Source: NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
NOVEL STRATEGIES TO INCREASE SUSTAINABILITY OF BEEF PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1019723
Grant No.
2019-69012-29853
Cumulative Award Amt.
$8,937,554.00
Proposal No.
2018-09019
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Aug 1, 2019
Project End Date
Jul 31, 2025
Grant Year
2019
Program Code
[A9201]- Sustainable Agricultural Systems
Project Director
Duff, G. C.
Recipient Organization
NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY
1620 STANDLEY DR ACADEMIC RESH A RM 110
LAS CRUCES,NM 88003-1239
Performing Department
Animal & Range Science
Non Technical Summary
The American Southwest and Ogallala Aquifer Region are connected ecologically, socially, and economically through beef production. Each year about 850,000 calves are exported from Southwestern ranches to the Ogallala Aquifer Region for irrigated pasture grazing, grain feeding, and meat distribution. Despite great gains in productivity and efficiency during the past century, producers in this bi-regional agricultural system are increasingly expected to intensify production to meet growing global demand, and to do so without compromising environmental quality - even amidst rising operational costs and intensifying impacts of climate change. This project will use an integrated approach of research, extension, and education to develop and evaluate novel strategies that can help producers meet these challenges and improve sustainability: 1) heritage cattle genetics, 2) precision ranching, and 3) range-finishing. We will compare heritage vs. conventionally used desert-adapted cattle in studies of profitability, input efficiency, ecosystem effects, feedyard performance, and carcass and meat quality. We will develop and field test a wireless precision ranching system to provide real-time information on weather, water sources, and animal position to improve Southwestern ranch efficiency. We will use systems models to understand environmental and socioeconomic linkages between the Southwest and Ogallala Aquifer Region, and evaluate the trade-offs associated with adopting the three novel strategies we are investigating. Extension specialists will develop and circulate decision tools to enable producers to evaluate costs and benefits of the strategies. Educators will develop and deliver new lessons and teacher trainings to increase K-12 knowledge about the interplay of science, technology, and sustainability in agriculture and facilitate multigenerational learning about sustainability strategies. Research, extension, and education will be integrated into a new Western Beef Knowledge System that can support decisions that improve profitability, input efficiency, climate adaptability, and environmental impacts of alternative beef production systems.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
30701991070100%
Knowledge Area
307 - Animal Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
0199 - Soil and land, general;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal of the project has three parts: 1) Increase profitability and total factor productivity (TFP) on ranches of the Southwest; 2) Reduce cattle production losses due to weather and climate impacts on ranches; 3) Improve water and nutrient use efficiency in the Southwest U.S.-Ogallala Beef Production Area. Achievement of this three-part goal will be supported by the following major objectives:Understand the economic, environmental, and social outcomes of alternate beef production approaches in order to identify trade-offs. Approaches under investigation represent combinations of novel strategies, with a focus on multiple scales.Integrate research, extension, and education to develop, evaluate, and create understanding of strategies to increase sustainability of Western beef production.Build a Western Beef Knowledge System to improve decision-making capacity for producers, policy-makers, and consumers. The knowledge system will integrate research, extension, and education outputs via a website and associated web applications that will enable producers and consumers to understand and evaluate effects and tradeoffs of alternative production systems and adoption of novel strategies.
Project Methods
Long-term breed comparison: A long-term replicated grazing experiment will be established at the NMSU Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center (CDRRC) to assess differences in productivity, behavior, and ecological effects of a RC x Brangus crossbred herd (RC dams, RC x Brangus calves) vs. a more traditional system (Brangus dams, Brangus calves). Concurrently, collaborating ranches will maintain Red Angus and RC x Red Angus herds (The Nature Conservancy's Dugout Ranch) or Black Angus and RC x Black Angus herds (Rancho Corta Madera). In fall of project year 2, 3, and 4, weaned calves will be purchased from the 3 ranches and transported to irrigated wheat pasture at NMSU Clayton Livestock Research Center (CLRC). In spring of year 3, 4, and 5, heifers and steers will be sent to feedyards at CLRC and the Texas A&M AgriLife/ARS Bushland Station. In fall of years 3, 4, and 5, slaughter and carcass trials will take place at the Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Amarillo, TX, and a consumer taste panel will be conducted at TAMU in College Station, TX.On-ranch testing of precision technologies: We propose to develop a precision ranching system and evaluate its impact on ranch input costs. Sensor technologies will be tested on five participating ranches so that by the end of this project, a market-ready product will be available for purchase and deployment on extensive ranches. The proposed precision ranching system will be able to log, transmit, and analyze sensor data in real time. The system will include a computer graphical interface (Ranch Dashboard) that will display sensor data such that: 1) a rancher is able to monitor weather conditions, water levels in livestock drinkers (i.e., above-ground permanent watering troughs), and animal positions in close-to-real time; and 2) warnings are generated when user-defined thresholds are crossed. Our proposed system will use a LoRa WAN network that is suited to long-range transmission (>10 miles) of low data bursts that can then be re-transmitted over the internet to a centralized server.Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM): We will use IFSM to compare the environmental footprints and enterprise economics of production scenarios that represent different combinations of the novel strategies under investigation, in order to weigh trade-offs in long-term sustainability of the novel strategies. Partnering ranchers and feedyard operators will provide information on their operations in project years 1 and 2, including land use and annual requirements of water, labor, fuel, electricity and other important resources used. Purchased feeds will be monitored to help quantify feed intake and the flow of nutrients into and from the production system. Cattle growth rates, replacement rates, mortalities, animals purchased and sold and their weights will be used to quantify the flow of animals through the production system. The information provided will be used to develop multiple representative production scenarios for the Southwest U.S.-Ogallala Beef Production Area. The information will be used to develop representative operations for the region. The simulated environmental and economic information obtained will provide ameasure of the long term sustainability of each production scenario. The results of multiple production systems can be compared to determine where improvements in sustainability are being made. This will include trade-offs among the various environmental and economic mTelecoupling Analysis:etrics considered. After baseline measures are established (i.e., Production System A), the benefits of more novel technologies and management strategies will be assessed (i.e.,Production Systems B-F).Metacoupling analysis: provides a standardized, systematic approach to describe, understand, and predict interactions between coupled human-natural systems, and the effects of those interactions on sustainability in metacoupled systems. We propose two phases of metacoupling research, both of which will focus on multiple scales and utilize IFSM results (and embedded knowledge from ranchers), knowledge from extension and education activities, available national-scale datasets (e.g., USDA-NASS Census of Agriculture), and existing research. In years 1-3 we will identify - and - if possible, quantify - feedbacks among the socialecological systems of the U.S. Southwest and Ogallala Aquifer region in the context of business-as-usual beef production. For example, we will estimate the amount of feed grains imported to the Ogallala Aquifer region from the Upper Midwest to feed calves from Southwestern ranches. Concurrently, we will identify how the vertical integration of animal feeding affects the Southwest, in terms of number of participating cow-calf operators and their contributions to ecosystem service production and rural economies of the Southwest. In years 4-5, we will use IFSM evaluations of contrasting production systems, information on bi-regional feedbacks, and architecture provided by the metacoupling framework to assess the degree of social-ecological changes in both regions as a result of widespread adoption of novel beef production strategies in the Southwest. We will use the five major components of metacoupling as our conceptual framework in concert with the Telecoupling ArcGIS Toolbox (Michigan State University) to visualize the telecoupling between the two regions. "Effects" will be a primary emphasis: we will assess how widespread implementation of heritage genetics and precision ranching affect profitability of range-finishing in the Southwest (using IFSM results), and how such outcomes would reduce the number of calves exported to the Ogallala Aquifer region, thereby reducing concentrated manure loads, grain demands, and possibly the profitability of stocker and grain production operations. With attention to the full suite of trade-offs, we will also estimate how an increase in heifers and steers on Southwestern ranches would affect arid rangelands.Extension approach: Extension activities will involve gathering information about producers' perceptions of the novel strategies under investigation, as well as disseminating research information to producers and other stakeholders in a participatory manner. We propose three lines of activity: 1) producer surveys; 2) decisions tools; 3) symposia, on-ranch demonstrations, and extension publications.Education approach: Education objectives for this project are to: 1) increase K-12 students' science literacy and knowledge about technology in agriculture and novel strategies to increase sustainability of beef production systems, 2) facilitate multigenerational learning by giving students in ranching and farming families information to educate parents and grandparents about precision technologies, 3) present teaching and learning strategies and ready-to-use lessons to educators through professional development workshops, and 4) garner new ideas from students to feed back into the Western Beef Knowledge System about trade-offs and barriers to adoption of the novel strategies under investigation. The education effort will include the design and deliver 10 hands-on inquiry-based lessons for K-12 students.Western Beef Knowledge System: A new Western Beef Knowledge System comprising research results, extension materials, and educational programs will integrate project outputs via a website and web applications. This system will enable producers and consumers to understand and evaluate effects and tradeoffs associated with alternative production systems and use of technologies. It will also reflect a tight integration of K-12 education, extension activities, and research. The Western Beef Knowledge System will serve as an interactive repository for this integrated knowledge.

Progress 08/01/23 to 07/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Cattle ranchers in the SW United States Native American ranchers and land managers Cattle finishers State and Federal Public Land Agencies NGO organizations focused on sustainable agriculture and certification programs Consumers seeking beef from sustainable production enterprises Classroom (K-12 STEM) and field programs Youth programs such as 4H and FFA Agricultural, environmental, and natural resource researchers Changes/Problems:Continued to adapt to the mega-drought that interrupted the cow-calf study in Las Cruces. Staff Changes: Matthew McIntosh accepted a position at the USDA-ARS Food Systems Research Unit in Burlington, VT. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training: Several members of the team attended CDRRC field day (November 2023). Focused on virtual fencing. Members of the CAP grant attended a Virtual Fence field day at the Clayton Livestock Research Center (September 2023). Members attended the Annual Clayton Livestock Research Center Field Day (September 2023) with demonstration on the GreenFeed System. Members attended a NM Healthy Soils workshop in Clayton (September 2023) evaluating pasture systems (perennial, annual, native range) along with soil health. Cristian Carrillo participated in a 3-month internship program with the breed comparison/precision ranching team. Cristian is a MS student in Animal science in Uruguay under the supervision of one of our international collaborators (Dr. Eileen Armstrong). Lucia Gil (MS Animal Science) participated in a 2-month internship with the precision ranching team to learn techniques and modeling of livestock nutritional effects. Lucia is conducting her research under Dr. Pablo Chilibroste in Uruguay. Dr. Chillibroste was also a visiting scholar and interacted with scientists of CAP grant to learn opportunities for novel technologies and provided a seminar in the ANRS on sustainable dairy and beef intensification in Uruguay. Breed comparison team collaborated with Extension team to develop on-line teaching/training module on SW beef production focused on disseminating results of this grant. Professional Development: Andres Perea, Maxi Spetter, and Glenn Duff attended the 2024 American Society of Animal Science National Meeting, July, 2024, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Skye Aney attended the Society for Range Management 2024 Annual Meeting in Sparks, NV. The Supply Chain Team hosted a Summer Intern, NMSU Leading Hispanics Program. He learned about arid rangelands, beef production, and precision ranching technologies through fieldwork and assistance on the Jornada Experimental Range Sheri Spiegal was asked to serve as Acting National Program Leader for Sustainable Intensification in the ARS Office of National Programs Jean Steiner attended 2024 Kansas Geological Survey Field Symposium focused on water and other natural resource issues during tour stops and networking activities. June 12-13, Manhattan, KS and nearby area. Jean Steiner attended 2024 Ogallla Summitt, March 18-19, Liberal Kansas and facilitated one of the interactive discussion tables. Jean Steiner attended 3 Water Wednesday networking events sponsored by Kansas Water Institute. Awards: Andres Perea was awarded 2nd place in the Graduate Student Research Presentation competition hosted by ACES at the NMSU open house Ag Day on April 6, 2024. Jean Steiner was awarded the Soil Science Society of America 2024 Soil Science Distinguished Service Award. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations & Workshops: Asombro Institute for Science Education presentation on Rarámuri criollo and precision ranching tools, New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum's Cowboy Days. Stephanie Bestelmeyer presented "Introducing K-12 Students and Teachers to Change on the Range" and "Reaching the Next Generation: Middle and High School Modules about Climate Change in the Southwest" at the 2024 Society for Range Management conference. Andres Perea presented: Comparative Analysis of the Training Response of Raramuri Criollo and Angus Cattle to Virtual Fencing and Real-time detection of parturition in beef cows managed on extensive rangeland pasture. And Maxi Spetter presented: Genetic characterization of Raramuri Criollo cattle introduced into the Southwestern United States. 2024 Am. Soc. Animal Sci. Meeting. Calgary, Alberta. The extension team hosted an On-Ranch Demonstration at Evergreen Ranching & Livestock to provide an opportunity for regional producers, consumers, and other stakeholders to observe the three novel strategies in action, and to evaluate how these strategies might be applied in their own management and decision-making. Edgemont, SD. June 6, 2024. Skye Aney presented an overview heritage Criollo cattle, precision ranching, and supply chain options, and how each supports sustainability, to at a workshop hosted by NMSU Financial Aid Services. Las Cruces, NM. April 19, 2024. Skye Aney presented "Rangeland Adaptation: Heritage Genetics and Precision Ranching" at the Southwest Adaptation Forum. Tucson, AZ. Feb. 27, 2024. Jeremy Walker presented "Heritage Genetics to Increase Cattle Resilience during Drought". at the 2023 Southwest Drought Learning Network Annual Meeting. Albuquerque, NM. Dr. Glenn Duff, Dr. Craig Gifford, and Dr. Santiago Utsumi, partnered with the Southern Plains Climate Hub and Oklahoma State University to host a Virtual Fence Field Day at NMSU Clayton to share information with local stakeholders. Sep. 26, 2023. Skye Aney and Andres Perea presented "Precision Ranching Technologies for Monitoring and Herding Livestock" at a workshop hosted by the Malpais Borderlands Group. Rodeo, NM. Sep. 22, 2023. Dr. Glenn Duff presented on the GreenFeed system for measuring methane emissions from cattle at the NMSU Annual Field Day. Clayton, NM. Sep. 18, 2023. The Southern Plains Climate Hub (SPCH) organized and co-hosted a symposium at the 2024 Society for Range Management meeting, titled'Climate Adaptation Strategies for Conservation of Ranching and Rangelands of the Great Plains and Southwest'. This event convened researchers, extension specialists, and educators from this project and the Prairie Project and was attended by approximately 100 people. A Climate Hub Fellow at the SPCH is developing a synthesis paper from the symposium. Sheri Spiegal presented "Integrating adaptation into production: the Southwest Sustainable Beef CAP" and "What grazing management practices can help ranchers successfully adapt to climate change while also supporting healthy grassland ecosystems?" at Soc. Range Management Meeting. Feb., 2024. Sheri Spiegal presented at the University and Industry Consortium, April 2024: Envisioning a bright future for rangelands. Sheri Spiegal presented at the Nitrogen 2.0 launch workshop, April 2024: Big changes in feedlots lead to big changes in grazinglands: telecoupling and the circular N economy. Andrew Cox and several other project personnel provided information and exhibits of precision ranching technology at the NMSU ACES CollegeOpen House. Las Cruces, NM. April 6, 2024. Collaborations (external): Asombro staff collaborated with New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum to host a teacher workshop on criollo on June 21, 2023, and participated in Cowboy Days and other events at the Museum. Asombro staff collaborated with Texas Education Dept Region 19 to host teacher workshops in Amarillo, TX, July, 2024. The breed comparison team collaborates with scientists from Uruguay and Mexico on Raramuri Criollo biotype genotyping. Skye Aney leads the Southwest Drought Learning Network's Drought in Agriculture team. Sheri Spiegal was invited to a Joint Meeting on Nitrogen Management for Food-Energy-Water Sustainability. Hangzhou, China. (declined due to USDA travel policy). Sheri Spiegal was invited to attend American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) workshop on circular livestock and dairy systems. (declined due to scheduling conflict). Jean Steiner collaborated with Southern Plains Climate Hub and Kansas Water Institute to synthesize White Papers prepared for the Ogallala Summit. Leveraging: The 2022 Black Fire in southern NM burned hundreds of thousands of hectares of rangeland including fencing, impeding the ability of producers to comply with grazing management plans. This project partnered with other NMSU personnel, USDA Forest Service, and local ranchers to obtain Rapid Response to Extreme Weather Events funding. Participating ranchers received hands-on training from the Extension team and were able to quickly implement virtual fence technology. One hundred cows from each rancher were trained to use virtual fence collars in conjunction with existing physical fence. Producers reported that GPS location data reduced gathering time by 1-2 weeks and increased gathering efficiency by about 10%. Results showed that virtual fence, along with physical perimeter fence, could be an effective tool for post-fire recovery and improved rangeland management in the Southwest. The USDA Southwest Climate Hub will provide continued maintenance of the decision support tool library Tools for the Beef Industry (TOBI), developed as part of this project. The SW Climate Hub will also incorporate the fact sheets, Beef Briefs, and other outreach materials developed over the life of the project into the library of resources that they share with stakeholders. Thus, the outreach component of this project will in essence continue into the foreseeable future. The USDA Southwest Climate Hub is organizing a Virtual Fence Coalition made up of researchers from universities, USDA-ARS, and other. The purpose is to share research-based knowledge about the use of virtual fencing and develop a training curriculum for service providers (e.g., Agricultural Extension agents, NRCS, land management agency personnel, etc.) so that they are better prepared to advise and assist producers who plan to implement this new technology. Of particular interest is ensuring the success of virtual fence projects that will be funded under the NRCS EQIP program. The need for the coalition and training curriculum came to light because of experiences with virtual fence use over the life of this project. Jean Steiner is co-PI on a NIFA-SAS Integrated Proposal Resubmission "Sustainable Irrigation and Climate Adaptation in Southern High Plains: A Satellite-Enabled and Peer-Led Model" ($10 million/funded) (which includes the beef sector). KSU, TTU, OSU, NASA, WTAMU collaboration. Santiago Utsumi and others were funded for several continuation projects: "Technologies to Enhance Climate-Smart Decision-Making in the Malpai Borderlands Group" was awarded by the NRCS Conservation Initiative and will support deployments and applications of precision ranching with producers of the Malpai Borderlands Group in NM and AZ; funding from Bureau of Land Management will extend implementations of precision ranching technologies in 32,000 acres of private and federal land in NM. Additionally "Precision Ranching Knowledge Exchange Network: Building a pathway for successful, climate-smart technology adoption" was submitted to the USDA-NIFA program AP1721 and "Integrating UAV, Computer Vision, and Cattle Sensor Data with AI Modeling for Calving Detection in Remote Rangelands" was submitted to the USDA NIFA Inter-Disciplinary Engagement in Animal Systems. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Planned publications: McIntosh et al.: Characterization and multivariate analysis of within breed morphological traits in a herd of heritage Rarámuri Criollo cattle. Livestock Science Spetter et al.: Genetic diversity, population structure and selection signatures of a Raramuri Criollo cattle herd in the southwestern United States. Spetter et al.: Quantification of greenhouse gas emissions and metabolic heat production of grazing Raramuri Criollo and Angus x Hereford crossbred cattle in the Chihuahuan Desert. Spetter et al: Genetic characterization and selection signatures of a desert-adapted Angus x Hereford population in New Mexico, Southwestern United States. Spetter et al.: Genetic characterization of Raramuri Criollo and Corriente cattle. Gouvea et al. Average daily gain, feed efficiency and carcass composition of Red Angus, Black Angus and Brangus calves and Raramuri Criollo crossbred cattle on wheat pasture and in the feedlot. Miller et al. Flavor, texture, and tenderness of steaks from Red Angus, Black Angus and Brangus calves and Raramuri Criollo crossbred cattle. Birkenstock et al. Impacts of perennial versus annual pastures on gas production of mature cows. Singh et al. Impacts of pasture management on soil characteristics in northeastern NM. The Supply Chain team plans to publish an article describing the "feedshed" of the Texas High Plains - where all the feed comes from, either grown locally or imported from, for example, the Corn Belt. The Supply Chain team plans to publish an article describing the environmental tradeoffs of using manure instead of commercial fertilizer in the "manuresheds" surrounding the beef and dairy feedlots of the Texas High Plains. The Supply Chain team plans to publish an article synthesizing all of its modeling work into a telecoupling framework to describe how the Southwest and Ogallala Aquifer region are connected socially, economically, and environmentally via beef production. Contribute to supply chain journal manuscript on environmental and economic impacts sustainable vs conventional feedstuffs for cattle finishing. Aney et al., Grass-finishing Beef Cattle in the Southwestern US: A Survey of Producers. Rangelands. Aney et al., Motivations for Grass-finishing Beef Cattle in the Southwestern US. Aney et al., Tools for the Beef Industry (TOBI): Building a Tool-shed for Decision Support Tools 'What does the future look like? the challenges and opportunities for wearable precision technology in very extensive livestock systems" Waterhouse A, Morgan-Davies C, Walker A, Utsumi S, Nyamuryekung'e S, Grova L;invited paper in special issue "Animals" on new technology and systems. Planned Research: Supply Chain Options: Continue collaboration with feedlot operators and KSU Aimpoint partnership: Effects of water conservation policies on farm-level feed/forage in Ogallala Aquifer; feedlots (Steiner and others). Extension Plans: The extension team plans to evaluate the near-term impacts of project-hosted outreach events with an event follow-up survey. The team also plans to conduct an analysis of barriers to adoption based on all the data we've gathered across various surveys. We will finish and submit three in-progress articles to peer reviewed journals, continue building out the Southwest Beef Knowledge System, complete the in-progress SW Beef Production learning module, submit several Extension publications, and host two project close-out symposia - one at the Society for Range Management Annual Meeting and one at the Southwest Beef Symposium in Texas. We will also build a decision support tool (website), as per user preferences, to help users evaluate costs & savings associated with novel strategies. Education Plans: Our next steps are to (1) continue updating and delivering the 11 lessons we developed for the project and (2) deliver the lessons developed for this project to at least 1,000 additional K-12 students.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Breed Comparison: The team advanced the Raramuri Criollo (RC) genotyping project, using ear notch samples from the Jornada Utah partnering herds processed with SNP analysis at a commercial lab, to determine the RC is a unique biotype distinct from other Criollo biotypes in the Americas. Additionally, samples were collected from two Corriente herds to determine relationships with that biotype. Two studies compared the ability of RC cattle vs. Angus crossbreds to adapt to virtual fencing (VF). A pen study indicated RC appear to learn more quickly about VF and receive fewer pulses in the first few days. A field study with the same cattle showed no differences between breeds, suggesting both breeds successfully learned to interact with VF during the pen study. LoRaWan tracking was successfully implemented to track cattle in conjunction with VF. Several months of GreenFeed gas exchange data collected methane and carbon dioxide emissions and oxygen consumption of RC and Angus crossbreds grazing native desert rangeland. Over time, the long-term study will provide information on emissions from cattle grazing arid rangelands across seasons, years, environmental conditions, and precipitation patterns. In the crossbred study at the Clayton and Bushland locations, we collected animal performance data on wheat pasture and in the feedlot during stocker and finishing phases on calves from three partnering ranches. Three breeds (Black Angus, Brangus, and Red Angus) were compared to RC crossbreds of the same breed. Carcass data were collected all three years and compiled. Descriptive Flavor and Texture attributes and Warner-Bratzler shear force (measurement of tenderness) on steaks from these carcasses and cooked meat evaluation has been conducted on steaks by trained descriptive panelists. Average daily gain during receiving and wheat pasture is being analyzed, and data on feed intake, feed efficiency, and carcass characteristics are being compiled. Precision Ranching: This year, we developed a scalable Dashboard Monitoring and Network System using LoRa WAN communication technology. This system is being deployed across c.a. 1,000,000 acres of arid and semiarid rangeland on eight southwestern cow-calf operations in four states, monitoring up to 700 head of cattle. Solar-powered gateways, strategically placed for optimal connectivity (15 km), collect millions of data packets from cattle tracking collars, water level sensors, rain gauges, and soil moisture probes, transmitting this data in real-time to a central server for storage and processing. The system architecture includes a Flask-based server with MongoDB for raw data storage, which is accessed via a web-based dashboard. Raw data is processed into actionable information, such as real-time visualizations of water levels and precipitation, while machine learning models classify grazing, walking, and resting behaviors, and ensembles of neural networks detect anomalies related to calving, health issues, or predation. The system integrates data from the Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) for enhanced vegetation and grazing monitoring at 16-d intervals. The dashboard, built using the Django web framework, allows users to manage accounts, access sensor data, and query RAP visualizations. Our system is already facilitating adaptive grazing management decisions and efficient rangeland and livestock interventions by combining animal tracking, VF, and remote sensing products, enabling opportunities for precision management of rangelands. New studies are examining ingestive mechanisms leading to variations in ruminant and metabolic carbon gas emissions on rangelands. Field trials on relationships among the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of pastures, grazing behavior variables, and carbon gas emissions collected by the Greenfeed showed that higher NDVI was related to reduced walking distance of cows, likely due to more available green forage. Also, greater grazing time was related to reduced walking distance, perhaps associated with increased forage intake, explaining increased CH4 and CO2 emission rate. The NDVI appears to be an unbiased predictor of ruminant carbon fluxes on rangeland through its influences on grazing behavior and forage intake. Supply Chain Options: Launched BeefGEM tool for producers to estimate gaseous emissions and C footprint of various production systems Conducted assessments of collaborative management in Beef Belt (Manureshed, LEMA) Published on consumer willingness to pay for grass-fed Criollo beef Drove the point home to many audiences that systems thinking is key, and What happens in one region affects social ecological systems in other regions that are connected through beef production Introduced the concept of "adaptive value chains" from southwestern rangelands. Like a supply chain, a value chain is the path by which a product or service is created and marketed. It differs in that its actors seek ways to enhance the product's value along the path. An adaptive value chain responds to current and future risks to the system, such as climate change impacts and risks. Saw an increase in awareness and adoption of Criollo cattle, for instance https://www.birdhouseranch.com/about and https://www.shed-project.com/land-animal-husbandry-agriculture-horticulture-1 Engaged SW Kansas feedlot owner and consulting DVM to discuss water conserving feeds for finishing cattle. They have agreed to work with IFSM team to simulate "representative/typical" feedlot in Kansas with various scenarios. Extension: The extension team sought to create an understanding of, and help stakeholders evaluate, strategies to increase the sustainability of beef production in the Southwest through the development of multiple outreach products. Five short videos sharing rancher experiences and/or integrating research from the project into extension outreach were developed and published. The team has developed or assisted with the production of 4 fact sheets and one podcast episode to share the project's research with a broader audience. A social media presence has been maintained, and project research and outreach products are shared regularly. An On-Ranch Demonstration was held at Evergreen Livestock and Ranching to allow local producers the opportunity to learn about the strategies being investigated and evaluate how they might fit into their own operations. Project research has been shared in presentations at multiple events throughout the year. The team has actively participated in building out the Southwest Beef Knowledge System to share the various products and tools developed over the life of the project in a way that is intuitive and user-friendly. Education: The goals for the education component of the project are to: (1) increase K-12 students' science literacy and knowledge about novel strategies to increase the sustainability of beef production systems and (2) provide teaching and learning strategies and ready-to-use lessons to educators through professional development workshops. In year 5, the Asombro Institute for Science Education added recent project findings to the 11 hands-on K-12 education lessons they had developed and revised in previous years. In Year 5, Asombro delivered these lessons to 1,756 students, 248 teachers, and 111 other adults through classroom lessons, field trips, and five teacher workshops in Arizona (Scottsdale), New Mexico (Farmington and Santa Ana Pueblo), Texas (Amarillo), and Utah (Moab). BlueSTEM AgriLearning Center developed and implemented a teacher professional development workshop for teachers from around Oklahoma to utilize climate-smart resources, fire and agriculture, and STEM in the classroom. Delivered outreach to 400 middle and high school students, plus the 25 students in the high school advanced experiential STEM research program.

Publications

  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Appiah, Isaac. 2023. Estimated breakeven productivity of precision ranching elements in New Mexico ranches. Masters thesis, Department of Agricultural Economics. New Mexico State University. Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Hurst, Z.M., Spiegal, S., 2023. Design thinking for responsible Agriculture 4.0 innovations in rangelands. Rangelands 45, 6878. Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: McIntosh, M.M., S.A. Utsumi, S. Nyamuryekunge, R.E. Estell, A. Cox, D. Duni, A.F. Cibils, Q. Gong, A. Waterhouse, J. Holland, H. Cao, L. Boucheron, H. Chen, and S. Spiegal. Deployment of a LoRa-WAN near real-time precision ranching system on extensive desert rangelands: what we have learned. Applied Animal Science, 39:349361.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Appiah, Isaac. 2023. Estimated breakeven productivity of precision ranching elements in New Mexico ranches. Masters thesis, Department of Agricultural Economics. New Mexico State University. Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Hurst, Z.M., Spiegal, S., 2023. Design thinking for responsible Agriculture 4.0 innovations in rangelands. Rangelands 45, 6878. Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: McIntosh, M.M., S.A. Utsumi, S. Nyamuryekunge, R.E. Estell, A. Cox, D. Duni, A.F. Cibils, Q. Gong, A. Waterhouse, J. Holland, H. Cao, L. Boucheron, H. Chen, and S. Spiegal. Deployment of a LoRa-WAN near real-time precision ranching system on extensive desert rangelands: what we have learned. Applied Animal Science, 39:349361. Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Bestelmeyer, B.T., S.A. Utsumi, S. McCord, D.M. Browning, L.M. Burkett, E. Elias, R. Estell, J. Herrick, D. James, S. Spiegal, N.P. Webb and J. Williamson. 2023 Managing an arid ranch in the 21st century: New technologies for novel ecosystems. Rangelands 45:60-67
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Appiah, Isaac. 2023. Estimated breakeven productivity of precision ranching elements in New Mexico ranches. Masters thesis, Department of Agricultural Economics. New Mexico State University. Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Hurst, Z.M., Spiegal, S., 2023. Design thinking for responsible Agriculture 4.0 innovations in rangelands. Rangelands 45, 6878. Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: McIntosh, M.M., S.A. Utsumi, S. Nyamuryekunge, R.E. Estell, A. Cox, D. Duni, A.F. Cibils, Q. Gong, A. Waterhouse, J. Holland, H. Cao, L. Boucheron, H. Chen, and S. Spiegal. Deployment of a LoRa-WAN near real-time precision ranching system on extensive desert rangelands: what we have learned. Applied Animal Science, 39:349361. Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Bestelmeyer, B.T., S.A. Utsumi, S. McCord, D.M. Browning, L.M. Burkett, E. Elias, R. Estell, J. Herrick, D. James, S. Spiegal, N.P. Webb and J. Williamson. 2023 Managing an arid ranch in the 21st century: New technologies for novel ecosystems. Rangelands 45:60-67 Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S., G. Duff, S.A. Utsumi, R. Estell, M.M. McIntosh, M. Funk, A. Cox, H. Cao, S. Spiegal, A. Perea, and A.F. Cibils. 2023. Real-Time Monitoring of Grazing Cattle Using LORA-WAN Sensors to Improve Precision in Detecting Animal Welfare Implications via Daily Distance Walked Metrics. Animals 13, 2624.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Spiegal, S., B. T. Bestelmeyer, A. F. Cibils, M. Redd, M. M. McIntosh, and R. E. Estell. 2023. Teaching old cattle breeds new tricks: Adaptation in the age of megadrought. Ecol. Soc. Amer. August 2023. Portland, OR.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Perea, A. R., L. K. Macon, R. Dunlap, M. Funk, P. Winkler, S. E. Campa Madrid, J. M. Spetter, M. Filbert, A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, G. Duff, D. VanLeeuwen, and S. A. Utsumi. 2024. Comparative Analysis of the Training Response of Raramuri Criollo and Angus Cattle to Virtual Fencing. American Society of Animal Science National Meeting. July, 2024, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Campa-Madrid S.E., V. Carrera, N. Lucero, K.E. Ropp, M. Funk, A.R. Perea, M.J. Spetter, R.E. Estell, S.A. Soto-Navarro, S.A. Utsumi. 2024 Exploring the Behavioral Effects of Glycerol Supplementation in Ruminally Cannulated Cows Grazing Wheat Pasture. Proceedings of the 2024 ASAS-CSAS-WSASAS Annual Meeting, July 21-25, 2024 Calgary, Canada.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Appiah, Isaac. 2023. Estimated breakeven productivity of precision ranching elements in New Mexico ranches. Masters thesis, Department of Agricultural Economics. New Mexico State University.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Appiah, Isaac. 2023. Estimated breakeven productivity of precision ranching elements in New Mexico ranches. Masters thesis, Department of Agricultural Economics. New Mexico State University. Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Hurst, Z.M., Spiegal, S., 2023. Design thinking for responsible Agriculture 4.0 innovations in rangelands. Rangelands 45, 6878.
  • Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S., A. Cox, A. R. Perea, R. E. Estell, A. F. Cibils, J. Holland, T. Waterhouse, G. Duff, M. Funk, M. M. McIntosh, S. A. Spiegal, B. T. Bestelmeyer, and S. A. Utsumi. 2023. Behavioral adaptations of nursing Brangus cows to virtual fencing: Insights from a training deployment phase. Animals 13:3558.
  • Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S., A. Cox, A. R. Perea, R. E. Estell, A. F. Cibils, J. Holland, T. Waterhouse, G. Duff, M. Funk, M. M. McIntosh, S. A. Spiegal, B. T. Bestelmeyer, and S. A. Utsumi. 2023. Behavioral adaptations of nursing Brangus cows to virtual fencing: Insights from a training deployment phase. Animals 13:3558. Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Winkler, Z., L. E. Boucheron, S. A. Utsumi, S. Nyamuryekunge, M. M. McIntosh, and R. E. Estell. 2024. Effects of dataset curation on body condition score (BCS) determination with a vision transformer (ViT) applied to RGB+Depth images. Smart Agricultural Technology 8:100482.
  • Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S., A. Cox, A. R. Perea, R. E. Estell, A. F. Cibils, J. Holland, T. Waterhouse, G. Duff, M. Funk, M. M. McIntosh, S. A. Spiegal, B. T. Bestelmeyer, and S. A. Utsumi. 2023. Behavioral adaptations of nursing Brangus cows to virtual fencing: Insights from a training deployment phase. Animals 13:3558. Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Winkler, Z., L. E. Boucheron, S. A. Utsumi, S. Nyamuryekunge, M. M. McIntosh, and R. E. Estell. 2024. Effects of dataset curation on body condition score (BCS) determination with a vision transformer (ViT) applied to RGB+Depth images. Smart Agricultural Technology 8:100482. Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Spiegal, S., Estell, R., Cibils, A., Cox, A., McIntosh, M.M., Browning, D.M., Duniway, M.C., Funk, M., Macon, L., McCord, S.E., Redd, M., Tolle, C., Utsumi, S., Walker, J., Webb, N., Bestelmeyer, B.T., 2024. The LTAR Grazing Land Common Experiment at the Jornada Experimental Range: Old genetics, new precision technologies, and adaptive value chains. J of Env Quality jeq2.20605. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20605
  • Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S., A. Cox, A. R. Perea, R. E. Estell, A. F. Cibils, J. Holland, T. Waterhouse, G. Duff, M. Funk, M. M. McIntosh, S. A. Spiegal, B. T. Bestelmeyer, and S. A. Utsumi. 2023. Behavioral adaptations of nursing Brangus cows to virtual fencing: Insights from a training deployment phase. Animals 13:3558. Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Winkler, Z., L. E. Boucheron, S. A. Utsumi, S. Nyamuryekunge, M. M. McIntosh, and R. E. Estell. 2024. Effects of dataset curation on body condition score (BCS) determination with a vision transformer (ViT) applied to RGB+Depth images. Smart Agricultural Technology 8:100482. Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Spiegal, S., Estell, R., Cibils, A., Cox, A., McIntosh, M.M., Browning, D.M., Duniway, M.C., Funk, M., Macon, L., McCord, S.E., Redd, M., Tolle, C., Utsumi, S., Walker, J., Webb, N., Bestelmeyer, B.T., 2024. The LTAR Grazing Land Common Experiment at the Jornada Experimental Range: Old genetics, new precision technologies, and adaptive value chains. J of Env Quality jeq2.20605. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20605 Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Ahles, A., Palma, M.A., Drichoutis, A.C., 2024. Testing the effectiveness of lottery incentives in online experiments. American J Agri Economics ajae.12460. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12460.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: We continue to share project information and research through our website https://southwestbeef.org/
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: We continue to share project information and research through our website https://southwestbeef.org/ Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Casta�o-Sanchez, Jose, C. Alan Rotz, Jean Steiner, Bill Golden, Sheri A. Spiegal. Farmer driven water conservation policy on the Ogallala aquifer reduces the environmental footprints of crop production. Agric. Water Manag.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: We continue to share project information and research through our website https://southwestbeef.org/ Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Casta�o-Sanchez, Jose, C. Alan Rotz, Jean Steiner, Bill Golden, Sheri A. Spiegal. Farmer driven water conservation policy on the Ogallala aquifer reduces the environmental footprints of crop production. Agric. Water Manag. Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Cram, Ana, D.N. Moriasi, G.E. Moglen, J.L. Steiner, O.F. Aguirre, J.A. Verser. 2024. SWAT-MOEA: SWAT Optimization Tool for Decision-Making in Agricultural Production Systems Among Competing Objectives. JAWRA
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: McPherson, R.A., P.A. Fay, S.G. Alvarez, D. Bertrand, T.L. Broadbent, T. Bruno, A. Fares, B. McCullough, G.W. Moore, B. Moorhead, L. Pati�o, A. Petersen, N.G. Smith, J.L. Steiner, A. Taylor, and T. Warziniack, 2023: Ch. 26. Southern Great Plains. In: Fifth National Climate Assessment. Crimmins, A.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock, Eds. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA. https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA5.2023.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: We continue to share project information and research through our website https://southwestbeef.org/ Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Casta�o-Sanchez, Jose, C. Alan Rotz, Jean Steiner, Bill Golden, Sheri A. Spiegal. Farmer driven water conservation policy on the Ogallala aquifer reduces the environmental footprints of crop production. Agric. Water Manag. Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Cram, Ana, D.N. Moriasi, G.E. Moglen, J.L. Steiner, O.F. Aguirre, J.A. Verser. 2024. SWAT-MOEA: SWAT Optimization Tool for Decision-Making in Agricultural Production Systems Among Competing Objectives. JAWRA Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Fortuna, Ann-Marie, Brian Northup, Patrick J. Starks, Daniel N. Moriasi, Jean L. Steiner, Pradeep Wagle, Xunchang (John) Zhang, Paul Flanagan, Phillip Busteed, Stephen Teet, Travis W. Witt, Sherry Hunt, Corey Moffet, Andres Cibils, and Stacey A. Gunter. The LTAR Integrated Common Experiment at Southern Plains. J. Environ. Qual.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: We continue to share project information and research through our website https://southwestbeef.org/ Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Casta�o-Sanchez, Jose, C. Alan Rotz, Jean Steiner, Bill Golden, Sheri A. Spiegal. Farmer driven water conservation policy on the Ogallala aquifer reduces the environmental footprints of crop production. Agric. Water Manag. Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Cram, Ana, D.N. Moriasi, G.E. Moglen, J.L. Steiner, O.F. Aguirre, J.A. Verser. 2024. SWAT-MOEA: SWAT Optimization Tool for Decision-Making in Agricultural Production Systems Among Competing Objectives. JAWRA Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Fortuna, Ann-Marie, Brian Northup, Patrick J. Starks, Daniel N. Moriasi, Jean L. Steiner, Pradeep Wagle, Xunchang (John) Zhang, Paul Flanagan, Phillip Busteed, Stephen Teet, Travis W. Witt, Sherry Hunt, Corey Moffet, Andres Cibils, and Stacey A. Gunter. The LTAR Integrated Common Experiment at Southern Plains. J. Environ. Qual. Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Talebizadeh, Mansour, Daniel N. Moriasi, Jean L. Steiner, Prasanna H. Gowda, Patrick J. Starks, Alan J. Verser. Spatio-temporal Sensitivity Analysis for Flow and Sediment Load Modeling Using SWAT. J Hydrology
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: We continue to share project information and research through our website https://southwestbeef.org/ Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Casta�o-Sanchez, Jose, C. Alan Rotz, Jean Steiner, Bill Golden, Sheri A. Spiegal. Farmer driven water conservation policy on the Ogallala aquifer reduces the environmental footprints of crop production. Agric. Water Manag. Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Cram, Ana, D.N. Moriasi, G.E. Moglen, J.L. Steiner, O.F. Aguirre, J.A. Verser. 2024. SWAT-MOEA: SWAT Optimization Tool for Decision-Making in Agricultural Production Systems Among Competing Objectives. JAWRA Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Fortuna, Ann-Marie, Brian Northup, Patrick J. Starks, Daniel N. Moriasi, Jean L. Steiner, Pradeep Wagle, Xunchang (John) Zhang, Paul Flanagan, Phillip Busteed, Stephen Teet, Travis W. Witt, Sherry Hunt, Corey Moffet, Andres Cibils, and Stacey A. Gunter. The LTAR Integrated Common Experiment at Southern Plains. J. Environ. Qual. Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Talebizadeh, Mansour, Daniel N. Moriasi, Jean L. Steiner, Prasanna H. Gowda, Patrick J. Starks, Alan J. Verser. Spatio-temporal Sensitivity Analysis for Flow and Sediment Load Modeling Using SWAT. J Hydrology Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Xiang, Zaichen, Daniel N. Moriasi, Maryam Samimi, Ali Mirchi, Saleh Taghvaeian, Jean L. Steiner, J. Alan Verser, Patrick J. Starks. Improving SWATs Irrigation Algorithm to Facilitate Water Management and Conservation in Irrigated Regions. Agric. Water Manag.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Steiner, Jean L. Carolina B. Brandani, Adrian Chappell, Jose Casta�o-Sanchez, Mikaela Hoellrich, Matthew M. McIntosh, Shelemia Nyamuryekung'e, Nicole Pietrasiak, Alan Rotz, Nicholas P. Webb. 2024 Distinctive dryland soil carbon transformations and management: Insights from arid rangelands of SW United States. pp. 39-82 In Lal, R. (ed.) Soil and Drought: Basic Processes (Advances in Soil Science Series). CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, Florida.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Spetter, M. J., R. E. Estell, S. A. Utsumi, E. Armstrong, E. Jara, P. Ross, L. Macon, A. R. Perea, A. Cox, and S. A. Spiegal. 2024. Genetic characterization of Raramuri Criollo cattle introduced into the Southwestern United States. American Society of Animal Science National Meeting. July, 2024, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Perea, A. R., A. Cox, M. Funk, S. Rahman, H. Chen, Y. Wang, S. E. Campa Madrid, J. M. Spetter, M. Bakir, H. Cao, A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, G. Duff, and S. A. Utsumi. 2024. Real-time detection of parturition in beef cows managed on extensive rangeland pasture. American Society of Animal Science National Meeting. July, 2024, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.


Progress 08/01/22 to 07/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Cattle ranchers in the SW United States Native American ranchers and land managers Cattle finishers State and Federal Public Land Agencies NGO organizations focused on sustainable agriculture and certification programs Consumers seeking beef from sustainable production enterprises Classroom (K-12 STEM) and field programs Youth programs such as 4H and FFA Agricultural, environmental, and natural resource researchers Changes/Problems:Staff Changes Isaac Appiah, Master's student and member of the Supply Chain Options team, graduated in summer 2023 and moved on to Texas A&M to pursue his doctoral degree. Shelemia Nyamuryekung'e accepted a new position in Norway but continues to contribute to the Precision Livestock Ranching team. Adam Cless left OEIE for another position. He was replaced by Chris Pinzone. Zachary Hurst, a member of the Supply Chain Options team, left for another opportunity. Sajdur Rahman, a Master's student and member of the Precision Livestock Ranching team, graduated in May 2023. Samantha Lish joined the project as the Program Manager. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training: Maxi Spetter, Bianca Birkenstock, and Glenn Duff attended the C-Lock GreenFeed System Training in Rapid City South Dakota on May 15-18, 2023. The program provided in-depth training regarding GreenFeed theory, operating principles, mechanical design, maintenance, applications, and experimental design. Andres Perea, Maximiliano Spetter, Craig Gifford and Santiago Utsumi attended onboarding workshops centered on the safe use of virtual fencing technology that were offered monthly by VENCE staff. Professional Development: Jean Steiner attended the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment Water Networking event on December, 21, 2022. Jean Steiner attended the Kansas Geological Conference Field Conference on June 8-9, 2023, which included several stops in southwestern Kansas and focused on agricultural and water conservation issues relevant to feeds and forage production and beef feedlot sustainability. Skye Aney, Samantha Lish, Sheri Spiegal, Lara Macon, and Micah Funk attended the Society for Range Management Annual Meeting on February 12-15th, 2023. A strong theme throughout the meeting's presentations was sustainable cattle/ungulate production as related to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Rick Estell, Santiago Utsumi, Andres Perea, Maxi Spetter, and Glenn Duff attended the 2023 American Society of Animal Science National Meeting, July 16-20, 2023, Albuquerque NM. Ann Marshall and Kristy Ehlers attended the 2023 Climate Smart Agriculture Student Symposium on May 11, 2023, at the University of Texas in Arlington. The primary purpose of the event was to discuss potential solutions to agriculture production in a global setting where climate change is occurring. Jean Steiner and Emile Elias attended the All-Authors Meeting for the Fifth National Climate Assessment in Washington, DC, in April 2023. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations & Workshops: Asombro Institute for Science Education - presentation on Rarámuri criollo and precision ranching tools at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum's Cowboy Days event on March 3 and March 4, 2023. Jean Steiner and Joel Brown - panel members for Soil and Water Conservation Society Webinar: Climate Change Impacts on Soil and Water Conservation April 27, 2023. (100 participants) Jean Steiner and Joel Brown - panel members for a symposium "Climate Change Impacts on Soil and Water Conservation" at the Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Conference, Des Moines, IA, August 9, 2023. (40 participants) Sheri Spiegal presented at a symposium on "Measuring rangeland management impacts on carbon and ecosystem services: Insights across disciplinary borders". Presentation entitled "Measuring the effects of management on soil carbon and its bedfellows on ranches of the Americas". Society for Range Management, Boise, ID, February 13, 2023 (60 participants) Sheri Spiegal was the Keynote Speaker at the Midwest Manure Summit with a talk "Manuresheds: Recycling nutrients across farmgates, industries, and supply chains", Green Bay, WI on February 28, 2023. (150 participants) Sheri Spiegal was a speaker for an interactive presentation on Manureshed Action Networks + You: Working Together to Move Nutrients from Places of Surplus to Places in Need, Midwest Manure Summit, Green Bay, WI on February 28, 2023. (40 participants) Sheri Spiegal was a panel member for a symposium on Transitioning from a linear to a circular bioeconomy - challenges and opportunities, and presented a talk on "Recycling Nutrients in the Beef Supply Chain through Circular Manuresheds" at the Water for Food Global Conference, Lincoln, NE, May 2023. (75 participants) Sheri Spiegal was a speaker in a symposium on adaptation in the age of megadarought with a talk entitled "Teaching old cattle breeds new tricks: Adaptation in the age of megadrought". Ecological Society of America, August 7, 2023. Skye Aney presented Tools for the Beef Industry (TOBI) at an agricultural producer workshop and listening session hosted by the DOI South Central Climate Adaptation Center and the USDA Southwest Climate Hub: Weather, Climate and Agriculture in New Mexico. Las Cruces New Mexico. June 27, 2022. (25 participants) Skye Aney presented an overview of the project's three research areas - heritage Criollo cattle, precision ranching, and supply chain options and how each fits into climate change adaptation at a Climate Champions teacher workshop hosted by Asombro Institute for Science Education. Presentation title: "Sustainable Southwest Beef: Tools for Ranch and Rangeland Resilience". Las Cruces, NM. July 8, 2022. (12 participants) The extension team hosted an all-day workshop "Technology for Ranch Management" for NMSU Agricultural Extension personnel and other interested individuals to learn about precision ranching technologies. Corona, NM. October 21, 2022. (38 participants) The extension team hosted a workshop "Technology for Ranch Management" for stakeholders in the Shiprock NM area to learn about precision ranching technologies. Shiprock, NM. January 1, 2023. (15-20 participants) The extension team hosted an On-Ranch Demonstration at Rancho Corta Madera to provide an opportunity for regional producers, consumers, and other stakeholders to observe the three novel strategies in action, and to evaluate how these strategies might be applied in their own management and decision-making. Pine Valley, CA. May 4, 2023. (~45 participants) Andres Perea presented: Activity classification of grazing cows on desert rangeland in the southwestern United States. American Society of Animal Science, Albuquerque NM, July 2023. Rick Estell presented: Detection of parturition on rangeland beef cattle using GPS and accelerometer data. American Society of Animal Science, Albuquerque NM, July 2023. Santiago Utsumi presented: Virtual fencing of rangeland cows during late lactation and following weaning. American Society of Animal Science, Albuquerque NM, July 2023. The education team presented two professional development workshops for teachers on topics related to the integration of food production and climate change. BlueSTEM AgriLearning Center, El Reno, OK, July 2023 Ann Marshall and Kristy Ehlers served on a panel to address the integration of relevant STEM issues to students preparing for the next generation of agriculture production. University of Texas at Arlington, May 2023. Dr. Craig Gifford, New Mexico State University Extension Livestock Specialist and Andrew Cox, Ranch Manager, N.M.S.U Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center presented at the United States Beef Academy, Southeastern New Mexico Ranchers Workshop, New Mexico Cattle Growers Mid-Year Meeting and the International Livestock Identification Association annual meeting. Craig and Andrew presented on the research conducted and the daily management of cattle at the C.D.R.R.C with the use of Virtual Fencing. Collaborations (external): Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Network (LTAR) - Manureshed and Indicators Working Groups. New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum - Asombro staff collaborated with this State Museum to host a teacher workshop on criollo on June 21, 2023 and participated in Cowboy Days and other events at the Museum. Science Moab - Asombro staff are collaborating with this nonprofit in Moab, Utah to co-host future teacher professional development workshops at the Dugout Ranch. Sheri Spiegal and Matt Redd: Canyonlands Research Center Science Advisory Committee - Advisory Board member Matt Redd is the Project Director and Sheri Spiegal is a member of the committee. Sheri Spiegal contributed to Rangeland ecosystem services: Connecting nature and people. A Society of Range Management Task Force Report Skye Aney, Reanna Burnett and Paige Ramsey participate in the Southwest Drought Learning Network (DLN), a peer-to-peer knowledge exchange between climate service providers and resource managers. The breed comparison team is collaborating with scientists from Uruguay and Mexico to genotype the Raramuri Criollo biotype. BlueSTEM AgriLearning Center continues to build and maintain a partnership network with the Oklahoma Master Gardener project which provides instruction and community service regarding sustainable food production. Leveraging: Jean Steiner is co-PI on a NIFA-SAS Integrated Proposal "Satellite to Sustainable Water Management - Strategizing Transitions from Irrigated to Rainfed Production and Promoting Peer-Led Adaptation" ($10 million) which focuses on water conservation in the Southern Plains states, including all phases of the beef sector. The Ogallala Aquifer is the primary focus of the proposal. Sheri Spiegal is co-PI on a NIFA-SAS Integrated Proposal "Circular economy for integrated crop-beef systems: Improving N circularity while achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions" ($10 million) which focuses on improving nutrient circularity in the Great Plains and Southern Plains states, including all phases of the beef sector. The Ogallala Aquifer is the primary focus of the proposal. Craig Gifford led a team to submit a NIFA Extension-Climate Hub Letter of Intent for "Enhancing climate-smart decision-making options via knowledge co-production with diverse agricultural producers" in Year 4. The team was invited to submit a full proposal ($1 million). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Planned publications: Castaño-Sánchez et al. Impacts of Water Conserving Crop Irrigation on Beef Sustainability Indices. McPherson et al., 5th National Climate Assessment, Southern Great Plains Chapter Stevens et al., 5th National Climate Assessment, Indicators Appendix Aney et al., Grass-finishing Beef Cattle in the Southwest: A Survey of Producers. Rangelands. Aney et. al., Tools for the Beef Industry (TOBI): Building a Tool-shed for Decision Support Tools. Nyamuryekung'e et al.: Behavioral adaptations of nursing Brangus cows to virtual fencing: Insights from a training deployment phase. Animals Winkler et al., Dataset Curation on Body Condition Score (BCS) of cattle determination with a Vision Transformer (ViT) Applied to RGB+Depth Images. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. McIntosh et al.: Characterization and multivariate analysis of within breed morphological traits in a herd of heritage Rarámuri Criollo cattle. Livestock Science Spetter et al.: Genetic diversity, population structure and selection signatures of a Raramuri Criollo cattle herd in the southwestern United States. Spetter et al.: Quantification of greenhouse gas emissions and metabolic heat production of grazing Raramuri Criollo and Angus x Hereford crossbred cattle in the Chihuahuan Desert. Planned Research: Breed Comparison: During year 5, the final year of the crossbred study will be completed and animal performance, carcass traits, and organoleptic properties will be analyzed and summarized for publication. The genotyping project will be expanded to include collaborating ranches with RC cattle. Also, Corriente cattle will be sampled to determine the genetic overlap of these two biotypes. The methane emission study will continue and data will be summarized for publication. The studies will be expanded to encompass Criollo in other production systems. A virtual fencing study is being planned and will be conducted in year 5 to examine the ability of RC cattle to adjust to virtual fencing compared to crossbreds typically raised in the southwestern US. Many of these projects are expected to continue well beyond the life of this grant. Precision Ranching: During year 5, planned new versions of the dashboard system will be tested and released while assessing perceptions and experiences for using the dashboard system to inform decision making of livestock, rangeland, and grazing management across testing sites. Future developments will include vegetation assessments and new alert systems of animal welfare. Scalability of the dashboard and data services will be explored beyond project completion. Data science, machine, and deep learning experiments will be completed to assess additional behavior traits and events, such as estrous, parturition, or predation, throughout the production cycle of cows. Tipping points relating to changes in behavior to plant cover and climatic variables will be examined through time series analyses. Virtual fencing studies are being planned in year 5 to examine the ability of Raramuri Criollo cattle to adjust to virtual fencing compared to crossbreds typically raised in the southwestern US. Many of these projects are expected to continue well beyond the life of this grant. Supply Chain Options: The Supply Chain Options team plans to submit a proposal to NMSU IRB committee for permission to collect social and economic data on five ranches in our ranch-level sustainability indicator project (described in Spiegal, Estell et al., 2023 Journal of Arid Environments). The team will continue to publish its 10 remaining packages, each comprising a dataset, manuscript, and beef brief: Ranch breakeven cost of the precision system with a focus on range and cattle production (Torell) Environmental footprints of alternative beef manure recycling options (Castaño-Sánchez) How many criollo can the SW accommodate? (Castaño-Sánchez) Effects of telecoupling of SW and THP on water quantity (Torell, Thayer) Effects of telecoupling of SW and THP on regional economics (Torell, Thayer) Effects of water conservation policies on farm-level feed/forage in Ogallala Aquifer; feedlots (Steiner) Consumer preference for Criollo beef and grass-finished beef (Ahles) Economic outlook for Criollo beef (Ahles) Synthesis of transregional effects of telecoupling between SW and THP (Spiegal) Ranch-level effects of heritage cattle and precision ranching using indicator system (McIntosh, Spiegal) Extension Plans: In Year 5, the extension team plans to convene an On-Ranch Demonstration hosted at participating rancher's Evergreen Ranching operation in South Dakota. Work will commence on integrating all the outreach materials produced so far into the Southwest Beef Knowledge System, and on producing new materials where needed to support stakeholder learning and understanding of the novel strategies. Team members plan to submit for publication two peer-reviewed journal articles based on work completed in previous years, and 2-3 Cooperative Extension publications synthesizing the project's research. Social media accounts will be maintained, as will TOBI, and general stakeholder outreach in the form of presentations and tabled events. Options will be explored for leveraging cattle industry trade publications to disseminate project research findings to a broader audience. Planning and arrangements will be initiated for hosting an end-of-project symposium to share research findings. Education Plans: Our next steps are to (1) continue delivering the 11 lessons we developed for the project and (2) deliver the lessons developed for this project to at least 1,000 additional K-12 students. We will continue to develop innovative, hands-on technology-driven STEM research instruction to our high school students.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Breed Comparison: The team continued to conduct the crossbred study. Yr 2 of the feedlot phase was completed and preliminary average daily gain and carcass data have been compiled for yr 1 and 2. The calf shipment from 3 collaborating ranches was organized, yr 3 of the wheat pasture phase was completed, and the final yr of the feedlot phase is in progress. Individual daily feed intake is being recorded. Gain, feed efficiency, carcass weight, carcass quality and yield grades have been collected for yr1 and 2. Meat quality research included the Descriptive Flavor and Texture attributes and tenderness on steaks from these carcasses. Cooked meat evaluation has been conducted on steaks from yr 1 and 2 by trained descriptive panelists. The greatest challenge for the breed comparison project has been the mega-drought that continued through 2023 that necessitated removal of cattle from study pastures due to lack of forage. Although the cow/calf phase of the project was interrupted, the team adapted by expanding several other components of the project. Projects were established to gather baseline phenotypic and genotypic data for Raramuri Criollo (RC) biotype. Data for 26 phenotypic characteristics collected from the entire Jornada cow herd were analyzed to establish a baseline phenotypic description for this rare genetic resource. Additionally, a genotyping project was initiated to explore the genetic diversity and establish a genetic baseline for the RC biotype. Ear notch samples for the Jornada RC herd, including cows, calves, and bulls were collected and subjected to SNP analysis by a commercial lab to identify genetic markers of phenotypic traits and to explore the genetic makeup of this biotype compared to other Criollo biotypes. The desert Angus herd was also sampled to explore relationships of our herd with commercial crossbred cattle typical of this region. Analyses are in progress. Finally, a long-term project was initiated using a GreenFeed system to monitor methane and carbon dioxide emissions and oxygen consumption from Raramuri Criollo and Angus crossbreds grazing native desert rangeland. The first 2-month collection period was completed and three more collection periods will be conducted to measure greenhouse gas emissions during all four seasons. Precision Ranching: Research and development were concentrated in 4 major areas. First, software engineering research resulted in the development of a dashboard system enabling real-time collection, analysis, and visualization of sensor data from cattle collars, drinking water tanks and tipping bucket rain gauges. Over 350 sensors have been tested, resulting in a database size of ~ 30 million data points. Trials were established to test the dashboard systems and sensors in 7 facilities, covering ~ 100,000 acres of grazing land in 4 states in the southwest USA. A software engineer joined the team to help accomplish software development tasks. Feedback from early users has been positive and comments are being incorporated in software development work aiming to improve users' satisfaction and experience with the dashboard system. Second, data science experiments focused on developing, training, and testing artificial intelligence models that allow robust classification of distinct behaviors grazing cattle makes, as well as abnormalities in patterns of sensor data associated with calving. Data science experiments were completed to integrate transformers in novel applications of computer vision to assess body condition scores of cattle. Third, the project acquired virtual fencing (VF) technology to manage livestock grazing distribution in 5 experimental sites in 4 states. A total of 330 VF cattle collars were tested, significantly increasing the size of datasets generated by the project. Trials were established across NMSU facilities, Corta Madera, Jornada Experimental Range, Sunrise, and Dugout to assess behavioral adaptations of cattle to virtual fencing, patch use in desert pastures, and comparative effects of VF pre- vs. post weaning. Supply Chain Options: In Yr 4, the Supply Chain Team crystallized the modeling framework it will use to understand tradeoffs of adopting heritage cattle genetics, precision ranching technologies, and grass-finishing. The framework spans scales from ranch to integrated farm system to region to trans-region. Indicators and metrics per scale were refined (e.g.,Biodiversity and Commodity quality at the ranch scale; Carbon footprint at the Integrated Farm System scale; Ranching community security at the regional scale).In Yr 4, the team published most of the components of 4 packages, and gave many related presentations. The package themes are as follows: Bull selection and management in extensive rangeland production systems of NM Ranch enterprise budget of grain finishing Angus vs grass finishing Criollo in NM Environmental footprints and net returns of 9 alternative supply chain options Policy and technology options for water conservation in the Ogallala aquifer in KS Extension: In Yr 4, the extension team conducted the 4th On-Ranch Demonstration in Pine Valley, CA, hosted by one of the project's participating ranchers. This event allowed local producers and stakeholders to observe, learn about, and provide feedback on the novel research strategies. The team also produced 9 fact sheets, 4 team updates for the project'snewsletter, 3 articles for the Southwest Climate Hub's newsletter, 1 podcast, 1 informational video, and 1 slide deck on precision ranching components in response to a request from Cooperative Extension personnel for presentation materials on the subject. Fact sheets and infographics are made available in both English and Spanish to increase accessibility for Spanish-speaking stakeholders. The team continued to support and update the decision-support tool finder, Tools for the Beef Industry (TOBI), which received 684 page hits from 518 unique users during Year 4. Team members also tabled at three events to share project information, and interacted with 8 state-level 4-H, FFA, and Farm Bureau representatives regarding youth education materials developed by the education team. Team members presented the project to USDA staff via an invited presentation featured in the REE revolutionary research webinar featuring ARS. Education: Goals for the education component of the project are to: (1) increase K-12 students' science literacy and knowledge about novel strategies to increase the sustainability of beef production systems and (2) provide teaching and learning strategies and ready-to-use lessons to educators through professional development workshops. In year 4, the Asombro Institute for Science Education completed the 15-step lesson development process for 11 hands-on K-12 education lessons related to the major research themes of this project. In Year 4, we delivered these lessons to 2,573 students, 296 teachers, and 203 other adults through classroom lessons, field trips, and five teacher workshops in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. BlueSTEM AgriLearning Center partnered with Asombro for two hands-on teacher professional development days in Oklahoma. "Curious about Cows" focused on Grades 3-5, and "Connecting to Climate Change - Global to Local" focused on middle school and high school teachers. We presented integrated hands-on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics lessons and activities to more than 125 teachers and educational leaders, 1,450 students, and 100 adults from community and civic organizations. Awards: Sheri Spiegal received the "New Innovator Award" for $450,000 from the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research. Recycling Nutrients for Robust Agricultural Supply Chains. 2022-2025. Glenn Duff, Brent Auvermann, Vincius Govea, Sheri Spiegal, and Rick Estell received the Vice Chancellors Award in Excellence from Texas A&M University on December 2, 2022 for collaborations resulting from this grant.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Cibils AF, Estell RE, Spiegal S, Nyamuryekung'e S, McIntosh MM, Duni DM, Herrera Conegliano OA, Rodriguez Almeida FA, Roacho Estrada O, Blanco LJ, et al. 2022. Adapting to climate change on desert rangelands: A multi-site comparison of grazing behavior plasticity of heritage and improved beef cattle. Journal of Arid Environments. 209:104886.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Torell GL, Torell LA, Enyinnaya J, Spiegal S, Estell RE, Cibils AF, Anderson DM, Gonzalez AL. 2023. Economics of Raramuri Criollo and British crossbred cattle production in the Chihuahuan desert: Effects of foraging distribution and finishing strategy. Journal of Arid Environments. 211:104922.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Duni DM, McIntosh MM, Nyamuryekung'e S, Cibils AF, Duniway MC, Estell RE, Spiegal SA, Gonzalez AL, Gedefaw MG, Redd M, et al. 2023. Foraging behavior of Raramuri Criollo vs. Angus cattle grazing California Chaparral and Colorado Plateau shrublands. Journal of Arid Environments. 213:104975.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Roacho Estrada O, Rodr�guez Almeida FA, Utsumi SA, Fredrickson EL, Bezanilla Enr�quez GA, Cibils AF, Estell RE, Gonzalez AL. 2023. Foraging behavior of Raramuri Criollo vs. commercial crossbred cows on rangelands of the southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. Journal of Arid Environments. 212:104943.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Spiegal, S., Estell, R.E., Cibils, A.F., Armstrong, E., Blanco, L.J., Bestelmeyer, B.T., 2023. Can heritage Criollo cattle promote sustainability in a changing world? Journal of Arid Environments 216, 104980.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: McIntosh MM, Spiegal SA, McIntosh SZ, Casta�o Sanchez J, Estell RE, Steele CM, Elias EH, Bailey DW, Brown JR, Cibils AF. 2023. Matching beef cattle breeds to the environment for desired outcomes in a changing climate: A systematic review. Journal of Arid Environments. 211:104905.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Casta�o-S�nchez, J.P., Rotz, C.A., McIntosh, M.M., Tolle, C., Gifford, C.A., Duff, G.C., Spiegal, S.A., 2023. Grass finishing of Criollo cattle can provide an environmentally preferred and cost effective meat supply chain from United States drylands. Agricultural Systems 210, 103694.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Lasch�, SN, Schroeder, RW, McIntosh, MM, Lucero, JE, Spiegal, SA, Funk, MP, Beck, RF, Holechek, JL, Faist, AM, 2022. Long-term growing season aridity and grazing seasonality effects on perennial grass biomass in a Chihuahuan Desert rangeland. Journal of Arid Environments 209, 104902.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Gifford CA, Taylor KM, Spiegal S, Duff GC, Aney S, Elias E, Steiner JL, Estell R, McFarlane ZD, Schohr TK, et al. 2022. Factors important for bull purchasing decisions and management in extensive rangeland production systems of New Mexico: a producer survey. Translational Animal Science. 7(1):txac167.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Steiner, J.L., Xiaomao Lin, Nancy Cavallaro, Gretchen Sassenrath. 2023. Climate Change Impacts on Soil and Water Conservation. J. Soil Water Conserv.78:27A-32A.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Steiner, J. L. 2023. Viewpoint: The urgent need for action. J. Soil Water Conserv.78:52A.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S., G. Duff, S. A. Utsumi, R. E. Estell, M. M. McIntosh, M. Funk, A. Cox, H. Cao, H. Chen, S. Spiegal, A. Perea, S. Rahman, and A. F. Cibils. 2023. Calculation of daily distance walked by grazing cattle using real-time activity and position data collected by LoRa-WAN sensors. Proceedings, 2nd U.S. Precision Livestock Farming Conference. May 21-24, 2023, Knoxville, TN. pg. 660-665.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S., A. Cox, A. Perea, R. E. Estell, A. F. Cibils, J. Holland, T. Waterhouse, G. Duff, M. Funk, S. Aney, M. M. McIntosh, S. Spiegal, B. T. Bestelmeyer, and S. A. Utsumi. 2023. Training beef cattle to use virtual fencing systems. 2nd U.S. Precision Livestock Farming Conference. May 21-24, 2023, Knoxville, TN. pg. 672-678.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: McIntosh, M. M., J. L. Holechek, S. A. Spiegal, A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, C. M. Steele, S. Jeon, and B. T. Bestelmeyer. 2023. Long-term effects of stocking rate, year, and weather on honey mesquite canopy cover and density. SRM Annual Meeting, February 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: McIntosh M. M., S. A. Spiegal, S. Z. McIntosh, J. Casta�o Sanchez, R. E. Estell, C. M. Steele, E. H. Elias, D. W. Bailey, J. R. Brown, and A. F. Cibils. 2023. Assessing grazing behavior of heritage, hybrid, and conventional cattle breeds in response to climate change. SRM Annual Meeting, February 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S., A. Cox, A. Perea, M. M. McIntosh, R. E. Estell, A. F. Cibils, J. Holland, T. Waterhouse, G. Duff, M. Funk, S. Aney, S. Spiegal, B. T. Bestelmeyer, and S. A. Utsumi. 2023. Virtual fencing of nursing cattle grazing large pastures of Chihuhahan Desert rangelands. SRM Annual Meeting, February 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Perea, A. R., L. Macon, S. Rahman, H. Chen, A. Cox, S. Nyamuryekunge, S. Campa Madrid, H. Cao, A. Cibils, R. E. Estell, G. Duff, and S. A. Utsumi. 2023. Activity classification of grazing cows on desert rangeland in the southwestern United States. Amer. Soc. Anim. Sci. National meeting, July 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Perea, A. R., L. Macon, S. Rahman, H. Chen, A. Cox, S. Nyamuryekunge, H. Cao, A. Cibils, R. E. Estell, G. Duff, and S. A. Utsumi. 2023. Detection of parturition on rangeland beef cattle using GPS and accelerometer data. Amer. Soc. Anim. Sci. National meeting, July 2023.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Funk, M, 2023. Cattle-oryx interactions in the Chihuahuan Desert: a preliminary study (Masters thesis, New Mexico State University)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Utsumi, S. A., S. Nyamuryekunge, A. R. Perea, M. Spetter, A. Cox, L. Macon, R. E. Estell, and G. Duff. 2023. Virtual fencing of rangeland cows during late lactation and following weaning. Amer. Soc. Anim. Sci. National meeting, July 2023.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Duni, D, 2023. Comparison of foraging behavior of Raramuri Criollo and improved beef breeds on rangelands of the Colorado Plateau and Chihuahuan Desert (Masters thesis, New Mexico State University)
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: We continue to share project information and research through our website https://southwestbeef.org/


Progress 08/01/21 to 07/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:Cattle ranchers in the SW United States Native American ranchers and land managers Cattle finishers State and Federal Public Land Agencies NGO organizations focused on sustainable agriculture and certification programs. Consumers seeking beef from sustainable production enterprises Classroom (K-12 STEM) and field programs Youth programs such as 4H and FFA Agricultural, environmental, and natural resource researchers Changes/Problems:Vacancy of Project Coordinator/Manager position has reduced time available for science coordination and science focused networking. The single greatest challenge to field research has been caused by a mega-drought that has continued through 2022. The drought significantly compromised our ability to conduct the cow/calf phase of the breed comparison project at the CDRRC. Early in the drought, an alternate cow/calf research site at Clayton was established to examine behavior differences in breeds on wheat pasture in collaboration with the precision ranching team. Also, Smart Feed and Smart Weigh systems were added to the feedlot study to improve data quality. We adapted to the problems caused by the drought by gearing up several other components of the project. Projects to establish phenotypic and genotypic baseline data for the Raramuri Criollo were developed. Also, long term project was planned to evaluate methane and other greenhouse gas production from different breeds in different production systems. Three GreenFeed systems have been ordered to conduct this research. Staff changes Lara Macon joined the team to work on day-to-day operations on the Jornada with the Precision Ranching and Breed Comparison research. Zachary Hurst joined the Supply Chain team working on development of indicators for evaluation of sustainable strategies across five domains. Dr. Jose Castano-Sanchez has assumed a post-doctoral research position with Al Rotz to conduct Integrated Farm System Model scenario analysis of modeling supply chain options. Dr. Marco Palma, Texas A&M University joined the Supply Chain team to evaluate consumer preferences for heritage, grass-finished, and conventionally produced beef. Paige Ramsey joined the Extension team as a Program Specialist. Sajidur Rhaman joined the Precision Ranching team as a software developer focusing on the dashboard development. Andres Perea joined the precision ranching team as a doctoral student in Animal Science under the supervision of Dr. Santiago. Alison Teeter left OEIE for a position in the private sector. She was replaced by Adam Chess, Besangie Sellars, and Valarie York. Valerie York later left OEIE for another opportunity. Keegan Taylor left the team in April and was accepted to Veterinary School at Texas Tech University. Dr. Mark Musumba accepted a new position focused on agricultural economics at RaboBank but continues to contribute to Supply Chain publications. Melissa Spence moved on from our Program Coordinator position to a new position with NMSU Extension. Bianca Birkenstock joined the project as a doctoral student with Glenn Duff and Rick Estell. She is evaluating methane production with Criollo calves along with methane production on perennial versus annual pastures. MacKenzie Smithyman joined the project under Glenn Duff 's supervision and is working on the with Criollo finishing project. She plans to use the data for developing energy equations for Criollo cross calves. Luis Ochoa joined the project as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences, working on a M.S. in Reproductive Physiology under Dr. Craig Gifford where he will assist in extension efforts through workshop organization and facilitating projects. Tiana Nez, an NMSU MS, student worked the Precision Ranching Team during the summer on UAV research. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training: Invited 1 graduate student, 4 post-doctoral researchers, 1 assistant professor, and 2 mid-career scientists to coauthor on invited chapter for Advance in Soil Science. Professional Development: Dr. Carolina Braga Brandani continues to work with Dr. Spiegal on her manureshed project, and Carolina is receiving professional-development training on ammonia gas emissions from cattle feedyards; she is also mentoring a Ph. D. student in that regard, Mr. Myeongseong Lee. Bianca Birkenstock attended the 8th International Greenhouse Gas and Animal Agriculture Conference, June 5 to 9, 2022, Orlando FL. Rick Estell and Glenn Duff attended the 2022 American Society of Animal Science National Meeting, June 26 to 29, 2022, Oklahoma City OK. Team members attended and/or participated in: Project-internal demonstration and in-depth Q&A about the operation of precision ranching technologies under evaluation in the project and the accompanying dashboard being developed. Provided by the precision ranching team to project members (including extension team members) during the 2022 Annual Meeting, May 24, 2022. Hosted an informational booth at the 2022 Society for Range Management Annual Meeting, held February 6-9, 2022. Albuquerque, NM. (Skye Aney, Brent Auvermann, Jean Steiner) New Mexico Cattle Growers Joint Stockman's Convention held December 14-16, 2021. Albuquerque, NM. (Craig Gifford, Skye Aney) NMSU Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center field day Oct. 8, 2021, Las Cruces, NM. (Glenn Duff, Skye Aney) 2022 Beef Improvement Federation conference, June 1-3, Las Cruces, NM. (Craig Gifford) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations, workshops Ann Marshall, BlueSTEM Education Director, presented a water quality workshop at the Southwestern Oklahoma State University's Southwest Alliance for Girls' Enrichment in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts/Humanities, and Mathematics (SAGE STEAM) camp. The campers are middle school and junior high girls from around Oklahoma. BlueSTEM staff presented information about plants, soil, and seeds to middle school and junior high students who were participants at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum STEM Camp in July,. Nyamuryekung'e, S., R. E. Estell, D. K. James, A. F. Cibils, M. M. McIntosh, S. Spiegal, and S. A. Utsumi. 2022. Heritage Raramuri Criollo cattle production as a potential strategy for conservation of black grama in the Chihuahuan Desert. ASAS Natl Mtg Oklahoma City. Nyamuryekung'e, S., G. Duff , A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, S. A. Utsumi, M. Funk, A. Cox, Q. Gong, H. Cao, S. Spiegal, V. Gouvea, and C. B. Brandani. 2022.Field testing of LoRa-WAN sensors for real-time tracking and biosensing of Brangus and Raramuri Criollo cattle foraging on a small pasture. ASAS Natl Mtg Oklahoma City. Matt McIntosh and others organized a Symposium, Precision Grazing: State of the Science and Opportunity for User Feedback, presented at the 75th Annual Meeting, Society for Range Management, in Albuquerque. The full day symposium included 13 presentations by members of our project and others and was attended by 50-75 people attending in person or virtually. Sheri Spiegal and others organized a symposium, From Desert Pasture to Dinner Plate: Evaluating the Sustainability of Supply Chains for Beef Cattle Coming from Ranches of the Southwest. The symposium included 6 presentations covering several aspects of our project, concluding with a panel of several ranchers, Matt Redd, Cindy Tolle, Andrew Cox, John Guldemann, and Bill Inman. The symposium was attended by 80-100 people attending in-person and virtually. Steiner, J.L. S. Spiegal, M. Musumba. A Framework for Assessment of Alternative Supply Chains for Southwestern Beef. Workshop on Social, Ecological, and Economic Indicators for Ranch Assessment Sustainable. Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable, September 20-22, 2021, Tucson, AZ Steiner, J.L., G. Duff, S. Spiegal. Sustainable Southwest Beef, Tools for Ranches and Ranchland Resilience. USDA, NIFA Sustainable Agricultural Systems Project Directors Meeting. April 18-20, 2022, Kansas City, MO. Steiner, J.L. NIFA PANEL: What can we learn from impactful Coordinated Agricultural Projects? USDA, NIFA Sustainable Agricultural Systems Project Directors Meeting. April 18-20, 2022, Kansas City, MO. Collaborations (external) Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Network (LTAR) - Manureshed and Indicators Working Groups Scientists from Uruguay and Mexico are collaborating on a new project to genotype the Raramuri Criollo biotype. Additionally, the Jornada collaborated with scientists from Mexico to import Raramuri Criollo bulls from northern Chihuahua to preserve the gene pool of this rare biotype. Collaborated with the Southwest Drought Learning Network (DLN) to lend leadership assistance for the Drought in Agriculture working group, and support for a new rancher-focused podcast series on drought and rangeland forage production. Ongoing participation in a water-related projects social media success group comprised of representatives from an array of projects including NMSU Extension and Experiment Station Publications, NMSU Innovative Media Research and Extension, Oklahoma State University, NM Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS), Agroecosystem Resilience in Times of Drought (ARID), NM State Climatologist, and several early and mid- career professionals. Craig Gifford collaborated with Dr. Zach McFarlane, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and associates, on publishing data gathered through an extensive survey covering producer bull selection criteria and management practices. The Extension Team partnered with the National Drought Mitigation Center us at the 75th Annual Conference of SRM in Albuquerque in February for outreach about the GrassCast seasonal forage forecasting product which has recently been extended from the Great Plains to the SW. The Precision Ranching team has engaged Dr. Clint Loest, NMSU professor, in feedlot management research and Dr. Casey Spackman, NMSU Extension Range Specialist in UAV research collaboration. Leveraging The Breed comparison team will benefit from $60,000 invested in construction and instrumentation of an 8-pen research feedlot at the Texas AgriLife James Bush Farm, including eight C-Lock SmartFeed units and two C-Lock liveweight monitors. A request was made to the Research Leader at the Jornada Experimental Range to fund a Greenfeed unit to measure methane emissions from cattle to enhance our ability to conduct research at multiple locations simultaneously. This unit is also currently on order ($125,445). Sheri Spiegal was the ARS nominee and applicant for the 2022 FFAR New Innovator Award, $300,000. Her application focused on manureshed research and partner engagement, which is intricately related to the supply chain research/extension/education in this CAP What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Planned publications Apiah, I, Torell, G In Preparation: Break Even Analysis of Precision Ranching Systems Meredith, G.R., Spiegal, S., Kleinman, P.J. and Harmel, D., 2022. The social networks of manureshed management. Journal of Environmental Quality. Musumba, M., Spiegal, S., et al. In Prep. Metacoupling of Beef Production systems of the Southwestern United States. Sustainability Science. Spiegal, S., Williamson, J.C., Flynn, C., Buda, A., Rotz, C.A., et al. 2021. Land use change and collaborative manureshed management in New Mexico. Journal of Environmental Quality. Torell, G., Torell, L.A., Gonzalez, A.L., Cbils, A.F., Estell, R.E., Diaz, J., Anderson, D.M., Rotz, C.A., Spiegal, S., In preparation. A Case Study Economic Comparison of Raramuri Criollo and British Crossbred Cattle Production in the Chihuahuan Desert. Journal of Arid Environments. Torell, G., Lee, K., Miller, M. In Preparation: Breed Selection and Profitability in Arid Rangeland Systems Under Climate Change, Comparison of Raramuri Criollo and British Cattle Production Torell, G. Thayer, A. In Preparation: Transboundary Impacts of Grass Finishing Cattle on the Ogallala Aquifer Planned Research Breed Comparison: Drone operations at Clayton Livestock Research Center and Glenn Duff Farm to document wheat and perennial grass planting for the breed-comparison study. Oversee finishing phase of the second turn of Criollo/Brangus cattle. Continue contributions to the Extension planning team. Explore cooperative research opportunities with software firm to advance artificial intelligence and remote sensing research for cattle locating, identifying, liveweight estimating, counting, and detecting health status. The plan for year 4 is to organize the calf shipment for year 3 calves and continue data collection and analysis for the crossbred study (performance, carcass traits, organoleptic properties) as well as to expand the collar study on the Jornada and on alternate sites. Also, the phenotype data will be summarized, and sample collection will begin for the genotype project. Lastly, the GreenFeed units will be incorporated into designed studies to monitor production of greenhouse gasses from different cattle breeds in different production systems and environments. These projects are expected to continue well beyond the life of this grant. Precision Ranching: Supply Chain Options: Engage with Southern Plains Climate Hub and Kansas State University on water conservation opportunities and barriers relative to feedstock operations and feeds and forage production for beef cattle finishing. Prepare a Policy Brief document on water policy and water conservation. Extension Plans: During the next reporting period we plan to continue the work that is in progress, including: finish and submit for publication two partially-finished peer reviewed journal articles; finish and publish four fact sheets providing details of the precision ranching components; continue work on the game-style virtual ranch field trip; continue maintenance of the project's social media accounts. Additionally, we plan to: organize and convene an On-Ranch Demonstration at the Corta Madera ranch (one of the project's participating ranches) in Pine Valley, CA; organize and host a workshop for Ag Extension and interested producers highlighting precision ranching technologies, during which feedback will also be collected which will guide the creation of a best practices document; create at least one Ag Extension publication and one education article suitable for publication on Extension Foundation (formerly eXtension), based on the peer reviewed literature generated by the project to date; create two more podcast episodes highlighting aspects of the project; begin work on a decision-support tool to help producers evaluate the economics of novel strategies; give presentations, generate outreach media, and support outreach by other project team members, where appropriate. Education Plans: Our next steps are to (1) continue delivering the eight completed lessons we developed for the project, (2) continue developing the three lessons that are not yet complete, and (3) schedule and plan additional teacher workshops to showcase the new lessons. Of the three lessons in development at Asombro Institute, two are ready to pilot test and revise during the 2022/23 school year. The third one is in earlier phases of development but will go through additional pilot testing by the spring 2023 semester. 1. Don't Fence Me In (5th-grade classroom lesson that will be available online): Students are introduced to a precision ranching tool currently being studied by scientists in the southwestern United States that combines the Global Positioning System (GPS) with novel virtual fencing that has the potential to improve cattle management and protect Earth's natural resources. Once completed, this lesson will be free and available for educators to use with their classes. It is aligned with the following Next Generation Science Standard: 5-ESS3-1: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth's resources and environment. 2. Where's the Fence (5th-grade classroom lesson): Students learn about virtual fences, a new technology that can help ranchers in the southwestern United States prevent overgrazing and protect the land. They participate in activities and create a persuasive argument to understand what scientists are learning by studying this new tool as a method to protect rangelands from erosion associated with overgrazing. Next Generation Science Standard: 5-ESS3-1: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth's resources and environment. 3. Precision Ranching: Technological Solutions to Reduce the Impact of Raising Cattle in the Southwest (High school classroom lesson): When we pilot tested this new lesson in spring 2021, we realized it needed significant revisions to make it appropriate for high school students in sometimes large classes. Modifications are underway, and we will pilot test the new version by the spring 2023 semester. The lesson is aligned with the following Next Generation Science Standard: HS-ESS3-4: Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Breed Comparison: The team continued to conduct research and analyze results from the crossbred study. During the past year, year 1 of the feedlot phase was completed at both locations (Clayton and Bushland), and preliminary average daily gain and carcass data are being compiled. Year 2 of the wheat pasture phase was completed and year 2 of the feedlot phase is in progress. Smart feed and smart weigh systems were added to the feedlot study at both locations to allow for individual feed and water intake and daily weight collection going forward. Preliminary observations suggest that growth, dressing percentage and most carcass characteristics are similar for crossbred and straightbred calves. Additionally, a project was added to establish the phenotypic characteristics of the Raramuri Criollo biotype. Data for 26 attributes were collected on the entire Jornada cow herd on the Jornada to establish a baseline phenotypic description for this rare genetic resource. These data are currently being compiled and analyzed. Research feedlot facility improvements were completed to meet the research needs of the project Texas A&M AgriLife Research at Amarillo, including soil leveling and grading, new water and electrical lines, concrete apron, feed bunks and automated waterers, fencing. Electronic feeders (SmartFeeders, C-Lock Inc., Rapid City, South Dakota) were installed. In addition to conducting the crossbred and phenotype studies mentioned earlier and establishing a pilot study on the Jornada to evaluate use of GPS collars on Criollo vs Angus cattle, the breed comparison team established two other major projects to fill the void from the loss of the cow/calf study phase. A genetic analysis to is being planned in partnership with the Mexican Cattle Producers Association to genotype Raramuri Criollo cattle. Secondly, a study is being planned to measure greenhouse gasses from different breeds and crossbreds in different systems, including native range, wheat pasture, and feedlot. Supply Chain Options: Although soil organic carbon (SOC) concentrations are small, vast dryland areas contain about 36% of global soil C stock. In a review article prepared for Advances in Soil Science, we synthesized information from the southwestern USA to describe distinctive dryland influences and C transformations. Key dryland biogeochemical processes are inadequately represented in models, particularly the significance of SIC, the role of biocrusts, and the role of wind erosion. Past focus on direct production benefits has under-valued indirect benefits of climate regulation, water supply and filtering, nutrient cycling, biodiversity, and requires re-evaluation across scales of intervention to optimize multiple benefits in arid rangelands The supply chain team developed performance indicators for precision ranching and criollo cattle, to measure how well these production systems achieve sustainability targets for Southwestern ranches. Systematic discussion was held with stakeholders May 2022, providing the basis for further refinement and implementation. Extension: The On-Ranch Demonstration, hosted jointly by the Redds (ranch managers of the Nature Conservancy's Dugout Ranch) and the extension team, at The Dugout Ranch (one of the project's participating ranches) was attended by researchers, agency personnel, students, educators, tribal representatives, and local ranchers. The On-Ranch Demonstration showcased the Raramuri Criollo and other sustainability related efforts and research happening at the ranch. Perhaps more importantly, this event created opportunity for deep questions and conversations about sustainable ranching between parties that would not have otherwise occurred. All evaluation survey respondents (12 of ~40) indicated that their knowledge of ranching strategies increased as a result of the on-ranch demonstration. The Extension team reached ~240 additional stakeholders directly through webinar or presentations about components of the project and its research, resulting in a likely increase in knowledge of novel strategies for sustainability in southwestern ranching. One Professor from New Mexico State University's School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management indicated an intention to use recorded presentations from our sustainability in beef supply chains webinar in a portion of his class. In addition, the Extension team reached ~ 50-100 more people through booths at events such as the Society for Range Management Annual Meeting and the NMSU ACES Open House, resulting in an increase in awareness of novel strategies being researched. Education: Our goals are to (1) increase K-12 students' science literacy and knowledge about novel strategies to increase the sustainability of beef production systems and (2) provide teaching and learning strategies and ready-to-use lessons to educators through professional development workshops. In year 3, the Asombro Institute for Science Education moved toward the completion of 11 hands-on K-12 education lessons related to the three major research themes of this project. In this third year of the project, we delivered the lessons to 1,385 students, 113 teachers, and 132 other adults through classroom lessons, field trips, the delivery of materials for teacher-led lessons, and four teacher workshops. BlueSTEM Agrilearning Center worked with 24 high school students from three school districts who conducted experiential learning research projects on aspects of sustainable agriculture; soil, water, and nutrient management; animal science; and plant science. Research was conducted in field studies, aquaponic systems, FarmBot systems, and/or laboratories, depending on the nature of the experiment. Each student prepared a poster for presentation to school and community leaders and competed in state science fairs. Fifteen High School Seniors graduated from their program, including two students who were Valedictorian of their class. Awards Sheri Spiegal was named the USDA-ARS 2022 Herbert L. Rothbart Outstanding Early Career Research Scientist, which is the top early career award in ARS. Dr. Spiegal was recognized for her collaborative, systems-level research on nutrient management and holistic agricultural indicator systems. Internal Collaboration The team has achieved a high level of internal synergy and cross fertilization as indicated by the OEIE assessment. Researchers and advisory members support development of education curriculum and student research projects. Extension and research teams work closely together to identify stakeholder needs and communicate project findings to stakeholders.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Armstrong, E., F. A. Rodriguez-Almeida, M. M. McIntosh, M. Poli, A. F. Cibils, J. A. Martinez-Quintana, M. Felix-Portillo, R. E. Estell. 2022. Genetic background of Criollo cattle in Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina, and the United States. J. Arid Environ. J. Arid Env. Accepted on 1/18/22
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bestelmeyer, B.T., Spiegal, S., Winkler, R., James, D., Levi, M., et al. 2021. Assessing Sustainability Goals Using Big Data: Collaborative Adaptive Management in the Malpai Borderlands. Rangeland Ecology & Management 77: 17⿿29.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Estell, R. E., S. Nyamuryekunge, D. K. James, S. Spiegal, A. F. Cibils, A. L. Gonzalez, M. M. McIntosh, K. Romig. 2022. Diet selection of Raramuri Criollo and Angus x Hereford crossbred cattle in the Chihuahuan Desert. J. Arid Env. Accepted July 2022
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Nyamuryekung⿿e, S., A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, D. VanLeeuwen, C. Steele, Q. Gong, H. Cao, A. L. Gonzalez, S. Spiegal, M. M. McIntosh. 2021. Movement, activity, and landscape use patterns of heritage and commercial beef cows grazing Chihuahuan Desert rangeland. J. Arid Env. Accepted on 12/23/21
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Sawalhah, M.N., Geli, H.M.E., Holechek, J.L., Cibils, A.F., Spiegal, S., Gifford, C., 2021. Water Footprint of Rangeland Beef Production in New Mexico. Water 13.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Spiegal, S., Vendramini, J.M.B., Bittman, S., Silveira, M.L., Gifford, C., Rotz, C.A., Ragosta, J.P., Kleinman, P.J.A., 2022. Recycling nutrients in the beef supply chain through circular manuresheds: Data to assess tradeoffs. Journal of Environmental Quality. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20365
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Funk, M. P., M. M. McIntosh, L. C. Bender, A. F. Cibils, A. R. Cox, S. Fuentes-Soriano, S. A. Spiegal, R. E. Estell. 2022. Cattle-oryx (Oryx gazella gazella) presence patterns in a long term grazing study in Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico. Proc. 75th Annual Meeting. Soc. Range Manage. Albuquerque, NM (Abstr.) p. 116.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: McIntosh, M. M., L. Macon, M. Redd, A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, S. Nyamuryekungâ⿬⿢e, S. Utsumi, A. L. Gonzalez, A. Cox, G. Duff, J. Schallner, S. Spiegal. 2022. Explorations of heritage vs conventional cattle in a changing climate. Proc. 75th Annual Meeting. Soc. Range Manage. Albuquerque, NM (Abstr.) p. 216.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Steiner, J.L. C.B. Brandani, A. Chappell, J. Castano-Sanchez, M. Hoellrich, M.M. McIntosh, S. Nyamuryekunge, N. Pietrasiak, A. Rotz, N.P. Webb. 2022 Distinctive dryland soil carbon transformations and management: Insights from arid rangelands of SW United States. Adv. Soil Sci. (accepted 7/19/2022)"
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Steiner, J., Devlin, D., Perkins, S., Aguilar, J., Golden, B., Santos, E., Unruh, M. Policy, Technology, and Management Options for Water Conservation in the Ogallala Aquifer in Kansas, USA. Water 2021, 13(23), 3406. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13233406
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Zaied, A.J., H.M. Geli, A.F. Cibils, M.N. Sawalhah, J.L. Holechek, et al. 2021. Beef Cattle Price and Production Patterns in Relation to Drought in New Mexico. Sustainability 13(18): 10420.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Gifford, Craig, Taylor, Keegan, Spiegal, Sheri, Aney, Skye, Elias, Emile, Steiner, Jean, Estell, Rick, McFarlane, Zach, Schohr, Tracey, DeAtley, Kasey, Megan, B., In Review. Bull selection and management in extensive rangeland production systems of New Mexico: A producer survey. Translational Animal Science.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Meredith, G.R., Spiegal, S., Kleinman, P.J. and Harmel, D., 2022. The social networks of manureshed management. Journal of Environmental Quality
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Spiegal, S., Williamson, J.C., Flynn, C., Buda, A., Rotz, C.A., et al. 2021. Land use change and collaborative manureshed management in New Mexico. Journal of Environmental Quality.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: McIntosh, M. M., S. Nyamuryekungâ⿬⿢e, A. F. Cibils, S. Utsumi, R. E. Estell, A. R. Cox, D. Duni, V Gouvea, C. Brandani, G. Duff, Q. Gong, A. Waterhouse, J. Holland, H. Cao, L. Boucheron, H. Chen, S. Spiegal. 2022. Real-time LoRaWAN precision ranching technologies: What we⿿ve learned. Proc. 75th Annual Meeting. Soc. Range Manage. Albuquerque, NM (Abstr.) p. 217.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Utsumi, S., S. Nyamuryekungâ⿬⿢e, M. M. McIntosh, A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, S. Spiegal, G. Duff, H. Cao, L. Boucheron, H. Chen, T. Le, Z. Winkler, S. Rahman, Q. Gong, A. Cox, C. Gifford, J. Ragosta, M. Krohn, V. Gouvea, C. Brandani, A. Waterhouse, J. Holland, E. Elias, S. Aney, B.T. Bestelmeyer, J. Steiner. 2022. Digital tools for sustainable ranching on southwestern US rangelands. Proc. 75th Annual Meeting. Soc. Range Manage. Albuquerque, NM (Abstr.) p. 340.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Nyamuryekungâ⿬⿢e, S., R. E. Estell, D. K. James, A. F. Cibils, M. M. McIntosh, S. Spiegal, S. A. Utsumi. 2022. Heritage Raramuri Criollo cattle production as a potential strategy for conservation of black grama in the Chihuahuan Desert. ASAS Natl Mtg Oklahoma City.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Spiegal, S., A. F. Cibils, J. Steiner, R. E. Estell, B. T. Bestelmeyer, M. M. McIntosh, S. Bestelmeyer, S. Aney, E. Elias, G. Duff. 2022. Sustainable southwest beef: Evaluating innovations from pasture to plate. Proc. 75th Annual Meeting. Soc. Range Manage. Albuquerque, NM (Abstr.) p. 305.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Utsumi, S., S. Nyamuryekungâ⿬⿢e, M. M. McIntosh, A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, S. Spiegal, G. Duff, H. Cao, L. Boucheron, H. Chen, T. Le, Z. Winkler, S. Rahman, Q. Gong, A. Cox, C. Gifford, M. Krohn, J. Ragosta, V. Gouvea, C. Brandani, A. Waterhouse, J. Holland, E. Elias, S. Aney, B.T. Bestelmeyer, J. Steiner. 2022. 2022. Digital ranching as aspirational system for resilient ranching on southwestern US rangelands. SRM abstract. Proc. 75th Annual Meeting. Soc. Range Manage. Albuquerque, NM (Abstr.) p. 339.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Nyamuryekungâ⿬⿢e, S., G. Duff, A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, S. A. Utsumi, M. Funk, A. Cox, Q. Gong, H. Cao, S. Spiegal, V. Gouvea, C. B. Brandani. 2022. Field testing of LoRa-WAN sensors for real-time tracking and biosensing of Brangus and Raramuri Criollo cattle foraging on a small pasture. ASAS Natl Mtg Oklahoma City.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Steiner, J.L. S. Spiegal, M. Musumba. A Framework for Assessment of Alternative Supply Chains for Southwestern Beef. Workshop on Social, Ecological, and Economic Indicators for Ranch Assessment Sustainable. Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable, September 20-22, 2021, Tucson, AZ
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Steiner, J.L., G. Duff, S. Spiegal. Sustainable Southwest Beef, Tools for Ranches and Ranchland Resilience. USDA, NIFA Sustainable Agricultural Systems Project Directors Meeting. April 18-20, 2022, Kansas City, MO.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Steiner, J. L., Spiegal, S., Musumba, M., Archer, D. W., Bestelmeyer, B., Gifford, C., Rotz, A., Castano-Sanchez, J., Torell, G., Thayer, A., & Tolle, C. (2021) Alternative Supply Chains for Southwestern Beef: A Framework for Assessment [Abstract]. ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT. https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2021am/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/137649
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Steiner, J.L. S. Spiegal, M.M. McIntosh, Z. Hurst. How can we tell what⿬⿢s working? Performance indicators for Sustainable Southwest Beef. Presented at Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable. Big Sky, MT, June 13-15, 2022
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Taylor, K.M., 2022. New Mexico Bull Management and Calf Marketing Survey (Master⿿s thesis, New Mexico State University).
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Winkler, Z., 2022. Automated Estimation of Body Condition Score using Depth Images and Convolutional Neural Networks (Master⿿s thesis, New Mexico State University).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Aney, S., Elias, E., Burnett, R., Gifford, C., Duff, G., Auvermann, B. Facilitating Knowledge Exchange Around Strategies for Sustainability. Proceedings of the 2021 NMSU ACES Beef, Dairy and Livestock Update. Dec. 16, 2021, Albuquerque, NM. P. 3-6.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: McIntosh, M. M., A. F. Cibils, S. Nyamuryekungâ⿬⿢e, R. E. Estell, A. Cox, D. Duni, S. Utsumi, Q. Gong, A. Waterhouse, J. Holland, H. Cao, L. Boucheron, H. Chen, S. Spiegal. 2021. Testing of a LoRa-WAN digital ranching system on desert rangelands: some practical experiences. Proc. NMSU ACES Beef, Dairy and Livestock Update. NMSU Cooperative Extension Service. pp. 51-54.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Websites We have several web pages where teachers who take our teacher workshops can access electronic versions of the lessons we preview in the workshops. These include: Evaluating Solutions for Sustainability in the Southwest Teacher Resources: https://asombro.org/solutions/ Are You This Cow⿿s Herd Teacher Resources page: https://asombro.org/herd/ Solving the Beef Resources page: https://asombro.org/solvingthebeef/ Come rain or shine podcast - Sustainability in Beef Supply Chains. https://rainorshine.buzzsprout.com/1136681/9996340-sustainability-in-beef-supply-chains Art of Range: A Synthesis of Ranch-Level Sustainability Indicators for Land Managers, Parts 1 and 2. https://artofrange.com/episodes/aor-82-synthesis-ranch-level-sustainability-indicators-land-managers-part- 1 Evaluating Solutions for Sustainability in the Southwest Teacher Resources: https://asombro.org/solutions/Team members participated regularly in the planning & design working group for the creation of the early-stage Southwest Beef Knowledge System, which will serve as a user-friendly interface for delivery of all of the project⿿s knowledge and research findings, and which can help inform decisions by producers and consumers.


Progress 08/01/20 to 07/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Cattle ranchers in the SW United States State and Federal Public Land Agencies Consumers seeking beef from sustainable production enterprises Classroom (K-12 STEM) and field programs Agricultural, environmental, and natural resource researchers Changes/Problems: Project-wide, the major change was leadership transition from Andres Cibils and Sheri Spiegal to Glenn Duff and Sheri Spiegal as Project Co-Directors, which went very smoothly. Breed Comparison team's greatest challenge was due to the mega-drought we experienced in 2020 and continue to experience in 2021. This drought has seriously impacted the cow/calf phase of the breed comparison project at the CDRRC (Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center). We adjusted by scaling up the cow/calf research at an alternate site (Clayton, NM) in conjunction with the precision ranching team. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed soil analyzes regarding samples collected at the CDRRC. Delays in production and delivery of 4G virtual fence collars has impacted research progress with Precision Ranching team. COVID restrictions have limited ranch visits and work on ranch for Supply Chain Options team. Education team's biggest problem was COVID restrictions. When school buildings would reopen, which affected the ability to conduct pilot testing of new lessons and implement previously developed classroom lessons and field trips. Reopening of school buildsing in a hybrid model began March 2021, but no field trips or visitors to schools were allowed. Extension team's biggest challenge was ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which precluded holding any in-person events. Santiago Utsumi joined the team to assume leadership of the Precision Ranching team. Vinicius Gouvea joined the team to work on Breed Comparison and Precision Ranching research at Clayton Research Center. Joel Cisneros, who was hired as a temporary research assistant, accepted full-time employment and left the project in Fall 2020. Coury Dorn, who was hired as a graduate research assistant, graduated with his Masters degree in December 2020, and converted to 3/4-time position, later left the project to accept full-time employment with the state of New Mexico. Reanna Burnett, previously in a temporary 3/4-time position, was selected to fill the full-time position of Education Resource Coordinator in January 2021. Skye Aney, previously in a temporary 3/4-time position, was selected to fill the full-time position of Program Coordinator of the Extenstion team. Ethan Wright was hired January 2021 as a student employee to serve as the science teams liaison, was offered a full-time position with a private establishment and left the team June 2021. Danielle Duni, Masters student accepted a position at Montana State University and left the team. Hannah Linder and Hasan Al-Shammari were hired as a summer interns to support precision ranching data acquisition. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training: Several precision ranching and extension team members attended a seminar by James Daniel. 2021. Virtual Fence Technology Applications. Nofence, June 15, 2021, Oslo, Norway. Carolina Brandani trained in ArcGis, as needed, and joined the R group that is led by the Jornada team. Skye Aney supervised a summer intern who wrote several Case Studies, including one highlighting the use of Raramuri Criollo as a drought adaptation strategy. The Case Studies are written for a general audience and published in both story-map form and as an "at a glance" 2-page pdf document. The intern gained knowledge about these cattle, as well as writing and research skills. Professional Development: J. Steiner attended virtual 2021 Ogallala Summit, February 24-25, 2021 with about 250 participants to stay abreast of issues related to aquifer sustainability as well as the Beef session of the 2021 Kansas Ag Summit (virtual, 45 participants) and the Kansas Ag Summit, August 25-26, Manhattan, KS. J. Steiner and M. Musumba attended Supply Chain Panel, USDA Ag Outlook Forum, Feb. 18. Numerous team members attended the 2020 Jornada Symposium. Virtual. Nov. 12, 2020. Two members of the extension team attended a webinar seminar by James Daniel. 2021. Virtual Fence Technology Applications. Nofence, June 15, 2021, Oslo, Norway. Skye Aney attended virtual 2021 Ogallala Summit, February 24-25, 2021. Several members of the extension team attended the Society for Range Management 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting, February 15-18, 2021, to improve their knowledge about current issues, practices, and emerging technologies in rangeland management. Numerous team members attended the 2020 Jornada Symposium. Virtual. Nov. 12, 2020. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Carolina has led the SW Beef discussion group (study group), which meets monthly to discuss different subjects covered by the teams. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Research Breed Comparison Complete the wheat pasture portion of the year 1 comparison and begin the feedlot phase of the year 1 comparison. We will also calve out the year 2 calf crop for the comparison study. Continue to hold monthly team meetings to make sure the project is on track and monitor pastures for possible re-initiation of the vegetation impact portion of the project. Continue with the data collection/analyses of the year 1 crossbred wheat pasture and feedlot phases and begin year 1 carcass quality/organoleptic properties component. Continue to hold monthly team meetings and plan/organize year 2 shipment of calves to Clayton. Continue alternate site projects, including expansion of the behavior comparison to the Jornada Experimental Range site. Precision Ranching Deployments: we hope to ship materials and start with new installations of LoRaWAN at collaborating ranches between August and September. Manuscripts in preparation: Matthew M. McIntosh et al. (In Preparation). Deployment of a LoRa-WAN near real-time precision ranching system on extensive desert rangelands: a 'how to' technical note. Rangelands. Shelemia Nyamuryekung'e et al. (In Preparation) Behavior of LoRa-WAN enabled sensors in livestock biosensing and tracking applications. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. International manuscripts (Argentina and Mexico) for JAE special issue in revision. Supply Chain Options Work will focus on developing content for several briefs: Brief #1: Overview of metacoupling and US beef. Continue developing this manuscript and have a draft ready to submit by September. Brief #2: Pericoupling flows, causes, effects. Sheri and Craig are leading this manuscript development and data on the flows for cattle from New Mexico and Arizona to Texas has been obtained. Brief #3: Empirical model of Ogallala Aquifer thickness + regional income = f(flows of cattle from SW to Texas High Plains). Dr. Thayer and Torell are leading this model development. The conceptual framework has been presented and discussed with the team and model development is ongoing. Brief #4: Effects of water conservation on Ogallala aquifer and environmental footprint of feed and forage production for beef-cattle finishing. Dr. Steiner is leading this effort and is in the conceptual stage of development. Brief #5: Environmental footprint + net returns of alternative supply chain options (note terminology production systems = supply chain = material flows). Dr. Rotz, Castano-Sanchez, and Tolle are collecting data and preliminary data runs have been presented to the team. Brief #6: How many animals can be finished in the Southwest and in the Northern Plains? Dr. Zachary Hurst, a new team member, will be working with Dr. Archer and Bestelmeyer to develop this initiative. Brief #7: Spillover effects in the Upper Midwest. The spillover effects will be developed from research work in brief #1 and this is in its infant stages of development. Brief #8: Aggregated findings (All) Extension A webinar is planned for August 17th to highlight the supply chain options team's research and to offer information to producers about programs that offer sustainability incentives within the beef production supply chain. Three podcast episodes are planned that respond to stakeholder questions the extension team has received, recording for the first one will be in early July. Three scholarly journal articles are in progress reporting on the results of the surveys and research conducted. Planning is underway for the next On-Ranch Demonstration, to be held in Utah at the Dugout Ranch in March 2022. Working closely with the precision ranching team to develop a survey to gather data to help guide their development of the dashboard app they are working on, and to lay the foundations for a supplemental user's manual for the precision ranching devices, to be completed in year 5 of the project. Work will continue on the interactive beef production system walkthrough for the Southwestern Beef Knowledge System. Three scholarly journal articles are planned or in progress reporting on the results of the surveys and research conducted during this reporting period. Development of a toolshed for decision support tools related to the beef cattle industry. Four webinars are planned for 2021 to communicate information about the novel strategies being researched by the project; questions will be solicited and addressed during the Q&A session, which may lead to a better understanding of potential barriers to adoption of the strategies. Planning the 2021 "On-Ranch" Demonstration which will again be held virtually as a webinar due to uncertainty regarding the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and guidelines on social distancing. Continue on the interactive beef production system walkthrough for the Southwestern Beef Knowledge System. Education The next steps at Asombro are to (1) pilot test several lessons that were developed during pandemic school closures and revise as needed, (2) continue developing a new high school lesson module on sustainable ranching in the southwest and a new 3rd grade lesson on criollo traits lessons, and (3) prepare and host two teacher workshops. BlueSTEM have recruited new students to the STEM Research program from three school districts. The new students will begin the STEM/research curriculum and new research projects will be develop for each student. This year there will be a new focus on unmanned aerial vehicles working with ARS researchers.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The steering group works with team leads to ensure project-wide coordination and integration. The project focuses on strategies of heritage genetics, precision technologies, and alternative beef supply chains. We maintained a website, social media presence, and newsletter. The Project Data Manager leads database development and multiple teams are defining the structure of the Western Beef Knowledge System. Breed Comparison Year 1 of the wheat pasture phase of crossbred calf breed comparison project was completed; preliminary results compiled; feedlot phase was initiated. Criollo crossbred calves from collaborating ranches adjusted well to wheat pasture and average daily gains about 3.4 lbs/day. Grazing effects on soil C and N in the CDRRC comparing the historical grazed pastures (~30 years) with long-term grazing exclosure plots (ungrazed for 4 to 80 years) results showed long-term grazing exclusion (ungrazed pastures) decreased soil N concentration and soil N stocks at 0-10 cm of soil depth (respectively -0.10 g kg-1 soil and -1.62 Mg kg-1; P<0.05) and did not affect soil C concentration and soil C stock (p=0.63 and p=0.26 respectively) compared to grazed pasture. The C/N ratio did not show statistical difference (P>0.21) and was 2.4 times greater for ungrazed compared to grazed pastures. Vinicius Gouvea and the Precision Ranching team (S. Utsumi, S. Nyamuryekung'e, L. Boucheron, Z. Winkler) led to a study to examine behavior/preference of criollo and brangus cows for wheat pasture and native range using non-invasive animal wearable sensors that yield geolocation and activity data in real-time. Precision Ranching Using IoT technologies, the team is developing a precision ranching platform to monitor animals and ranch infrastructure in close-to-real time. The cross disciplinary multi-institutional team of range scientists, animal scientists, computer scientists and engineers are working with industry leaders to deploy Long Range Wide Area Networks (LoRa WAN) and enabled sensors at several ranches across the Southwest. The data acquisitions team lead by Krohn, Cox, Nyamuryekung'e is testing more robust loT instrumentation and communication systems that include extended solar and battery power capacity. Cattle GPS data from Corta Madera are being collected and will be analyzed. The data mining and visualization team produced GRAZETOOLS, a set of analytic tools written in JavaScript. The GRAZETOOLS are accessible at https://github.com/huipingcao/GRAZETOOLS. A prototype Digital Ranching Dashboard (DRD) written in Python language has been developed. Also, 3D cameras are being tested to allow unobtrusive determinations of body condition scores of cattle. Supply Chain Options The Supply Chain Options team seeks to compare the sustainability of different approaches to finishing and marketing beef, with a focus on production systems. Primary tools are the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM) and bi-regional telecoupling analysis evaluating scenarios in the linkages between the Southwest and Ogallala Aquifer regions. A list of 20 ranchers interested in participating in our research was generated and developed a database for the telecoupling analysis. The tools developed will be essential to understanding how changes in ranch-level, and feedyard-level production affect prospects for sustainability. The research is targeted toward development of nine Policy Briefs, each of which will be supported by one or more peer-review publications. Sheri Spiegal worked closely with the Breed Comparison team to plan/execute field sampling on the CDRRC. Sheri and Mark Musumba visited the Jornada Ranch to learn more about the current management of the project's Raramuri Criollo cattle. Mark visited Dr. Rhonda Milller's lab at Texas A&M University where sensory tests on beef are performed to discuss collaborations with her team to add a market research component. Extension Collectively, 62 individuals external to the project registered for webinars with attendance ~50% of those registered. For all webinars, 93%+ of attendees responding to the post-webinar poll reported an increase in knowledge as a result of the webinar, and 65%+ indicated an intention to share the information with others in their networks. Unfortunately, due to a glitch in operating the poll, we were unable to separate out the evaluation responses from project participants vs. those external to the project. The results of the grass-fed beef producer survey (administered via mail and online during fall 2020 - spring 2021) were summarized and a copy of the aggregated responses was shared with the project team. This information furthers the goal stated in our proposal to collect information about the extent of, and knowledge gaps about, range finishing in the southwest, and will support the development of user-appropriate outreach and decision support tools, as well as helping to inform the supply chain team's research. The project team collaborated with the Southwest Drought Learning Network (DLN) to lend assistance in hosting two drought-focused workshops, one for conservation district leaders in Oklahoma and one for beginning ranchers in apprenticeships at ranches across the west. Ongoing collaborations with the DLN case studies team is providing referrals to unique drought adaptation & mitigation projects or programs that could be shared as case studies. Data were collected to understand supply chain options, breed utilization, and decision support tool development. Results & analysis of these data will further the understanding of barriers to the adoption of novel strategies and will inform future outreach and the development of informational and decision support products that are user-friendly and useful in a practical way to external stakeholders. Collectively, 84,442 Tweet "impressions" during this reporting period (June 1, 2020 - June 30, 2021). 2,469 Twitter profile visits. Sustainable Southwest Beef Project's Virtual "On Ranch" Demo webinar (December 2, 2020) - attendees external to the project were sent an event evaluation survey by OEIE. Craig Gifford is collaborating with Dr. Zach McFarlane, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and associates, on gathering data through an extensive survey covering producer bull selection criteria and management practices. Craig Gifford is advising a NMSU Master's degree student, Keegan Taylor, on a research project that involves a beginning rancher grant and evaluates the physiological and economic feasibility of implanting mainstream beef breed embryos into heritage breed surrogate mothers. Extension team leadership participates in SAS/CAP leadership coordination calls and a social media account management group for water-related projects regarding practices for content and promotion, using analytics, fostering follower engagement, and extending the reach of project social media accounts. Education Education team's goals are to (1) increase K-12 students' science literacy and knowledge about novel strategies to increase sustainability of beef production systems and (2) provide teaching and learning strategies and ready-to-use lessons to educators through professional development workshops. Asombro Institute for Science Education worked with team members to create 10 lessons that correspond with the three research themes. Teacher workshops for 3rd grade and high school teachers have been planned and will take place in the 2021-2022 school year. BlueSTEM Agrilearning Center worked with 24 high school students from three school districts who conducted experiential learning research projects on aspects of sustainable agriculture. Research was conducted in field studies, aquaponic systems, FarmBot systems, and/or laboratories. Students presented posters to school and community leaders and competed in state science fairs.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: McIntosh, M. M., A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, S. Nyamuryekunge, A. L. Gonz�lez, Q. Gong, H. Cao, S. A. Spiegal, S. A. Soto-Navarro, and A. D. Blair. 2021. Weight gain, grazing behavior and carcass quality of desert grass-fed Rar�muri Criollo vs. crossbred steers. Livestock Sci. 249: 104511.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: McIntosh, M.M., A.L. Gonzalez, A.F. Cibils, R.E. Estell, S. Nyamuryekunge, F.A. Rodriguez Almeida, S. Spiegal, 2020. A Phenotypic Characterization of Ram�muri Criollo Cattle Introduced into the Southwestern United States. Archivos Latinoamericanos de Producti�n Animal 28(3-4) 111-119.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bestelmeyer, B.T., Spiegal, S., Winkler, R., James, D., Levi, M., Williamson, J., 2021. Assessing Sustainability Goals Using Big Data: Collaborative Adaptive Management in the Malpai Borderlands. Rangeland Ecology & Management 77, 1729.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Elias, E., Aney, S., Duff, G., Gifford, C., Spiegal, S., Cibils, A., Steiner, J. and Estell, R., 2020. Snapshot of Rancher Perspectives on Creative Cattle Management Options. Rangelands, 42(6), 191-195.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Estell, R.E. 2021. The genesis of the Jornada Criollo cattle program. J. Arid Env. 193: 104563.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Steiner, J.L., Fortuna, A.M. 2020. Climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon sequestration: Challenges and solutions for natural resource conservation through time. pp 229-240 In Delgado, J.A., C.J. Gantzer, G.F. Sassenrath [eds]. Soil and Water Conservation: A Celebration of 75 Years.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Taylor, K. M., C. A. Gifford, New Mexico Bull Management Survey Update. Proceedings of the 2020 NMSU ACES Beef and Livestock Update. (In review.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: A. Cibils. 2020. Precision Technology and Other Adaptation Strategies in Ranching Systems Society for Range Management Annual Meeting 2020, February 16-20, 2020. Denver CO.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Dorn, C. A Survey of Decision Support Tools for the Beef Cattle Industry. Society for Rangement Management 2021 Annual Meeting (virtual). February 15-18, 2021. (Presentation)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S., A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, M. McIntosh, D. VanLeeuwen, C. Steele, A. L. Gonz�lez, S. Spiegal, L. Avenda�o Reyes, F. A. Rodr�guez Almeida, and Martha Anderson. 2021. Foraging behavior and body temperature of heritage vs. commercial beef cows in relation desert ambient heat. J. Arid Env. 193:104565.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S. A.F Cibils, R.E. Estell, M. M. McIntosh, C. Steele, A. L. Gonz�lez, S. Spiegal, F. G. Continanza. 2021. Foraging Behavior of Heritage vs. Desert-Adapted Commercial Rangeland Beef Cows in Relation to Dam-Offspring Contact Patterns. Rangeland Ecology and Management 74: 43-49.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Sawalhah, M.N., H. M. E. Geli, J. L. Holechek, A. F. Cibils, S. Spiegal, C. Gifford. 2021. Water Footprint of Rangeland Beef Production in New Mexico. In Press  Water
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Duni, D., A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, A. Cox, M. M. McIntosh, and S. Spiegal. 2021. Feeding habits of Brangus and Raramuri Criollo cows grazing Chihuahuan Desert rangeland. Proc. 74th Annual Meeting. Soc. Range Manage. Boise, ID (Abstr.). p. 119.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Gong, Qixu and Cao, Huiping and Cibils, Andres and Nyamuryekung'e, Shelemia and McIntosh, Matthew and Continanza, Fatima. 2020. GRAZETOOLS: A Set of Tools for Analyzing Livestock Behavior Using GPS data. Proceedings of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2020. December1-17, 2020, San Francisco, CA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: McIntosh, M. M., J. L. Holechek, A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, and S. A. Spiegal. 2021. Long-term declining trends in Chihuahuan Desert forage production in relation to stocking rates and climate. Proc. 74th Annual Meeting. Soc. Range Manage. Boise, ID (Abstr.). p. 13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: McIntosh, M. M., R. E. Estell, A. F. Cibils, A. Cox, S. Nyamuryekunge, D. Duni, G. Duff, S. Spiegal, C. Brandani, S. Utsumi, and V. Gouv�a. 2021. Conventional vs Heritage cattle supplement intake, weight-gains, and body condition scores on Chihuahuan desert pasture. J. Anim. Sci. (Abstr.).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S., A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, A. L. Gonzalez, M. M. McIntosh, and S. A. Spiegal. 2021. Landscape use of Angus crossbred vs. Raramuri Criollo cattle on desert rangeland. Proc. 74th Annual Meeting. Soc. Range Manage. Boise, ID (Abstr.). p. 116.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Simpson, C., S. Nyamurekunge, A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, A. L. Gonzalez, M. M. McIntosh, and S. A. Spiegal. 2021. Dam-offspring pairing using proximity loggers fitted on Raramuri Criollo cows and calves grazing desert rangeland. Proc. 74th Annual Meeting. Soc. Range Manage. Boise, ID (Abstr.). p. 117.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Taylor, K., New Mexico Bull Management Survey Update. 2020 NMSU ACES Beef and Livestock Update. December 7, 2020.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2021 Citation: McIntosh, M.M. 2021. Sustainable Grazing Management in the Chihuahuan Desert: Traditional and Novel Approaches to Adapt to a Changing Climate. Dissertation, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 170 p.
  • Type: Other Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Brandani, C., S. Spiegal. 2020. Grazing effects on soil C and N in Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland. Southwest Beef Coordinated Agriculture Project Annual Meeting: Dec. 1-3. Poster/Abstract


Progress 08/01/19 to 07/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Cattle ranchers in the SW United States State and Federal Public Land Agencies Consumers seeking beef from sustainable production enterprises Classroom (K-12 STEM) and field programs Agricultural, environmental, and natural resources researchers Changes/Problems:There were some delays in the initial startup and contracting, which delayed some purchases and hiring. Team members made strides toward other parts of the project goals which could be achieved while waiting for access to anticipated funding. Once the contracts and subcontracts were finalized, the project was able to get basically on track with planned expenditures of equipment and hiring. Some elements of field experiments were delayed due to low forage, but due to ample spring rain, the field experiments are now back on schedule and other elements of the project are ahead of schedule. There were several personnel changes. David Brown resigned from the Southern Plains Climate Hub (SPCH) to accept another position. In his absence, the SPCH has been represented by Curtis Dell, Clay Pope, and Caitlin Rottler and the Southwest Regional Climate Hub assumed greater responsibilities. Skye Aney joined the Southwest Climate Hub as an extension team project manager in December 2019. Scott Brinker joined the advisory board to bring expertise in food systems. Sara Place left the National Beef Cattlemen Association (NBCA). Dr. Mandy Carr-Johnson, NCBA, is serving on the advisory panel in her place. Tony Spence, a radio communications engineer, joined the team in April to help troubleshoot communication problems at the CDRRC. Shelemia Nyamuryekung'e completed doctoral studies and began working as a postdoc on the SW Beef CAP precision ranching objective in July. Mark Musumba was hired as personal services contractor from Jan - April 2020 and later joined the project as a Research Scientist to work on supply chain options research. Dr. Ana Thayer, Utah State University agricultural economist joined the Supply Chain modeling team. Kim O'Byrne retired from the Asombro Institute for Science Education at the end of February 2020. At that time, Asombro science educator Emilia Linley assumed a leader role for this project with Stephanie Bestelmeyer. Kim, Emilia, and Stephanie worked together for more than a month to make a smooth transition that has not negatively affected the K-12 component of this project. BlueSTEM hired a Marketing Director who assists with planning and outreach for events including teacher training and student presentation opportunities. The most significant challenge is how to adapt project activities in the era of COVID 19. While this has posed the greatest challenges for Education and Extension teams, all aspects of the project have been impacted. While schools were closed, the Education Team focused on developing curricula for future implementation, developing on-line education products, and setting up equipment and sites for future student experimentation. The Extension team advanced several surveys that can be conducted on-line and via mail, established an aggressive on-line outreach program of seminars and symposia to access producer challenges, and developed printed outreach materials. The research team also faced delays due to limits on travel, delays in hiring, delays in cattle marketing, and administrative delays in purchasing. Student research has progressed on schedule, adhering to social distancing guidelines of the universities. The team uses zoom meetings, phone calls, Basecamp, and emails to foster communication and outreach and advance the project. The COVID-19 pandemic caused considerable disruptions to in-person events including the planning of the annual on-ranch demonstration. We have decided to replace this originally in-person event with a webinar, to be hosted live in conjunction with the annual project meeting. The webinar will also be recorded and linked from the project website for on-demand viewing afterward. This decision was made due to the difficulty in predicting the guidance for, and human health risks of, holding an in-person event in early December of this year. The evaluation team conducted two online surveys with project team members: 1) a feedback survey following the annual meeting in Las Cruces, NM (November 2019) 2) a progress and collaboration survey (May 2020). Project team members are satisfied with the implementation of the project and generally report that progress is on or ahead of schedule. Social network analysis of initial project collaborations displays interconnectedness between institutions, project team members, and external members. Among team members, there are relationships within and across the research, extension and education components. Feedback and recommendations from these surveys are being been used by project leadership to guide plans related to communication, the upcoming annual meeting, and additional coordination to enhance integration across the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training: Intern Hannah Morris, U of Georgia student in the ICON PhD program, was at the Jornada in Jan-Feb 2020. She learned about range monitoring, rancher decision-making, and social network analysis as it relates to telecoupling. Dr. Mark Musumba has a background in tradeoffs of adopting new practices for sustainable intensification, but he is learning on the job about managing for sustainability in supply chains and across regions, specifically beef production, rangelands, telecoupling, and ARCGIS. BlueSTEM AgriLearning Center training activities included classes with high school students from three Oklahoma public school districts. Classes meet two times per week for one- to three hours per session. Other training has been in the form of presentations to civic and government groups, in various locations. Carolina Brandani, a post-doc, was mentored by Sheri Spiegal regarding baseline soil sampling protocols. Matt McIntosh, a Ph.D. student, was mentored by Andres Cibils and Andrew Cox on management protocols for breed comparison project. Andres Cibils helped teach a course on Criollo Cattle at the School of Veterinary Sciences, National University of Uruguay. In June, several precision ranching team members attended two training sessions offered by Abeeway, which allowed team members to discuss sensor configuration and data collection issues with a company engineer. Graduate students and Andres Cibils received very useful guidance and advice in the use of LoRa WAN technology from Tony Waterhouse, during his visit to Las Cruces in February. Ann Marshall and Kristy Ehlers have done on-the-job training on Criollo cattle, geography of food deserts, food sustainability, and the FarmBot and aquaponics technology systems. Cibils' graduate student, Chance Cook, honed GIS skills by calculating length of perimeter and internal fences at Jornada Experimental Range and College Ranch to provide information to calibrate IFSM for SW ranches. Data Manager John Ragosta underwent IRB training, self-directed training to wrangle messy data in R, and self-training on ArcGIS Pro. Carolina Brandani (postdoc on Breed Comparison Project) has been self-training on ArcGIS to develop mapping skills for use in the project. Craig Gifford advises NMSU M.S. student, Keegan Taylor, on research that evaluates the physiological and economic feasibility of implanting mainstream beef breed embryos into heritage breed surrogate mothers. Andres Cibils, Rick Estell, and Alfredo Gonzales provided helpful information on Raramuri criollo to staff at the Asombro Institute that were used in the classroom lesson and field trip. Jean Steiner serves on a PhD committee at Kansas State University (agrometeorology). Jean Steiner serves on a PhD committee at University of Oklahoma (ecology and remote sensing). Professional Development: Carolina Brandani (postdoc on Breed Comparison Project) organized and leads the SW Beef Discussion Group. The twice-monthly virtual meeting for all graduate students and postdocs on the project fosters communication, creates opportunities for multidisciplinary interactions, promotes and exchange of ideas among the diverse group of students. Members take turns leading discussion topics to keep students informed about other areas of the project and identify potential synergies. Jean Steiner participated in the 2020 LTAR Science Meeting, focusing on development of sustainability indicators. Sheri Spiegal will be Lead Guest Editor for a special issue of the Journal of Arid Environments, entitled "Heritage cattle genetics as a potential climate adaption strategy for producers in arid regions" Jean Steiner will serve as guest editor for a special issue of the journal Water which will focus on water conservation in irrigated agriculture. Jean Steiner serves on Kansas Water Authority (KWA), which deals extensively on issues related to the Ogallala Aquifer and participates in seminars and business meetings. Policies and conservation projects of KWA are informing the supply chain, teleconnections, and tradeoffs research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The CAP sponsored a dinner at the Southwest Beef Symposium in Amarillo, TX in January 2020, with 125 producers in attendance. Andres Cibils and Advisory Board member Cindy Tolle introduced the project to this community of interest. A survey was distributed, with results available for internal use. The event garnered interest in IFSM participation by producers. Two large banners, promotional pens, bookmarks were created for this and future events. Southwest Climate Hub's quarterly newsletter reported selected findings from the results of the producer survey deployed at the SW Beef Symposium kickoff event. The CAP created four factsheets about the project, with Spanish language translations available. The topics were a Project Overview, Raramuri Criollo Cattle, Precision Ranching Technologies, and Supply Chain Options. A photo contest for the all-team meeting in Las Cruces in Oct 2019 provided a collection of photos for use in project outreach and communication products. The website (www.swbeef.org) has generated 1600 hits with over 800 users. Ongoing management of Twitter and Facebook accounts s broadening our audience. Content is tweeted from the account approximately 1-3 times per week, and collectively there were 13,701 Tweet "impressions" in March-May. Two podcast episodes, one a project overview and one discussing precision ranching technologies, were developed and posted on the Southwest Climate Hub's new monthly podcast series, "Come Rain or Shine". Andres Cibils was featured in a Southern Plains Climate Hub podcast, interviewed by Clay Pope. https://southernplainspodcast.libsyn.com/southern-plains-podcast-34-dr-andres-cibils-director-sustainable-beef-coordinated-ag-project BlueStem's research activities were featured of the Oklahoma Educators Credit Union Annual Report 2019. Publication of a quarterly project newsletter promotes team coherence and provides a mechanism to engage external stakeholders. Two issues were published in Year 1. Presentations/ workshops: 2019 Jornada Symposium 2019 Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable meeting. Regular SAS/CAP coordination calls organized by the Ogallala CAP and the Rainfed Agriculture Innovation Network (RAIN) 2020 Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Meeting Collaborations: Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI) Restore New Mexico Canadian County (OK) Master Gardeners Malapai Borderlands Group Ogalalla area producers Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Network Indicators Working Group, Livestock Tracking Working Group, Manuresheds Project Leveraging: Two project collaborators, Corta Madera Ranch and The Nature Conservancy donated over $28,000 to support graduate students in project-related research. The El Reno Public Schools (El Reno, OK) provided supplies to support student research activities. Additional in-kind support is provided by public school partners, Canadian County Master Gardeners, Oklahoma Conservation Commission's Blue Thumb Program, and corporate entities. The project team leverages considerable intellectual and outreach resources by working closely with collaborators in the LTAR network and the Climate Hubs networks. Craig Gifford leverages a beginning farmer grant to support M.S. student, Keegan Taylor's research on physiological and economic feasibility of implanting mainstream beef breed embryos into heritage breed surrogate mothers. Should data from the CAP project demonstrate the benefits of heritage breed cattle on SW rangelands, the findings may provide an option for producers who wish to utilize heritage breeds in their operation but still raise conventional beef breeds. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Precision ranching plans include: 1. Upgrade LoRa WAN network at CDRRC by: Adding four new gateways with WiFi and 4G data transmission capability Replacing elements of the Wi-Fi backhaul on the existing gateway Adding high gain antennas to each gateway to improve communication Upgrading the cattle tracking sensor firmware Conducting bluetooth low energy (BLE) tests with a new model of trackers 2. Conduct tests with a new model of Abeeway trackers (compact trackers) at SRUC's Hill Farm in Scotland using the Things Network to store data on the cloud. 3. Begin installation of LoRa WAN network at the Jornada Experimental Range testing the use of a small private network (SPN) or The Things Network. 4. Work on two manuscripts: a technical note for a refereed journal on the LoRa WAN GPS tracking system and a manuscript on the use of precision technologies for ranching 5. Begin data mining and dashboard work. Additionally, we will continue refining API data retrieval and storage, continue tests with automation of data analysis to detect livestock behavior and/or infrastructure anomalies, begin LoRa WAN monitoring at our second site, the Jornada Experimental Range, analyze sensor data retrieved from CDRRC breed comparison study, and, Covid-19 permitting, organize John Holland's visit to the US. We will continue baseline GPS monitoring at Corta Madera and Dugout ranches and baseline analysis of breed comparison study historical data. We are exploring opportunities of installing a LoRa WAN GPS tracking system in Argentina's breed comparison study. The Precision Ranching team will also assess the current LoRA dashboard to determine how the dashboard suits users' needs and how LoRA data can be accessed for potential use in a customized dashboard. The Supply Chain team will continue monthly team calls to further research IFSM studies, continue to work with Stuart Hardegree (ARS) to use GridMET data to identify climate variability at ranches that are inputinto the model, interview 17 more ranchers who are interested in participation in IFSM study. For telecoupling, we will build Cow-Calf Coupling Model and continue to develop SW Beef Telecoupling Database. Planned publications are: 1) a conceptual and methods paper about SW Beef telecoupling (Musumba), 2) a manuscript about the flows of cattle from New Mexico to other states using data from New Mexico Livestock Board (Spiegal), and 3) a manuscript for the special issue in Journal of Arid Environments (being led by the breed comparison team): A Case Study Economic Comparison of Raramuri Criollo and British Crossbred Cattle Production in the Chihuahuan Desert (Torell). The Extension Team will share the producer/rancher baseline survey online through project contacts and results will be added to the current survey response database. Data collection will continue for the bull selection survey via online responses. Data will be compiled and made available for project use at the end of the initial data collection period. Planning will continue for the next annual meeting and on-ranch demonstration, to be held in December 2020 at the CLRC. The team will collect video footage of the project calves at various growth stages, points of interest from the CLRC research, and short presentations from project collaborators to create a webinar in lieu of an in-person on-ranch demo. Additional podcast episodes will be recorded and published on topics related to the project. Collaborations identified in this report will continue, as will efforts to look for other networking and collaboration opportunities. Social media accounts will to be maintained. Discussion of ideas for the Western Beef Knowledge system will continue and a new hire of someone to work on development of the Western Beef Knowledge System is being considered. The Extension Team will also compile information in support of understanding the extent of, and barriers to, range-finishing/grass-finishing in the southwest, specifically expanding the web-based map showing the locations of these grass-finishing producers, a follow-up survey designed to gather more information about the characteristics of their operations and possible barriers to adoption of grass-finishing. The results of the survey will be synthesized and, along with the web-search results, form the basis for a publication on grass-finishing in the southwest. Additionally, we are hosting a rancher listening session focused on drought in Eastern NM, and a webinar on direct-marketing beef from the ranch as part of NMSU Cooperative Extension's "Navigating Covid-19 for NM Beef Producers". Continue work on a manuscript on beef supply chain brittleness aspects laid bare by COVID-19 pandemic disruptions. Other planned peer-reviewed and Extension publications are 1) a journal article on the opportunities and barriers to the sale of Criollo-cross cattle through conventional beef supply chain channels and 2) Cooperative Extension publications that build off project fact sheets, incorporating project results. Education plans are to continue the development of Asombro's two newest lessons and determine the best strategy for pilot testing in the coming school year. BlueSTEM plans to hire student interns for continued construction, installation, and operation of the FarmBot and aquaponics systems, design student learning opportunities involving the project, develop and refine a lesson plan, modify research to include forage plants which might also be tested in the New Mexico area, and prepare for the 2020-2021 academic year. A priority is to develop and implement effective, efficient data collection and analysis portal for students.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The steering group works with team leads to ensure project-wide coordination and integration, focused on strategies of heritage genetics, precision technologies, and alternative beef supply chains. We developed a website, social media presence, and newsletter. The Project Data Manager leads database development and multiple teams are defining the structure of the Western Beef Knowledge System. We established a long-term experiment on heritage breed effects on vegetation, soil, and economics of cow-calf, backgrounding, and feedlot systems. Ecological sites and states were described for pastures to guide soil and vegetation data interpretation. Baseline soil samples from the Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center (CDRRC) are being assayed for texture, chemistry, and 137Cs to examine soil stability/redistribution. The team coordinates with ranchers who will provide calves for wheat pasture and feedlot studies at the Clayton Livestock Research Center (CLRC). Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRa WAN) sensors were deployed in the CDRRC experiment. Abeeway Industrial Trackers were used to monitor 48 cows from March to June. LoRa WAN-enabled DecentLab sensors were configured to log rain or drinker levels each 30 min. Code was developed to retrieve data from the cloud via an application programming interphase (API), with data stored on an NMSU server for quality control and analytics. Gateways will be added to allow Wi-Fi and 4G connectivity to minimize data loss. Daily minimum convex polygons of GPS fixes were evaluated for detecting calving behavior of cows. The team demonstrated the technology at the 2019 Animal and Range Sciences Camp (middle school), the 2019 Jornada Symposium (ranchers, scientists), and the NMSU Innovators in Agriculture Summer Camp (high school). Feeding habits of Raramuri Criollo and Brangus cows were monitored at CDRRC between May and June, with additional observations planned in summer, fall, and winter. Comparison of breed grazing was also conducted at Corta Madera (CA Chaparral) and Dugout (CO Plateau) ranches in spring. The data will inform the precision ranching effort at these partnering sites to begin in 2021, provide a comparison of behavior at multiple sites, and help understand breed differences in calves during backgrounding and finishing phases. The Supply Chain Options team contrasts different approaches to finishing and marketing beef, focusing on calves originating from the Southwest (SW). Primary tools are the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM) and telecoupling analysis to evaluate links between regions connected via beef production (SW, Ogallala Aquifer area, Northern Plains, and Midwest). Twenty ranchers have agreed to participate in the IFSM study. The first ranch interviews were conducted to parameterize 3 scenarios: Grain Finishing in the Ogallala region, Range Finishing in the SW, and Follow the Green. To calibrate IFSM for SW ranches, Greg Torell provided information about taxes on the public lands permits held by ranchers, property taxes on private land owned, and annual costs to maintain fence and water on 3 property types (federal, state, private). A graduate student calculated average perimeter vs internal fencing on "typical" public lands in southern NM. Collaboration was established with Jack Liu, Michigan State Univ. on the teleworking framework and scenario development. We built the structure of a telecoupling database, including web links and metadata for future analysis of components of telecoupling of systems, flows, agents, causes, and effects. Initial flows were characterized using NM Livestock Board and Texas Animal Health Commission data. We are adapting the Coupled Systems Cow Model to use for telecoupling research. The Extension team developed and distributed fact sheets, implemented producer surveys, and offered seminars and outreach events. In addition to collaborations, events, and tangible outreach products detailed elsewhere in this report, activities included analyzing and aggregating the results of our first producer/rancher survey, administered at the Southwest Beef Symposium (described below) and also online, to establish baseline information and identify barriers to adoption of technologies and to inform research aims. Craig Gifford collaborates with Z. McFarlane, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on a producer survey on bull selection. The bull survey findings will inform both projects. A graduate student developed a spatial database of producers of grass-finished beef; the producers will be asked to respond to a survey to identify production and marketing strategies and barriers to adoption of grass finishing. In collaboration with the Drought Learning Network, we are developing case studies of ranchers taking actions to address drought-related problems and incorporating one or more of the strategies under investigation in the CAP. We also collaborate with the NMSU Innovative Media Research and Extension department to produce podcast episodes and have discussed potentially using their game lab and expertise to help create the web and/or phone app for the Western Beef Knowledge System. Two STEM non-profit organizations address CAP education goals: the Asombro Institute for Science Education in Las Cruces, NM, and BlueSTEM AgriLearning Center in El Reno, OK. Asombro developed and implemented a classroom lesson on Raramuri Criollo for 126 third grade students in 7 classes at 3 schools, through which students play an active game that models the foraging behaviors of regional heritage cattle versus those of English breeds. Teachers gave the lesson a 10 (highest rating). Asombro also created and pilot-tested a field trip activity station on Raramuri Criollo with 75 second and third-grade students. In this 30-minute, outdoor activity, students collect data on a variety of traits to determine if they are role-playing as a Raramuri Criollo or an Angus. The active game and outdoor lesson both align with the Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) 3-LS4-2. Asombro also worked with three student teams interested in participating in Future Farmers of America (FFA) competitions. The students attended the 2019 Jornada Symposium to interact with scientists and others involved the CAP. Work also began on a first- grade lesson on Raramuri Criollo cow-calf behavior, with the lesson aligned with NGSS 1-LS1-2. A high school lesson on precision tools for Raramuri Criollo is also being developed in alignment with NGSS HS-ESS3-4. In response to school closures due to the pandemic, Asombro created an online or in-person card game to explore scenarios and constraints associated with Raramuri Criollo. The four scenarios, reviewed by project scientists were: Precision Ranching Tools, Criollo Cattle, Grass Fed Labeling, and Movement & Rangeland. The game, aligned with NGSS HS-ETS1-3, was sent online to all FFA teachers in NM. The team also developed an agenda for a teacher workshop on Raramuri Criollo that will be scheduled in the future. The BlueSTEM team introduced high school students to food sustainability, food sourcing, food deserts, Criollo Cattle, and pollinator species. The lessons resulted in robust discussions among the students about cause and effect, overpopulation, and potential solutions. Pre- and post-assessments with the students provided data to develop hands-on activities for students and teachers. BlueSTEM purchased a FarmBot system, which has been constructed and planted for initial experiments. We held two outdoor work-days to construct the raised bed for the FarmBot, with students and a master carpenter who showed how mathematics were used in the engineering and construction of the bed.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Evett, S.R. J.L. Steiner. 2020. Shifting the odds of dryland farming: The career of B.A. Stewart. Agron. J. https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20260 (in press).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Holechek, J.L., H.M. Gelli, A.F. Cibils, Sawalhah, M.N. 2020. Climate Change, Rangelands and Sustainability of Ranching in the Western United States. Sustainability 12(12), 4942.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Moriasi, D.N., L.F. Duriancik, L.F., J. Sadler, E.J., T. Tsegaye, T., J.L. Steiner, J.L., M.A. Locke, M.A., T.C. Strickland, T.C., D.L. Osmond, D.L. 2020. Quantifying the Impacts of CEAP in the Last Fifteen Years. JWSC special section. 75(3): (in press).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Nelson, A.M., D.N. Moriasi, A.M. Fortuna, J.L. Steiner, P.J. Starks, B. Northup, and J.D. Garbrecht. 2020. Runoff water quantity and quality data from native tallgrass prairie and crop-livestock systems in Oklahoma between 1977 and 1999. J. Environ. Qual.111.DOI: 10.1002/jeq2.20075.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S., A.F. Cibils, R.E. Estell, D. VanLeeuwen, C. Steele, O. Roacho Estrada, F. Rodriguez Almeida, A. Gonzalez, S. Spiegal. 2020. Do young calves influence movement patterns of nursing Raramuri Criollo cows on rangeland? Rangeland Ecology and Management 73:84-92.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Sadler, E.J., J.L. Steiner, J.L. Hatfield, D.E. James, B.C. Vandenberg, and T. Tsegaye. 2020. STEWARDS, A decade of Increasing the Impact of ARS Watershed Research Programs. J. Soil Water Conserv. 75(3):49A-55A. doi:10.2489/jswc.75.3 (in press).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Spiegal, S., Cibils, A.F., Bestelmeyer, B.T., Jean L Steiner, Richard Estell, David Archer, Brent Auvermann, Stephanie Bestelmeyer, Boucheron, L., Huiping Cao, Andrew Cox, Dan Devlin, Glenn Duff, Kristy Ehlers, Emile Elias, Craig Gifford, Alfredo Gonzalez, Holland, J., Jenny Jennings, Ann Marshall, McCracken, D., Matthew McIntosh, Rhonda Miller, Robert Paulin, Sara Place, Matthew Redd, C. Al Rotz, Cindy Tolle, Anthony Waterhouse. 2020. Beef Production in the Southwestern United States: Strategies toward Sustainability. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 4:114.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Spiegal, S., Kleinman, P.J., Endale, D.M., Bryant, R.B., Dell, C., Goslee, S., Meinen, R.J., Flynn, C., Baker, J., Browning, D., McCarty, G., Bittman, S., Carter, J., Cavigelli, M., Duncan, E., Gowda, P., Li, X., Ponce-Campos, G.E., Raj, C., Silveira, M., Smith, D.R., Arthur, D.K., Yang, Q., 2020. Manuresheds: Advancing nutrient recycling in US agriculture. Agricultural Systems.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Steiner, J.L., A.M. Fortuna. 2020. Climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon sequestration: Challenges and solutions for natural resource conservation through time. J. Soil Water Conserv. Accepted 4/16/2020.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Nyamuryekung'e, S., A.F. Cibils, R.E. Estell, M. M. McIntosh, D. VanLeeuwen, C. Steele, A. L. Gonz�lez, S. Spiegal, L. Avenda�o Reyes, F. A. Rodr�guez Almeida, M. Anderson. Foraging Behavior and Body Temperature of Heritage vs. Commercial Beef Cows in Relation to Desert Ambient Heat. (In review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Elias, E., S. Aney, G. Duff, C. Gifford, S. Spiegal, A. Cibils, J. Steiner, R. Estell. Rancher Perspectives on Creative Management Options. (In review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S. A.F Cibils, R.E. Estell, M. M. McIntosh, C. Steele, A. L. Gonz�lez, S. Spiegal, F. G. Continanza. Foraging Behavior of Heritage vs. Commercial Rangeland Beef Cows in Relation to Dam-Offspring Contact Patterns. (In review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: McIntosh, M.M., A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, Q. Gong, H. Cao, A.L. Gonzalez, S. Nyamuryekunge, S. A. Spiegal. Can cattle geolocation data yield behavior-based criteria to inform precision grazing systems on rangeland? (In review).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Cibils, A. Raramuri Criollo cattle and climate change in the desert southwest. 8th Natural History of the Gila Symposium, February 28. (Presentation).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Cibils, A. F., R. E. Estell, A. L. Gonzalez, S. Spiegal, S. Nyamuryekunge, and M. M. McIntosh. 2019.El rol del bovino Criollo Rar�muri como herramienta de adaptaci�n al cambio clim�tico en los desiertos del SO de los EE.UU. Anales del XII Simposio internacional de Recursos Geneticos para las Americas y el Caribe. p. 22. (Abstract)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Cibils A.F. A System to Monitor Rangeland Cattle in Real Time: Demonstration of CDRRC LoRa WAN system. NMSU Innovators in Agriculture Summer Camp. July 17, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Cibils, A. Use of Long Range (LoRA) Wide Area Network (WAN) technology to develop a precision ranching system for western US ranches. Jornada Symposium. October 23, 2019. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Cibils, A. Sustainable Southwest Beef CAP Grant. National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education and Economics Advisory Board Meeting. Jornada Experimental Range. Las Cruces, NM. January 29, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Cibils, A. Can precision technologies help ranching systems adapt to change? 73rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Range Management. Denver, CO. February 17, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Cibils, A. Sustainable Southwest Beef Project. Presentation for New Mexico Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small. College of ACES, February 20, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Cibils, A. El rol del bovino Criollo Raramuri como herramienta de adaptacion al cambio climatico en los desiertos del SO de los EE.UU. XII Simposio Internacional de Recursos Geneticos para Las Americas y el Caribe. December 8-11, Rocha, Uruguay. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Estell, R. Jornada Criollo cattle program, overview of NIFA project, and demonstration of livestock tracking in real time. Presented to NAREEE advisory board, Jan. 29, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Cibils, A. Sustainable Southwest Beef Project. Southwest Beef Symposium. Amarillo, Texas. January 22-23, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Cibils, A. Foraging behavior of Criollo vs. beef cattle breeds on rangeland. Southwest Beef Symposium. Amarillo, Texas. January 22-23, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: McIntosh, M. M., A. L. Gonzalez, A. F. Cibils, R. E. Estell, S. Nyamuryekunge, and S. Spiegal. 2020. A preliminary phenotypic characterization of Raramuri Criollo cattle. American Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting. (Abstract)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: McIntosh, M. Novel Strategies to Increase Sustainability of Beef Production Systems in the Western United States. New Mexico Section of the Society for Range Management Winter Meeting. Las Cruces, NM. January 31, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S. Criollo cattle: Landscape use, heat tolerance, mothering style & range finishing Malpai Bordelands Group Science Conference. Rodeo, NM. January 9, 2020. C. Tolle. Sustainable Southwest Beef Project using the Integrated Farm System Model. Malpai Bordelands Group Science Conference. Rodeo, NM. January 9, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Nyamuryekunge, S. Why Do Criollo and British Beef Breeds Use Chihuahuan Desert Landscapes Differently? New Mexico Section of the Society for Range Management Winter Meeting. Las Cruces, NM. January 31, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Spiegal, S. 2020. Ecosystem service tradeoffs associated with agricultural intensification of grazinglands, in: Society for Range Management Annual Meeting. Presented at the Society for Range Management, Denver, Colorado, USA. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Tolle, C. The Sustainable Southwest Beef CAP and producers: How we can help each other. Amarillo, Texas. January 22-23, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Waterhouse, T. Real-Time Monitoring Technologies for Free-Ranging Sheep and Cattle Management. 73rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Range Management. Denver, CO. February 17, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Waterhouse, T. What might the future be for precision beef farming technologies?. Special Seminar. Wooton Hall, February 25, 2020. (Presentation)
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Nyamuryekung'e, S. 2020. Foraging Habits, Heat Tolerance, and Maternal Behavior of Heritage vs. Improved Beef Breeds Grazing Desert Rangeland. New Mexico State University. PhD Dissertation. 143 p.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: A. Cibils, R. Estell, A. Gonzalez, S. Spiegal, et al. 2019. El rol del bovino Criollo Raramuri como herramienta de adaptacion al cambio climatico en los desiertos del SO de los EE.UU. XII Simposio Internacional de Recursos Geneticos para Las Americas y el Caribe. December 8-11, Rocha, Uruguay, p. 22.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: A. Cibils, R. Estell, S. Spiegal, A. Gonzalez, S. Nyamuryekunge, M. McIntosh. 2020. Raramuri Criollo cattle and climate change in the desert southwest. 8th Natural History of the Gila Symposium, February 28. (http://gilasymposium.org/?page_id=209).
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: M. McIntosh, A. Cibils, S. Nyamuryekunge, R. Estell, A. Cox, A. Dawes, T. Waterhouse, J. Holland. 2020. A test of LoRaWAN real time GPS tracking on beef cattle in desert pastures. 73rd Society for Range Management Annual Meeting, Feb. 16-20, Denver, CO. Poster 3.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: S. Nyamuryekunge, A. Cibils, R. Estell, A. Gonzalez, M. McIntosh, S. Spiegal, F. Continanza. 2020. Vegetation selection of heritage vs. conventional beef cows grazing Chihuahuan Desert rangeland. 73rd Society for Range Management Annual Meeting, Feb. 16-20, Denver, CO. 73rd Society for Range Management Annual Meeting, Feb. 16-20, Denver, CO. Poster 104.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: M. McIntosh, D. Duni, A. Cibils, R. Estell, A. Gonzalez, S. Nyamuryekunge, M. Redd, M. Duniway, Sheri Spiegal. 2020. Late fall landscape use by heritage vs. conventional beef cattle on Colorado Plateau rangelands: a case study. 73rd Society for Range Management Annual Meeting, Feb. 16-20, Denver, CO. Poster 29.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: S. Nyamuryekunge, A. Dawes, M. McIntosh, A.Cibils, R. Estell, A. Gonzalez, S. Spiegal. 2020. Influence of rainfall events on drinker visitation patterns by beef cows on desert rangeland. 73rd Society for Range Management Annual Meeting, Feb. 16-20, Denver, CO. Poster 28.