Top 10 Reasons Ranchers Are Good Stewards

April, 2011
by Bridget Carlisle, Polk County Livestock Extension Agent

In Florida, more than four million acres of pristine native range and pasture land are cared for by cattle ranchers. Florida’s cattle producers and their families have been taking steps to protect our natural resources for as long as cattle have been raised on their land. For these cattle ranching families, stewardship means ensuring that the land will provide for the next generation by focusing on the well-being of their animals and maintaining the natural resources on their land. Florida’s cattle ranchers are successfully helping to protect our resources by:

  1. Providing Green Space: Land preservation is essential for maintaining Florida’s green spaces. Cattle ranchers maintain green space as cattle graze pastures, allowing land to remain natural, free of trash, debris and invasive weeds and trees.
  2. Effectively Utilizing the Land: Approximately 85 percent of U.S. grazing lands are unsuitable for producing crops. Grazing animals on this land more than doubles the area that can be used to produce food. Cattle serve a valuable role in the ecosystem by converting the forages humans cannot consume into a nutrient-dense food.
  3. Protecting Wildlife: The mix of native habitats found within and among ranches, such as marshes, swamps, woodlands, and others, is key to providing food and cover that support a diversity of species. Many of Florida's rarest species, such as the Caracara and the endangered Florida panther, depend upon ranchland for their continued survival. For example, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimates that more than 50% of habitat used by Florida panthers exists on privately owned land, most of which supports cattle ranching.
  4. Protecting Water Quality: Ranches and the wetlands on them play an important role in retaining excess water and recharging ground water supplies. In urban areas, much of the rain runs off the surface, is collected into drains, and discharges into the ocean. Ranchlands also provide critical recharge of the groundwater, the major source of potable water in Florida. Retention and restoration of wetlands on Florida's cattle ranches can benefit all citizens by protecting water quality and maintaining our supply of water.
  5. Managing Invasive Species: Grazing cattle can minimize the invasion of non-native plant species. Cattle ranchers utilize biological controls to manage invasive pests and plants, such as parasitic flies that control red imported fire ants, and beetles to control Tropical Soda Apple plants.
  6. Conserving Soil: Cattle grazing stabilizes the soil and promotes growth of beneficial grasses while protecting against erosion. Erosion control practices, including rotational grazing, brush control management and no-till farming, protect this fragile ecosystem.
  7. Preventing Wildfire: Ranchers use prescribed burning, roller chopping, and controlled grazing to reduce the amount of flammable material on the land and decrease the risk of uncontrolled wildfires.
  8. Protecting Air Quality: Florida cattle ranchers are committed to preserving a healthy, safe and clean environment for food production, including air quality management. According to the EPA, the entire U.S. agricultural sector accounts for only 6.4% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and livestock production is only a portion of that total.
  9. Providing a Safe, Wholesome, and Nutritious Food Product: Cattle farmers and ranchers are not only producing beef for consumers across the state, they are feeding their own families. U.S beef is the highest quality and safest beef in the world. Calorie for calorie, lean beef is one of the most flavorful and efficient ways to meet the daily value for 10 essential nutrients like iron, zinc and B vitamins and beef also provides 20 grams of protein per serving.
  10. Raising Healthy Families: Any Florida rancher will agree that one of the greatest rewards is raising a family on the ranch. Many Florida ranching families have raised cattle since the mid- to late 19th century. More than 97% of U.S. beef cattle ranches are family owned. Approximately two-thirds have been under the same family ownership for two generations or more.


Florida has a rich history of cattle ranching and is one of the leading states in cattle production. Nonetheless, both the number of ranches and the amount of land in cattle ranches decrease every year. As so often happens in Florida, land that goes out of ranching is apt to be developed. Given the economic and environmental benefits of ranching to Florida's citizenry as a whole, any effort that helps sustain the industry is also important to the citizens of the state.

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