Dr. Michael A. Smith

Professor
“Grazing Management & Behavior
Room # 2027
BS: Texas Tech (Range Management)
MS: Texas Tech (Range Management)
PhD: Utah State University (Range Sciences)

Phone: 766-2337
Email: pearl@uwyo.edu

 

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My faculty appointment includes extension, teaching , and research responsibilities. Extension education involves working with off campus publics, especially ranchers and public land managers, on resource management issues. In some situations I will provide training in rangeland monitoring or other topics using lecture and demonstration formats. Perhaps more often, I will be called to address the effectiveness of grazing management on a ranch or grazing allotment. This venue allows for a wide ranging discussion of range potentials and condition, livestock production systems, alternative grazing management strategies, and vegetation monitoring as a tool for making short term livestock moves or for altering grazing management strategies. Extension education requests provide a reliable and ongoing needs assessment for determining the relevance of topics for on campus teaching and research.

My research efforts in recent years has included determining the relationships between annual forage yields and precipitation of selected months with the objective of providing managers with the ability to predict forage production early enough in the grazing season to be useful in adjusting grazing plans. Recently completed research has evaluated the effects of season of calving on seasonal nutrition requirements and the costs of maintaining a cow. Recently initiated research will examine the potential biological and economic returns of different ranch forage and animal management systems.

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