For example, during the seven years of research at Corona, McDaniel said the scientists only had three years in which there was a suitable window of opportunity to burn. Even then, the window was only a few days in either the spring or summer. Then the next year when they hope to burn, the air temperatures may be wrong, or the windy conditions may prevent safe conditions for starting the fire. The rancher must then wait another year to see if conditions are right. If the fire is conducted, then the land needs to be rested a minimum of one and ideally two growing seasons after to allow grasses to come back to support grazing again.
Ranchers have other options for controlling snakeweed.
In other situations, when there is a minimal amount of snakeweed, it is possible to reduce the plants' impact through grazing management. Sometimes snakeweed becomes infested with insects like the round-headed root borer. In this case, you want the insects to do their business and eliminate the snakeweed. Results of the research, funded by the state and a special grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research Service , were published recently in the Journal of Range Management.