Environmental Ranching

It seems there is no end to hard manual labor on a ranch.  It doesn't matter whether it is a large or small ranch, there is always fence to mend, brush to clear, water to fix, animals to feed, or something else that needs done come rain or shine, heat or cold.

We moved to this part of Texas because it was a great place to raise cattle.  The reason it is a great place is because it gets plenty of rain to grow lots of grass for them to eat.  That same rain makes trees and brush grow too.  It seems that constant vigilance is in order or the trees will take over the place.

If you are a global warming alarmist, you might think we should let the trees take over until they choke out all of the grass and the land will no longer support cattle.  I actually understand that logic but, it is incomplete.  If you value wildlife and proper management of the land and environment, you must realize it is important to have a complete ecosystem in order to be sustainable.

If allowed to grow unchecked, the first trees to move in typically have thorns and are very short lived.  They create thickets that harbor very little wildlife for the most part.  As they choke out the grasses, they allow other, longer-lived varieties of trees to take hold, such as oaks which begin to grow in areas that aren't completely choked by thorny varieties.  The oaks and other large trees, over time begin to decay and fall and the rotten, decaying logs wash into waterways and choke them causing flooding.  The flooding causes further degradation of the environment until the land becomes virtually unusable except to feral hogs and such.

I admit that I am simplifying things a bit as well as compressing decades into what appear to be shorter spans of time, but essentially that is the process of succession.  The brush-choked, decaying forest is also a prime opportunity for fires to rage uncontrollably for many miles.  If burned, the land is then highly subject to extreme erosion.  The soil which washes away destroys stream and lake health causing fish to die.  It ultimately ends up in the ocean or contributes to destroying estuaries.

The alternative is controlled grazing with sculpting of the land by allowing old-growth trees to flourish along water courses in order to control erosion.  Minor brush infestations can be cleared through controlled burning.  The grasses act as a filter for the water going into waterways so that it is cleaner and healthier.  Cattle grazing the grassland control undesirable species.  Wildlife flourish because of the variation in the environment.  Very little, if any, erosion occurs.

Most animals prefer what is referred to as edge.  Edge is where two different types of plant growth come together.  It can be the edge of a forest adjacent to grassland, or the border of large trees growing along a stream.  It allows animals a place to move from an area of high food value to one of "cover" or protection very quickly.

I spend a lot of time on the ranch managing those things.  It is important to me that we have a complete ecosystem on our ranch so that wildlife have a safe place to grow and propagate.  I want to see deer and bobcat and songbirds thrive just as much as I want the cattle to thrive.  Cattle need the shade of trees as well as grass.  A properly managed ranch provides for both while locking carbon into the grasses, the trees and the soil.