The Climate and Economic Benefits of Rotational Livestock Grazing

Agriculture and Climate Series

May 3, 2022

The climate crisis and years of unsustainable farming in the United States have resulted in soil erosion, pollinator loss, farmworkers and livestock exposed to extreme heat, and other adverse impacts. In 2019, 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions came from agriculture. At the same time, farmers and the land they work are vulnerable to climate impacts such as drought and extreme weather.

Rotational livestock grazing is one of the many sustainable agricultural practices that can help farmers mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. This article is part of EESI’s five-part series on sustainable agricultural practices encompassing cover crops, agroforestry, no-till farming, rotational livestock grazing, and soil amendments.

What Is Sustainable Livestock Grazing?

Rotational livestock grazing is a sustainable practice that involves frequently rotating livestock to different portions of a pasture to minimize overgrazing. This practice can look different across farms and ranches depending on how often livestock are moved and the number of grazing areas. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), simple rotational grazing involves “a few pastures that livestock are rotated through” whereas management-intensive rotational grazing “is when livestock graze on small areas of pasture, or paddocks, for a very short period of time, rotating frequently from one to another to maximize forage regrowth.” Management-intensive grazing systems often offer additional environmental and climate benefits, but involve more management, monitoring, and higher initial costs compared to simple rotational grazing systems.

Mitigating Climate Change

While greenhouse gas emissions cannot be completely eliminated from animal agriculture, they can be reduced through rotational grazing. Livestock—especially cattle—produce methane during their digestive process, which is known as enteric fermentation. Methane is a greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the near term. Almost 30 percent of U.S. methane emissions are the result of enteric fermentation. Rotational grazing can help reduce these emissions by providing higher forage quality, which is easier for livestock to digest, thus resulting in fewer emissions.

In addition to enteric fermentation, manure is another significant source of emissions from livestock, accounting for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector. Rotational livestock systems help reduce these emissions by more evenly distributing manure over the land, rather than concentrating it in one area as is typical with continuous grazing systems and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). In fact, storing manure in liquid form in lagoons, tanks, or pits—as is common practice at CAFOs— produces methane. But manure that is deposited on pasturelands produces carbon dioxide with little or no methane and has the added benefit of returning nutrients directly to the soil.

Last but not least, rotational grazing systems help soil better store carbon. Overgrazing causes soil to be exposed, which leads to the release of carbon. Rotational grazing systems allow the soil and plants to recover between grazings, keeping the carbon in the soil.

Building Climate Resilience

Rotational livestock grazing allows plants to regrow between grazings and establish deeper roots which, in turn, improves soil health and structure. As a result, the soil can better retain moisture and is protected from water and wind erosion. This can make grazing lands more resilient to climate impacts such as drought and heavy precipitation and has the added benefit of protecting waterways from nutrient and sediment runoff. Water quality can be further improved by restricting where livestock are able to graze. For example, installing fences to prevent livestock from entering streams, rivers, and lakes can help restore stream banks and improve water quality by preventing the influx of excess nutrients. Lastly, diverse and mature pastures provide habitat for wildlife, like pollinators, which is essential for overall healthy ecosystems.

Cutting Costs

Rotational livestock grazing typically has higher upfront costs than conventional grazing (because of the need for more fencing and water systems), but lower costs when compared to confinement systems like CAFOs. Rotational livestock systems offer long-term economic benefits, including healthier herds, which results in fewer veterinary expenses; reduced maintenance and fertilizer costs; and greater pasture productivity.

Rotational Livestock Grazing in Action: Blue Mountain Farm, Pennsylvania

Through a USDA Conservation Innovation Grant, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a non-profit conservation organization, studied the benefits of rotational livestock grazing on farms across the Chesapeake Bay region. One of the farms in the study, Blue Mountain Farm in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, has about 125 cows. Between 2008 and 2016, the farm converted dozens of acres of cropland to pasture for the cattle to graze on and eliminated fertilizers on those acres. As a result, the farm reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 342 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year—a 59 percent reduction overall. Increased soil carbon storage and decreased nitrous oxide emissions from the removal of synthetic fertilizers contributed to the emissions reductions. The farm also saw a decline in nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment runoff.

Federal Programs for Rotational Livestock Grazing

The following programs within the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service provide technical and financial assistance to help ranchers implement rotational livestock grazing:

The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) helps farmers and agricultural producers maintain, improve, or adopt new conservation practices, such as rotational livestock grazing.
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides financial and technical assistance for projects that address natural resource concerns and provide environmental benefits, including rotational livestock grazing.
The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) brings together key stakeholders like conservation organizations and state agencies to achieve shared conservation goals, such as helping agricultural producers adopt rotational livestock grazing.
The Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) provides technical assistance on conservation grazing practices, including rotational livestock grazing.