On Capitol Hill, a Rancher’s Message: Grazing is Key to Healthy Grasslands

“I don’t start by telling people I’m in the cattle business. I tell people I’m in the conservation business,” rancher Dave Haubein said. “Cattle are simply the key cog in how I manage my grasslands.” 

Haubein knows a thing or two about communicating the importance of grasslands, especially in the legislative arena. His Missouri Round Rock Ranch was the first property in the nation certified through Audubon’s Conservation Ranching program for its bird-friendly land management. In that program, farmers and ranchers like him manage their lands using bird-friendly practices that promote healthy grasslands while producing beef. Haubein is inspirational, infectious, and he can talk about grasslands until the cows come home. 

That made Haubein an ideal Audubon ambassador to join Audubon staff and over 40 partners from across the U.S. for three days in Washington, D.C. late last month. They were able to engage with their Congressional delegations and key agency officials and reinforce for them the importance of investing in conservation and policies that benefit birds, notably through the Farm Bill. The event was organized by the Migratory Bird Joint Ventures, a consortium of regional partnerships that work to conserve habitat for the benefit of birds, other wildlife, and people. 

Eight years since the last comprehensive Farm Bill was reauthorized, Audubon is part of a renewed push for updating the legislation that dictates conservation programs across the country. Specifically, Audubon is leading to improve the role of conservation grazing within some of those programs.  

Haubein knows his perspective is one lawmakers don’t always hear firsthand: “Cattle ranching, when done properly, can play a vital role in sustaining and restoring our grassland ecosystems,” he said. 

Among the Audubon-backed ideas Haubein helped pitch is modernizing the Soil Health and Income Protection Program (SHIPP), which can help farmers and ranchers transition marginal cropland back into wildlife habitat that also serves as high-value forage. Another priority is improving the flexibility for wildlife-friendly grazing within the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), ensuring these lands can be actively managed in ways to benefit both habitat and agricultural producers. 

Haubein is a firm believer in CRP, the long-running and popular conservation program. But he says there’s logic in evolving it from the set-aside land conservation program it’s been to one with more working-lands components that encourage active grassland management.  

“In some ways, we’re falling short as land managers if we don’t graze it,” he said. “That’s the way nature designed it. We’re not maximizing our wildlife benefits when we don’t actively manage grasslands.” Haubein says added grazing flexibility will make the CRP more attractive to certain landowners, thereby incentivizing the program when we need to be doing everything we can to keep grassland intact. 

On that note, that’s where Haubein is encouraged. He’s been at this a long time–he’s 73–and he noted how dramatically the public conversation about cattle grazing and the environment has shifted in recent years. 

“Folks are starting to realize that grazing animals may be the salvation for our remaining grasslands. From cow pies to carbon, legislators are starting to understand how important grazing animals are for grasslands,” Haubein said.  

On the Hill, Haubein–who logged more than 12,000 daily steps migrating back and forth between the Rayburn House Office Building and Russell Senate Office Building–also teased what he thinks is the next frontier in promoting the value of diverse, high-quality, well-managed grasslands: nutrient density. Haubein and other regenerative ranchers, including other producers who participate in the Audubon Conservation Ranching program, are working with researchers at Utah State to build an understanding of how raising cattle on native forage–grasses, legumes, and wildflowers–influences beef nutrient composition. Haubein sees the link between native grasslands, cattle nutrition, and human health coming into focus.  

“I’m blown away by how nutrient-dense these animals are coming off my native grasslands,” Haubein said, adding that the upside in establishing a definitive case means more policy efforts geared toward grasslands and good grazing, which stands to benefit birds. 

By bringing voices like Haubein’s to Washington, Audubon and its partners help policymakers see firsthand how conservation and agriculture work best for birds and people when they’re not competing interests, but on the same team.