Central Texas ranches serve as forage education sites

By JULIET BRISKIN | Central Texas Edition

July 12, 2001 -- The Acadiana Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council along with the Imperial Calcasieu RC&D Council recently sponsored a Grazing Management Tour of Central Texas. The tour is an annual event for cattle and forage producers from South Central and South Western Louisiana. In years past the tour has been held in Mississippi, Alabama, and Oklahoma.

The Texas tour included stops at the Chuck Kiker Ranch in Beaumont, Billy Wood Ranch in Montgomery, Ross-Builta Ranch in Granger, Capital Land and Cattle Company in Schwertner, Charles Conklin Ranch in Buckholts and the Bill Nash Ranch in Cameron.

According to Stuart Gardner, area range and pasture management specialist with the Acadiana Resource Unit, the purpose of the Texas tour was to expose Louisiana producers to applied practical grazing management. "We want to expose our people to viable, economically profitable operations," said Gardner. "We want our producers to see and learn from example and experience. There is nothing like getting a few miles away from home to see some of the same things in the way of soils, climate and cattle and bring that together with good applied management."

The various Texas ranch tours, according to Gardner, provide a good opportunity for Louisiana producers to see the whole cycle of planning, installation, application, and results of grazing management systems.

Dalton Merz, range and land management specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Belton, assisted in the coordination of the grazing management tour. "This tour offers so many things for the Louisiana producers," he said. "We have a cow/calf operation here, a stocker operation, and dairy cattle operation. Louisiana has all three of these and they operate under the same conditions."

At the Ross-Builta Ranch, Betsy Ross Builta addressed the tour participants about the ranch's management intensive grazing operation. "Every business has a thumbnail sketche of what they are doing," she said. "Our two thumbnail sketches out here are for the livestock we look at their droppings. If they are like a pancake we know we are doing well. The other is how many earthworm castings are on the ground. This tells us what we are doing to our soil."

The Ross-Builta ranch has 100 paddocks made up of approximately 33 percent bermudagrass half of which is Tifton 85, 10 percent eastern gamma grass, and the rest is a mix of native grasses and legumes.

"We are very particular about what our animals eat," said Ross-Builta. "We develop the grasses first then we start pouring on the livestock. You've got to have good grasses for the protein and the energy."

According to Ross-Builta, evaluating the fields is the most important job on the farm. "Everyday I walk the fields so I know what is out there," she said. "If you don't know how much is out in your paddocks; if you don't know what is growing there and how much forage you've got, then how do you know if your animals are getting what they need? Get out of your pick-ups and walk your fields."

After her presentation, tour participants were taken out to the fields to inspect the various grasses. At the first stop Dalton Merz spoke about the gamma grass paddock and the importance of grazing before the seeding heads come up. In addition he stressed the importance of not grazing gammagrass below eight inches and not allowing the cattle to back graze.

Each of the stops on the three-day tour provided the Louisiana producers opportunities to meet Texas producers and discuss the ups and downs of their operation. According to Gardner, they were excited about being in Texas and felt that this was one of the most educational tours in which they have participated.