McLane Ranch provides backdrop for Burleson County beef/forage seminar

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

Bruce Chandler (left), livestock inspector with the Texas Animal Health Commission, discusses tuberculosis in Texas cattle. Murray McDermott (right), McLane Ranch manager, listens as he leans on the holding pens he designed. -Staff photo by Poehl

May 12, 2005 - McLane Ranch is a 4,000-acre commercial cow operation that uses a variety of marketing alternatives. Located outside of Caldwell, the ranch is owned by Drayton McLane, owner of McLane Group and the Houston Astros. Murray McDermott is the manager of the ranch, who manages over 600 head of cattle.

On Thursday, May 5, the Burleson County Beef Cattle and Forage Tour was held on the McLane Ranch. Dr. David Bade, Extension forage specialist, spoke about weed management. He brought five plants that cause problems for fields in the area, including bull nettle, stinging nettle, antelope horn, Texas thistle and touch-me-not.

"Bull nettle is a sandy land plant. Stinging nettle likes the sand and fertility. If you touch it, it will sting for a whole day," said Bade. "There has been a problem with antelope horn in Lavaca County and it's pretty hard to kill. Texas thistle is a sticky plant that is a late winter/early spring plant. You can have it with oats or rye grass."

Bade said weeds are a problem in fields because they compete for space.

"Weeds will compete for moisture, nutrients and sunlight," Bade explained. "We've doubled the amount of grass produced just by controlling weeds. Hitting them early is the key."

Bade advised farmers to be careful when choosing herbicides because after killing what it needs to kill at first, some herbicides are known to give desired plants trouble in the future.

"Think of your pasture year round when you're picking a herbicide," Bade said. "Think about the whole system."

Grazing cows basically recycle everything, Bade explained. When cows eat the grass with nutrients and herbicides, most of it will come out in their stool, making everything that was put on the grass come back to it.

While looking at the working pens that McDermott designed and utilizes on the ranch, Bruce Chandler, livestock inspector with the Texas Animal Health Commission, spoke about Texas' tuberculosis status.

Instead of voluntary testing, Texas will randomly check beef herds for tuberculosis in its effort to regain the government's vital TB-free designation.

"It all started when we lost our status in 2002 when a dairy and beef cattle herds tested positive with TB," Chandler explained. "Now, we have a lottery-like system where 2,000 names (of beef herd owners) are picked out of 5,500 names. TB testing will be a required test for those herds."

Animal health officials met with industry representatives last month to discuss ways to facilitate the intensified surveillance program. It was the industry representatives who suggested the random testing, Chandler said.

Any owner can volunteer his herd for testing, and testing is performed at no cost to the ranchers.

All cows at the state's 811 dairies have already been tested. Since the testing program began in November 2003, only one infected dairy herd has been found.

"The earliest Texas can apply to regain its TB-free status is October 2006," two years from when the infected dairy herd was depopulated, said Chandler.