Speakers Bring Common Sense Advice to Attendees at Range School

By Rick Davis, Coordinator, Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition

“Let the cow do the work,” is Marlene Moore’s philosophy!

Moore emphasized the benefit of grazing efficiency and a drought-management plan in her keynote address when I heard her speak at the Western Kansas Adult Range School, last summer, at Camp Lakeside at Scott County Lake. She and her husband operate Shamrock Ranch, Wallace, Nebraska. This is a grass-based, cow/calf and calf backgrounding operation comprised of 700-900 pairs. With 7,000 acres, containing 55 miles of fence, 33 watering points, and 85 paddocks comprised of 135-140 acres each, Moore has moved toward low-cost production that includes winter feeding on corn stalks and attributes increased output by 50 percent due to grazing practices.

Like many ranchers, Moore weathered a drought in 2002, but walked away with several valuable lessons that ultimately lead her toward developing a drought-management plan.

“Making management decisions under duress often results in bad decisions,” Moore explained. “I wanted to take a pro-active stance.” Moore’s drought principles include monitoring conditions, including subsoil moisture, temperature, rainfall, and wind. Know your critical dates of grass production and feed requirements, adjust stock to fit carrying capacity, lengthen rest periods for grass, combine herds, and never drought feed.

“Focus on what you can control,” Moore emphasized.

The range school was organized by Western Prairie Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D), Colby, and the Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition (KGLC) and sponsored by the Truax Company and Kansas Section of the Society for Range Management. As coordinator of KGLC, I wanted to share some of the highlights of this range school with those who were not able to attend and provide a review for those who may have been there.

Recordkeeping

“Keep good records” was the advice from Carl Davis, a Graham County grazier enrolled in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Security Program (CSP) administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Davis resides in the Upper South Fork of the Solomon River, one of three watersheds approved for CSP in 2006. Davis has cross-fenced 80 acres and excluded his cattle from a stream that meanders through his property. His alternative water sources use a solar system on a trailer. Davis used the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), and other cost-share programs to help him complete the work in his plan. He also employed several simple low-cost management strategies like rotating his salt and mineral blocks in pastures to minimize herd hoof damage and overgrazing in those areas. He has moved his cattle up and out of stream and creek areas by simply moving the mineral blocks and his moveable alternate watering supplies mentioned above.

For his efforts, Davis receives a higher-level payment per acre for enhancing his rangeland resource. CSP makes 10-yearly payments for three tiers or levels of resource protection and enhancement. Enrolling his entire operation and completing a few practices that will help his livestock production and improve the rangeland are paying him several dollars more per acre in CSP. Again, his main point offered to participants is to keep good records, and if you don’t, start now. As a companion talk to Davis, Dwayne Rice, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) rangeland management specialist, described how U.S. Department of Agriculture programs are moving more from commodity and disaster payments to rewarding producers that do a good job protecting and improving their natural resources. His take is that over time, programs like CSP will be how federal support will reach land users.

Alternative Ranch Economics

Joe and Nancy Moore, with the help of son Laramie, provided an entertaining and informative presentation on alternative ranch economics including wildlife and ecotourism. In addition to managing 300 head of longhorn cattle on 8,000 acres near Bucklin, the Moore’s operate a guest ranch. Don’t expect much rest if you stay, because the Moore’s emphasize they are a working ranch, not a dude ranch. Ranch visits range from a half-day to several-day trail drives and you may find yourself roping, branding, and fixing fence. The Moore’s also generate revenue with deer hunts and sell skulls, hides, and deer horns.

Water Quality

Ken Sherraden, KGLC, presented a method for assessing the health of streams, called the Stream Visual Assessment Protocol. “Streams and the adjoining land, called riparian areas, may seem rather insignificant in western Kansas, but up to 80 percent of wildlife often uses these areas during the course of their life,” Sherraden explained. Proper stream and riparian area management also contribute toward qualifying for CSP in eligible watersheds.

Know Your Plants

“Plant identification is critical,” Roger Tacha explained. “You have to know what a plant is before you can manage it.” Tacha and Toni Wesley, NRCS rangeland management specialists, provided several sessions of plant identification of native grasses and forbs.

Plant identification sessions provided a basis for a session on sampling, measuring, and monitoring native grasses and forbs as demonstrated by Dwayne Rice, NRCS, Rangeland Management Specialist, and Dr. Walt Fick, Kansas State University, Department of Agronomy, Range and Forage. Four methods were demonstrated, including a photo point, permanent transect, grazing exclusion cage, and a grid.

Grazing Systems

Rice also provided a presentation on grazing systems, their development and monitoring. He discussed the five forage husbandry principles: rest period, stocking rate to match carrying capacity, graze period, herd effect, and stock density.

Balancing Animal Needs

K. C. Olson, Kansas State University, Animal Sciences and Industry, provided talks on balancing animal needs with forages and effective grazing distribution tools to management harvest of forages. He also engaged the group in a ranching scenario challenge that engaged the audience to select the diet a steer would select on an adjoining hillside. Participants had 15 minutes to collect native grasses and forbs in a small paper sack. Olson critiqued the participant’s collections and a KSU Animal Science cap was awarded the winner.

Contact KGLC

For more information on how to contact any of the speakers at the school or on KGLC and its activities, contact the organization at 620-241-6921 or visit the Web at www.kglc.org. Information on 2007 range schools will be available by mid-March, so check the KGLC Web site for details. To find out more about Western Prairie RC&D Council, call 785-462-2602.

This article is also available in Microsoft Word format.

Speakers Bring Common Sense Advice to Attendees at Range School (DOC; 56 KB)

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Last Modified: 08/13/2008