Cattle and Ducks a Match made in Heaven
Cattle and ducks just might be a match made in Heaven. I am Susan Allen, stayed tuned on today’s American Rancher because I will be right back with the common denominator between these two species. Last week I attended a conference where Don Young, Executive Director for Ducks Unlimited explained the compatibility between cattle and ducks. In one word, habitat. Ducks thrive many places cattle graze and because we have already lost half of our U.S. wetlands and continue loose 100,000 acres of water fowl habitat a year, Ducks Unlimited teamed up with ranchers who run cattle in areas conducive for nesting to save our waterfowl habitat. In California’s Central Valley, for example, financially strapped ranchers have been selling off their water rights to basically keep lawns green in L.A, thus draining precious wetlands. To curb their demise Ducks Unlimited has a developed cash incentive to provide ranchers with immediate funding in turn for farmland put into permanent grassland easement. To date Young cited several thousand ranchers have lined up for enrollment. The Ducks Unlimited easement program is viewed a win win for cattle and water fowl, now the challenge facing Duck Unlimited is the ability to raise the massive funds needed for the grassland easement plan to succeed.
