Emily Cornell

Sol Ranch LLC

Wagon Mound, NM

Mora-Wagon Mound SWCD

Sol Ranch LLC is a cattle ranch operated by Emily Cornell located in the short grass and canyon country of northeastern New Mexico within the Mora-Wagon Mound Soil and Water Conservation District. Raised on her family’s ranch, Cornell learned first-hand how to harness cattle grazing for ecosystem health through holistic management. Her father, Jeff Cornell, was an early adopter of rotational grazing, cross-fencing, water development with pipeline, and using adapted herd genetics.

Sol Ranch LLC is a cow-calf, grass-fed and grass-finished range operation. Cattle are grazed on pastures of perennial native species, primarily blue gramma grass, within a piñon-juniper and short grass prairie ecosystem. The ranch uses an “adaptive management” grazing system that adapts to water supply and drought conditions by matching stocking rates to the current forage availability in a multi-pasture grazing rotation. Sol Ranch manages for biologically-diverse ecosystems with healthy soil through continuously improving grazing management, infrastructure development, monitoring, and collaborations with scientists and neighbors.

Sol Ranch is working to improve ecosystem health through implementing soil health practices that allow for long recovery periods after grazing. To improve water availability and restore riparian areas, the ranch is currently building erosion control structures, converting its windmills to solar power, and installing pipeline, water storage tanks, and drinkers through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). They are also currently installing cross-fencing to create smaller pastures that allow for shorter graze periods and longer rest periods. This practice restores native grasslands and riparian areas and increases overall forage growth while decreasing bare ground and erosion.

Sol Ranch is also working with the Quivira Coalition to trial soil amendment practices on old dryland fields and areas of heavy historical use through biochar application, compost application, and bale grazing. They are also combining some of these practices with erosion control methods and monitoring each for the ability to improve soil water infiltration, increase plant colonization of bare ground, and increase soil organic matter and carbon storage. Additionally, Sol Ranch has worked with friends and neighbors to bring in goats in order to increase the multi-species effect on the landscape, reduce woody encroachment, and increase hoof impact.

The biggest challenge Cornell faces is the high variability in precipitation within a rugged environment. The ranch property is situated at about 6,000 feet elevation with an annual rainfall of 15 inches and annual snowfall of less than 30 inches. The ranch is still recovering from the most recent three-year drought and loss of precipitation. When the area goes into a drought, Cornell says “there is a fine line with stock density and length of grazing, knowing when to graze and when not to. If you go into a drought, you need to act quickly.”

Through interaction with New Mexico State University and New Mexico Highlands University professors as well as organizations such as the High Plains Grasslands Alliance, the Hermit’s Peak Watershed Alliance, and the Quivira Coalition, Cornell has increased her understanding of the different ecosystems on her ranch, and the importance of building soil health and resiliency. Sol Ranch now has an increased focus on monitoring the key indicators of rangeland health trends over time and figuring out which of their practices are most effective in improving the landscape that is so vital to the health of all species, human and otherwise.

Updated August 2022