Whether you are a livestock owner looking for more forage or a landowner looking to reduce a buildup of fire fuel, MatchGraze.com can help. This is a free online platform connecting California landowners who want grazing animals to livestock owners with animals that can provide vegetation management services, created by UC Cooperative Extension. You’ll find a map displaying markers representing contract grazers with herds for hire, as well as locations available for grazing. From small semi-rural communities to large open spaces, grazing can provide an affordable solution to the inevitable accumulation of fire fuels, according to UCCE. Grazing can be more cost-effective for reducing fuels on landscapes that are too steep, rocky or remote for mowing or chemical treatment, or in the wildland-urban interface where burning is not an option. “I've noticed on several fires, including extreme fires, the fence lines where the fire just stopped. And the one variable, the one difference, was grazing,” said Marshall Turbeville, CAL FIRE battalion chief, in a release. “Every property is different and requires thoughtful consideration of how it should best be grazed,” said Stephanie Larson, director of UCCE in Sonoma County, UCCE livestock and range management advisor and co-creator of the livestock-land matchmaking service. “UC Cooperative Extension is here to serve, put Match.Graze to work and let's prevent catastrophic fire while helping landowners and agriculture.”
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