> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the406.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # MSU Lands $1.5 Million to Study Adaptive Grazing With Montana Ranchers - URL: https://www.the406.news/msu-lands-1-5-million-to-study-adaptive-grazing-with-montana-ranchers/ - Published: 2026-10-16T13:50:28.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-16T13:50:28.000Z - Description: A multidisciplinary team from Montana State University will spend three years working alongside 10 to 15 Montana ranches to examine how modern grazing tools and practices affect livestock, vegetation, and soil carbon. - Author: Samuel Von Worthington - Tags: Ag & Ranch, #zone-statewide, #ai-assisted, #bridger-edit, #dedupe-2febca4b74c2eb5c BOZEMAN — Montana State University researchers have received a $1.5 million grant to study adaptive grazing management alongside working ranches across the state, with fieldwork set to run from 2027 through 2028 and the broader project continuing through 2029. What this means for you Montana:Directly relevant to Montana ranchers statewide. The research is designed around working Montana operations and aims to produce practical guidance on grazing practices that sustain both land health and ranch productivity — findings ranchers could apply as soon as the project concludes in 2029. Bozeman:MSU's College of Agriculture leads the project, based out of the Bozeman campus, with graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher funded through 2029. Watch next:Fieldwork begins in 2027; ranchers interested in participating can connect through the MSU College of Agriculture or existing ranching organizations the research team is working with — no formal application deadline was listed in the source material. The funding comes from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation through the Ranchland Stewardship Program, according to a report by Northern Ag Network. Three graduate students and one postdoctoral researcher will be supported by the grant. Noah Davis, an assistant professor of grazing ecology and management in MSU's College of Agriculture, leads the project. Co-principal investigators include Dan Atwater and Georgia Harrison, both in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences, and Sophie von Fromm in the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences. The team's combined expertise spans livestock, vegetation, and soil carbon. The central question driving the research: what does good grazing management look like today, given the tools now available to ranchers? "Historically, research and practice of grazing management have focused on two things: stocking rate and the season of use," Davis said. "With what is available to us today, there is a lot more that can be done." Satellite imagery, drone surveys, and temporary electric and virtual fencing have expanded what's possible in the field — giving ranchers more precision in when and where livestock graze a pasture. The research team plans to select 10 to 15 Montana ranches already using adaptive approaches, leveraging existing relationships with ranching organizations to find operations that are, as Davis put it, "already doing it and already doing it well." Researchers will track stocking rates — the number of animals grazing a pasture over a set period — as well as stocking density and livestock performance metrics like weight gain. They will also examine effects on plant communities and soil health, including whether certain practices increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil. Davis framed the work as a natural extension of MSU's land-grant mission: building durable, collaborative relationships with Montana producers rather than parachuting in to study them from the outside. "Rather than us designing a project that may be able to answer one specific component, our multidisciplinary team is going to be working hand in hand with producers that are already doing it," Davis said. He added that he hopes the relationships built during the project will outlast it and create ongoing learning opportunities for MSU students. The project gets underway this fall, with the bulk of field data collection scheduled for 2027 and 2028.