Climate-Smart Cowboys Hope Regenerative Cattle Ranching Can Heal the Land and Sequester Carbon

By Emma Peterson

Hop up, Jo, said Savannah Barteau. Jolene, a border collie, leapt onto the back of the all-terrain vehicle behind Barteau and her 2-year-old son, Enzo, kicking up sand and water from the wash behind their ranch. The shallow creek will likely run dry in the next month, so neither Jolene nor Enzo had hesitated to splash around in the cool water.

Unlike the streams and riverbanks worn down by overgrazing elsewhere in the West, the health of the beautiful green belt surrounding the wash has only improved since their cattle have had the chance to access it, Barteau said. By nibbling on saplings and stomping down roots of other thirsty plants in the creek bed, the cattle help it carry the most water possible during the wet seasons. 

Barteau is a member of the Date Creek Ranch family, operating just outside of Wickenburg, Arizona. She believes what makes their ranch stand apart from others is the way they love their animals, honor their land and most importantly, reduce their carbon footprint. 

Phil Knight, Barteau’s father-in-law, bought the property in 1966 and began grazing cattle in a way that nurtured and restored the soil and supported biodiversity.

Holistic, regenerative grazing management takes into account the entire ecosystem where cattle graze, making sure a sustainable balance is kept between the cattle, wildlife and the health of the land. These practices, unfortunately, are rare, and often do not extend to large-scale or factory farms. According to the Arizona Beef Council, there are about 7,000 cattle-raising farms and ranches in Arizona, but less than 1,300 of them report having a grazing management plan that would prevent cattle from overgrazing and move them around in a way that mimics the natural grazing of wildlife. 

And not every ranch that claims to minimize their impacts on the land and climate are actually using such plans and practices with their cattle, as increasing demand for sustainable beef is also encouraging greenwashing that disguises the problems of livestock operations and gives local ranchers who are producing more environmentally-friendly beef a bad name. 

While healthy loam will absorb water and carbon dioxide, unhealthy soils fail to hold water and release carbon dioxide, eventually drying out enough to cause desertification. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s resulted from the mindset that the fertility of America’s farmland was inexhaustible.