part ranches in Texas, spanning 178,000 acres of grasslands throughout the state. Totally licensed ranches embrace: the Dixon Water Basis’s Mimms Unit Ranch in Marfa, Bandera Grasslands in Hondo, C7 Ranch/Burgundy Beef in Grandview, the North Mason Unit in Mason, and ROAM Ranch in Fredericksburg.
In the present day we’re talking with three of our ACR producers, Jon Taggart of Burgundy Pasture Beef and Taylor Collins and Katie Forrest of ROAM Ranch. We’ll characteristic extra ACR producers in future conversations, akin to Debbie and Don Davis of Bandera Grasslands and Chad Lemke of the North Mason Unit.
Audubon Texas spoke with three ACR producers: Jon Taggart of Burgundy Pasture Beef, and Taylor Collins and Katie Forrest of ROAM Ranch. We are going to characteristic extra ACR producers in future conversations, together with Debbie and Don Davis of Bandera Grasslands and Chad Lemke of the North Mason Unit.
Editor’s Notice: This interview has been edited for size and readability.
Background and the way you started conservation ranching?
Jon Taggart: We began our grass-fed beef operation round 1999. My household and I moved onto this ranch in 1995; on the time, 900 of the 1,400 acres had been plowed and have been actively farmed. Starting virtually instantly, we labored to transform the farmland again to native grass. That conversion took about ten years.
We offered our first beef in 1999 and constructed a processing plant in 2004. For a few years we distributed our meat by house supply all through the Dallas/Fort Price metroplex, we house delivered for 17 years. We opened our first retail retailer in Fort Price in 2014 and adopted with a Dallas retailer in 2015. We began on-line gross sales early on alongside our house supply service. In the present day our enterprise seems to be fairly completely different than it did eight weeks in the past.
Taylor Collins: Katie and I are first-generation ranchers; we didn’t inherit agricultural land and even leisure property. We grew up within the metropolis. Our transfer into ranching was pushed by an curiosity in vitamin, well being, and wellness, and by eager to make a deep connection between soil well being, land well being, and the meals we eat.
We found regenerative agriculture and soil-health ideas early on. The work of Allan Savory influenced our method and launched us to holistically managed grazing and regeneration practices. Spending time on ranches that had lengthy practiced these strategies was life altering; it confirmed us how folks can spend their lives restoring the land and serving their communities.
What does conservation ranching seem like in your operation?
Taggart: For us, the largest change was changing farmland again to native grass. Farming was not significantly worthwhile right here, and as we restored grassland, we discovered essential classes about biodiversity. Our inputs are minimal as a result of native grasses largely maintain themselves: we don’t want fertilizers or herbicide sprays. We use high-intensity, short-duration grazing and keep applicable stocking charges and inventory density to extend biodiversity. Over time, native grass and pollinators have flourished. Once we arrived, there have been just about no deer or turkey; now wildlife is ample.
Collins: We function in a reasonably brittle atmosphere, so we should be intentional about capturing moisture and utilizing rainfall successfully. Situated in the midst of wine nation surrounded by vineyards and orchards, a lot of that are monocultures, we would like as an alternative to revive the area’s former biodiversity. Our objective is to create an ecosystem that works with pure ideas, mirroring nature relatively than continuously opposing or attempting to manage it.
Advantages to the rancher and the animals?
Taggart: As a result of we handle cattle with low stress and thru cautious dealing with throughout the operation, animal well being points are minimal. Our protocol requires no antibiotics and no added hormones; we haven’t administered antibiotics in years. If I needed to give one, I wouldn’t even know the place to discover a syringe.
Collins: Having the ability to eat from the land we steward is vital. Producing nutrient-dense meals for ourselves and our neighborhood is deeply rewarding. Greater than something, watching the land heal is the true return. When it comes to manufacturing, we run increased stocking densities in kilos per acre than anybody else in our neighborhood. The extra grass we develop, the extra animals we are able to elevate, which immediately impacts profitability.
Particularly, our bison herd: the primary yr three animals have been born on the property; the subsequent yr 18 survived; and this yr we count on greater than 60 new calves. That development displays improved land well being and the power to nourish younger animals.
Adjustments in wildlife populations and ecosystem perform?
Taggart: Restoring grassland has considerably diminished soil erosion from beforehand plowed fields and improved water retention. Throughout the drought from 2011 to early 2015, we didn’t want to scale back stocking charges or present supplemental feed. These outcomes replicate elevated soil natural matter and the resilience of deep-rooted native vegetation, that are tailored to droughts, floods, freezes, and bug pressures.
We now have a mixture of cool-season grasses and legumes paired with warm-season vegetation, permitting us to offer nutritious forage year-round with minimal inputs.
Collins: Katie and I grew up in Central Texas, and we’re continuously figuring out birds now we have by no means seen earlier than. Every year we see extra wildlife and larger range. Mountain lions have returned to the property, which is encouraging given the vital position predators play in ecosystem stability.
We’re additionally seeing range in plant biology: deep-rooted perennial grasses are re-emerging from seeds that had been dormant within the seedbed for many years regardless of prior plowing and spraying. Grassland birds are returning too, which has been rewarding to witness.
Forrest: There’s additionally a lot larger range in insect species, which helps chicken populations by offering ample meals.
Collins: A various insect neighborhood brings predator bugs that assist regulate pest species. Birds then assist break parasitic life cycles in manure and act as pure debuggers for bison, contributing to total herd well being.
Favourite birds
Taggart: I miss the quail that have been right here after we arrived. I’d like to see them return. Quail require massive areas of high quality habitat, and we’re surrounded by farmland, so their return is perhaps a protracted shot — however they have been current 25 years in the past.
Collins: My high two are the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and the Mockingbird. Mockingbirds are particularly charismatic: they’re territorial and fiercely protecting of their nests, even chasing off bigger birds of prey.
Forrest: I additionally admire the Scissor-tail, however currently I’ve been significantly desirous about Black Vultures. They play an vital however typically underappreciated position within the ecosystem.
Why work with Audubon and the Conservation Ranching Initiative?
Taggart: Our partnership with Audubon offers us one other avenue to inform the story of what limited-input, native-grass administration can obtain. Trying on the Nice Plains and the way the land functioned traditionally gives a mannequin to emulate. Biodiversity; bugs, animals, and vegetation working collectively makes the land extra productive. This partnership helps convey that conservation can coexist with, and even improve, agricultural manufacturing.
Collins: We work with Audubon as a result of it’s the appropriate factor to do. As land stewards, our intention is to enhance the property day by day by emulating pure methods. Grassland chicken species are underrecognized but important to ecosystem perform. For a ranch to lack a habitat-management plan for these birds could be exhausting to think about.
Forrest: Audubon is a good group whose philosophy and information base align with ours. Their experience has supplied steerage we couldn’t have developed on our personal.
These grassland chicken species are a number of the most underneath acknowledged, underappreciated, but additionally most important components of a wholesome functioning ecosystem. And the checklist of ecosystem companies they supply goes on and on. So to have a ranch or a farm that doesn’t have a habitat administration plan for that animal that’s so important for land well being, that was past fathomable for us.
Forrest: Audubon is probably the most respected useful resource that additionally has a philosophical alignment with us, and a information base that we couldn’t have obtained on our personal.
