In the fifth installment of our 2025 Water Webinar series, we explored soil health, water scarcity and drought resilience in a different, community-oriented approach. The webinar’s first hour centered on the value of good soil health for increasing drought resiliency and how two ranches with very different livestock and lands were managed to make the best use out of the scarce precipitation they receive. The second hour of the webinar was an open range discussion among webinar attendees, Western Landowners Alliance staffers and presenters on issues and practices that can build soil health and drought resilience to keep land more productive and make ranch economics sustainable in arid western climates. 

Our two guest speakers were Dave Ollila, a sheep rancher and soil health advocate from western South Dakota, and Bret Riley, WLA’s eastern New Mexico resources coordinator and co-chair for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Landowner Alliance who ranches cattle in New Mexico and Oklahoma. 

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The first half of our webinar touched on the importance of soil health for keeping water in the land and how healthy soil has compounding effects for raising livestock and ranch economics. Bret and Dave ranch in very different places — short grass prairie for Dave, Bret on sand and hardpan — but in either context, keeping soil covered with native grasses and cover crops  to avoid losing soil when there is a precipitation event is key. For every one percent increase in organic matter in the first six inches of soil per acre, an additional 27,000 gallons of water stick in the system, according to a Natural Resources Conservation Services report. Dave brought slides that showed the value that grazing has on grasses, and Bret discussed how his decision-making process for grazing is dependent on precipitation. “Holistic grazing management” is a bit of a buzzword, but Bret and Dave both make use of contextual clues in their ranges to determine how best to graze their animals.  

There are six basic principles for managing for healthy soils: 

1. Know your context 

2. Minimize disturbances 

3. Keep the soil covered 

4. Maximize biodiversity 

5. Keep a living root 

6. Integrate livestock 

Bret and Dave discussed how following these principles means keeping track of the answers to a number of questions. What kind of climate, ecology and type of farming or ranching operation are you running? Are you practicing a no-till system or is the land subject to regular disturbances? How much bare soil is there and is there forage residue left to keep the soil where it is? Is the land a diverse ecosystem that has plenty of native plants or lots of cover crops? Is there a living root left or are grasses being pulled out of the ground? How is livestock being used to spread nutrients via urine and manure? How much precipitation fell in the last 24 months? How much did the grass grow last year? What percentage of bare ground is there on a section? How efficiently is the water infiltrating into the ground? Answering these questions can provide better answers about soil ecosystem health and agricultural production performance in the future, especially as drought conditions change and challenge producers to create more drought resilient systems. Practicing no-tilling brought Dave unexpected positive impacts, including better drought resiliency on his property, while Bret learned that resting pasture and differing his grazing rotations actually provided better forage for his cattle. 

The “three-legged stool” of economic, ecological and societal health of ranching translates differently when focused on soil health, Bret said during the webinar. By focusing on soil health, the economic potential is not always maximized. But paying attention to the ecological benefits of managing for healthier soil provides economic and societal benefits that spring out of the long-term benefits of a drought resilient operation. Healthy soils mean the bad years are not quite as bad and provide a backstop for tough times. Dave said his ranch is always planning for drought in order to avoid having to rely on every year being a high-value year. While he is not stocking at a higher rate after putting his soil health choices into practice, he has noticed higher weaning weights for his Rambouillet merino sheep. Bret follows a similar pattern of thinking. He said economic goal is to make his payments and bring some back into family living. By balancing stock with land capacity, he is choosing not to overplay his hand, but instead keeping soil and stock healthy. 

While producers like Bret and Dave are answering questions about their lands, they are not doing so by determining if a twinge in their elbow means rain. There were some great tools discussed during the webinar that are available to ranchers like the Rangeland Analysis Platform, NRCS’s Soil Health Starter Kit and books like Dale Strickler’s The Drought Resilient Farm.  

The second half of the webinar was an “open range” networking session that allowed participants to ask our presenters questions about their own issues and interests on their lands. Opportunities like these are why WLA exists. Gathering groups of producers across the west and giving access to experts in the field is a core piece of the puzzle when it comes to making ranching and farming sustainable enterprises.