Why do ranchers burn their pastures? Five beneficial reasons to put up with the smoke

Less than 4% of the original Tallgrass Prairie remains in America and most of that is in the Flint Hills of Kansas. The prairie is comprised of native grasses--not planted by any human. Even though it was designed by Nature, it is mankind's responsibility to help maintain the prairie. 

"If we want it to be here for the next generation, and the next generation, then we gotta do what Mother Nature did before we came here, and we've got to burn it quite often to keep the grassland a grassland."  --Mike Holder, Flint Hills Extension District. Mike is one of my heroes--an old cowboy who loves the prairie and isn't afraid to fight for it!

In late March and April, the skies in Kansas are often filled with smoke and even metropolitan areas may see the haze of smoke and smell the fires. Often, people with breathing problems have even more trouble with the smoke. So, why do ranchers set their grass on fire? Here are the top five reasons my family sets controlled fires on our prairie grass:

5.  To encourage wildlife population -- what's good for the livestock, is good for wildlife!
"Fire is critical to prairie chickens and other grassland birds, because it keeps those trees out of the prairie. If you do not burn, you end up getting woody encroachment out into those grasslands and what that does is provide habitat ...for predators that prey upon prairie chickens and other grassland birds."  Jim Pittman, Ks Dept of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.

4.  Weed control -- Kill woody shrubs and trees. Some people may claim that this is the #1 reason to burn, and frankly, all five reasons are all very closely tied together.  Back when the Indians and buffalo roamed free on the Kansas prairie, lightning storms lit fires that raged over thousands of acres in one big bonfire.  Once the grass began to regrow, the buffalo came to the fresh, tender grass.  The inhabitants also noticed that fire kept killing back the woody weeds and that kept trees from invading the native pristine prairie. So the Indians began lighting the first controlled burns and history was made!   In addition to controlling weeds, burning the grass promotes diversity in the grassland. The beauty of the native prairie is that it isn't comprised of only one plant. Many different grasses and forbs combine to make a healthy, sustainable grassland.   "The ranchers in eastern Kansas are really kind of stewards of one of the last pieces of the most important ecosystem in north America,"   Karl Brooks, EPA Region 7.

3.  Promote better utilization of grasses by livestock.  Cattle like to eat where it is the easiest to get to the grass, and as they eat, fresh tender grass regrows.  There may be luscious, nutritious grass on the next hillside, but often the cattle stay where they are content. So they don't eat down the other hillside and the grass grows tall and tough there. It doesn't taste as good to them, and they ignore it.  So we burn off the tough, old grass to encourage fresh, tender and more nutritious grass to grow on that hill as well, luring the cattle there. That is better for the land, not just because there is more to eat, but also it helps control erosion and compaction from cattle walking all over the same land.

2. Better weight gain on livestock with fresh, green, more nutritious grass.  The Kansas Flint Hills is mostly Cow Country! Yes, there is plenty of crop ground, too. But for the most part, the hillsides and tops are too rocky to farm. So we manage the grass for cattle to use it.  Much of this land isn't fit to grow crops, so we bring nearly a million head of cattle here for a few months in the summer to eat the grass and turn it into something we humans can consume.  I can't eat grass--but cattle can convert it to protein.  It has been proven that calves grow better on new, fresh grass that doesn't have the old dead grass it must grow through.

1.  Use fewer chemicals.  Mother Nature is amazing and constantly changing. One of the biggest reasons we have lost 96% of the native prairie is because it was either good enough land to grow crops, or it has become infested with trees.  Cattle don't eat trees and when the eventual infestation of Eastern Redcedar engulfs a part of the prairie, we have lost use of the land as well as the positive impacts of deep-rooted, carbon-sequestering native plants. Without fire to control the woody invasion, we will have to turn to chemicals for widespread control.  That not only increases expense, but also labor and safety. 

A few years ago, farmers and ranchers participated in a program to voluntarily choose when to burn pastures, based on wind patterns, meteorological data and amount of land to burn. This video explains much about the science of burning pastures, and the science of ozone and what we as caretakers of the land do to manage the fire and choose when to burn. And if you watch the whole video, you may see me a few times--along with many of my grassland management mentors!! (Be sure to leave a comment if you watch it all and if you saw me!)


"Fire is the only way to maintain it. It's too important an ecological asset to lose..." Brian Obermeyer, The Nature Conservancy

Through the years, I have written lots of blog posts about the pasture fires that farmers and ranchers set in April in Kansas. Here is a compilation:

• Pastures up in Flames,  April 5, 2011
• Photo Blog - Grassland Management Via Fire, April 15, 2010
• The Kansas Prairie is "Up in Smoke!" April 12, 2010
• Cattle Ranchers are True Environmentalists, October 15, 2009

Prairie Wildflower of the Day: Butterfly Milkweed

Butterfly Milkweed is definitely my favorite prairie wildflower of the tallgrass prairie! It blooms near the end of May and early June and usually only for a short time, providing pops of bright orange in the lush green of the growing prairie.

Of course, it attracts large numbers of butterflies. Cattle do not eat it, but it doesn't bother them, either.

I had always been told that you could not transplant butterfly milkweed to domesticated landscape, but I tried it anyway! I dug up about half of a bush from our pasture, digging deep to get as much of the deep root as possible. I planted it immediately in my yard and watered it daily throughout May and early June. Despite all the water, it died. But...I soon noticed new shoots poking through the soil and after removing the dead stems, I realized it hadn't really died! It regrew into a lovely shrub and even bloomed again. Since then, I have divided and transplanted lots of this native plant in my yard. Once established, it needs little watering and it blooms every year!

A note of caution...do not try to dig it up from roadsides. That is actually illegal. If you own some native grassland and can dig it there, that is fine. But if you don't, I have seen it available to purchase at greenhouses! It is a perfect late spring/early summer pop of color and it is drought resistant. Perfect for my yard.

Watch for more Prairie Wildflower of the Day posts!

Prairie Wildflower of the day: Catclaw Sensitive Briar

Catclaw Sensitive Briar is one of my favorite wildflowers in the Kansas prairie! This plant has briars on the stem and leaf that are shaped like a cat's claw. And the fern-like leaf is sensitive to motion and will curl up when brushed or touched.

Catclaw Sensitive Briar is also an indicator of a healthy rangeland, as when a pasture is overgrazed or overused, this plant will not grow. But best of all, the puffy pink flowers make it easy to find in the deep grasses of the tallgrass prairie.

Watch for more Prairie Wildflower of the Day posts!!

The Art of Nature in the Flinthills in Autumn

I love the Flinthills in the fall. The colors of the mature grasses, combined with the golden sun of early morning or late afternoon are truly spectacular.  Kansas is often thought of as flat and treeless, but in eastern Kansas, the hills are rolling and grass-covered and cattle still dot the countryside as we get closer and closer to winter.

We are bringing cattle home from the pastures this month. Even though there is grass there, the quality is greatly diminished. We have been supplementing the cattle with other sources of protein. Because of their miraculous four stomachs, cows can digest the fiber in grass but they still need more protein to stay healthy.

I love walking through the pastures this time of year--watching for wildlife, including deer and game birds as they prepare for winter. I am a glass half-full kind of gal, and I enjoy the beauty of nature in all the seasons, but I have to admit, I am not a big fan of winter.

So I will rejoice in the beauty and depth of color during Autumn, even as I dread the greys of winter. I do realize that winter is an important season for the native grasses to achieve dormancy, kill the insects and allow nature a rest period. But I will mourn the end of autumn and rejoice with the onset of spring. 

Private Property--"why can't I fish there?"

NO TRESPASSING -- KEEP OUT!

Why do I lock my pasture gates? Why don't I allow people to fish in the ponds? Why can't people hunt on my land? And what does "Private Property" mean anyway?

Ohhhh boy, what have I done now?

Well, I really stepped in it! I don't know what to think about it, but I did it! I moved to self-hosted and even changed the name of my blog that I have been posting for more than 5 years! I still have the same goals and the same plans, but I think my new name is more descriptive of my blog and how it has evolved.

So, if you still follow me at Life on a Kansas Cattle Ranch, you need to update your bookmarks to "Kids, Cows and Grass!"  That's www.kidscowsandgrass.com!

I began blogging in 2009 to tell some stories of what happens on a ranch and to answer questions from people who don't live in rural areas. I think the conversation is changing and growing in the past 5 years. There are many more people involved in agriculture that are willing to answer questions. I also found that my blog posts are about three major topics:  Kids, Cows and Grass! Those are my passions.

Eat Beef and support sustainability!

I've said it over and over again...cattle ranchers are environmental activists and have been for generations! But I have to admit, I may be a bit radical...I am a rancher and I drive a Prius! Why is that contradictory? I am as interested in sustainability as the next guy. Heck, ranchers DEPEND on sustainability! Preconceived notions about what certain types of people should drive are silly.

Using fire to enhance sustainability of the prairie

Sustainability means different things to different people. Farmers and ranchers are inherently focused on sustainability--if they don't take care of the land and the animals in a sustainable manner, it can't be passed on through the generations. One of the most important goals we have is to hand our ranch down to our kids.

In our area, we work hard to maintain and improve the Flint Hills and the native grass that grows here. If you are interested in how we work every day to improve the prairie, please take the time to watch this video. It talks about controlled burning of the prairie as an important tool to improve sustainability....and if you watch closely, you might catch me on the video! :)

Taking care of the grass is one of my passions! I've written about our work to preserve the tallgrass prairie before. If you're interested, check out my posts:

• The Kansas Prairie is Up in Smoke
• Photo Blog: Grassland Management via Fire
• Tall Grasses of the Kansas Prairie
• Cattle Ranchers are True Environmentalists
• Wildflowers on the Prairie

Murphy's Law Strikes Again

It is a beautiful Saturday morning. We have a baseball game this afternoon, my husband got up early to bale alfalfa hay and I headed to a pasture to enjoy the cool breeze and check cows.



The cattle are spread out around the pond eating or still sleeping.




I drive through them checking for illness as well as just enjoying their company.








They crowd around my little Geo Tracker to see what I've brought them. I love this--cattle all around me, not afraid and beautiful weather!

Finally my husband calls. He's finished baling and we need to move a group of cows to fresh grass and asks me to meet him at another pasture 5 miles away, so I start up the Tracker and head to the gate.

But the beauty of the day still has me captivated and I'm not paying close attention to where I'm driving--there's no actual road, remember. As I putter through the tall grass, watching cows and smiling to myself, BOOM! The Tracker drops into a gully!




It does have 4-wheel drive but won't budge! I sigh deeply because I know I must call for help and will take plenty of teasing today!

Murphy's Law bites me in the butt again! It states if anything can go wrong, it WILL!

In the positive side, as I sit here waiting for my son in a pickup with a big chain, I can flip through pictures I took this morning and write a blog post!! Just wish I had a cup of coffee...

My son arrives...



...and I'm free!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wildflowers on the Prairie

Butterfly Bush, blooming in the Kansas Flint Hills native pastures.

Daisy Fleabane, teeny little white flowers with white centers.

Cat's Claw Sensitive Briar, with purple puffs for flowers, the fern-like leaves will curl up when you touch them.

Primrose, these don't smell very good, but they are really striking flowers in the sea of green grass!

Easter sunrise service--with cows!

You just never know...there might have been cows at Jesus' resurrection!

The local youth group has hosted Easter sunrise service at our pasture for many years. We have 3 crosses permanently installed on top of a hill in our pasture. The kids run the service and we gather close to watch the sun rise and sing "up from the grave He arose."

This year as the kids huddled in blankets and read the scripture, the yearling calves came to hear!

The crowd faced the sunrise and the kids stood before the crosses facing us. As they spoke, the cattle edged nearer and nearer, finally nearly touching the kids in their curiosity.

I like to think they wanted to hear the good news of Jesus' resurrection, but they probably just wanted to know what all those people were doing in their space--and did they bring food?!

Help the planet by eating beef!

Ranchers help protect wildlife--by maintaining contiguous areas of grass, wild bird populations across the nation are protected.


"When someone buys a package of beef in LA or New York, they are helping to maintain these highly intact ecosystems...by keeping those ranchers in business," said Christian Hagen, Wildlife Biologist.

This video uses sage grouse as an example of ranchers' success, but there are species across the nation that are benefited by ranchers' practices of maintaining high quality grasslands.  In Kansas we are known for pheasant and quail as well as prairie chicken and wild turkey--not to mention the wild mammals our land supports!  What is good for cattle, is also good for wildlife!

Seventh Day of Christmas

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...seven Flint Hill pastures,

The view this fall in one of my favorite places!

•  Six cows a'calving,
•  Five awesome kids!
•  Four special friends,
•  Three old red barns,
•  Two cotton work gloves,
•  and a Cow Dog to work beside me.

The Flint Hills are very special to many people. When I'm out in the middle of a pasture, with no power lines, no houses, no fences and only cattle and grass visible, I imagine what it was like to cross the prairies in covered wagons. I wonder what it was like to camp at night on the prairie, listening to coyotes howl and your campfire snap. It must have been a beautiful place and easy to select a place to call your own...to build a house, build a barn, build a life.

Today, it takes about 6 acres of grass for a cow and calf for the entire season. We take care of a few thousand acres of grassland on the prairie, and we are proud to do so. It is a responsibility we feel for ourselves, and for future generations. I have blogged many many times about the prairie. We have approximately seven separate pieces of grass that we have cows in, hence the song's reference...

Tall grasses of the Kansas Prairie

Big Bluestem grass is at its peak beauty in the fall in the Kansas Flint Hills.

The Flint Hills is also known as the Tallgrass Prairie. The grasses reach their peak height in fall when they put out their seed heads. It has been said that the grasses used to grow taller than a man on horseback. I have only seen the grasses that tall a few times in my 40+ years living on the prairie, but when soil moisture and growing conditions are perfect, they do get very very tall.  Unfortunately when the grasses are at their peak in height and beauty, the nutritional value is very low. We must supplement the cattle so that they receive all the nutrients they need. Sometimes it just means a mineral supplement mixed with salt, but other times it means some kind of protein.

There are many grasses on the prairie, but the ones we see in the fall that draw our attention are Big Bluestem (also called Turkeyfoot) and Indian Grass. There are other shorter ones that add to the fall beauty, but these are the literal standouts on the prairie this time of year.

Big Bluestem with a locust hanging tight. The grass is also called Turkeyfoot because of the seed head...look closely a the 3-prongs of the turkey's foot.

Indiangrass has a tall stem and seedhead. It grows in a clump, just like Big Bluestem.

Indiangrass is so named because of the two little "feathers" that stick up when you pull back a leaf.

Roo Dog waits in the truck for me to finish taking pictures, so she can chase any wildlife that happen to be nearby!

Fall wildflowers on the Prairie

Sunflowers are everywhere in Kansas in the fall. They are actually a weed in most cases, but some farmers grow a domesticated strain for oil and seed

Fall is a beautiful time on the Kansas prairie. Normally you think of spring as a time for wildflowers, but fall's flowers are a deeper, richer color and seem to stand out in the grass. Also, as the days grow shorter and the nights cooler, the prairie grass changes color from deep green to yellow, gold and even red and purple! I wish fall were longer on the prairie!

This is a new wildflower to me, but according to websites I've searched, it looks like Leavenworth Eryngo

 

.

This is Snow-on-the-Mountain. A very common wildflower on the Kansas prairie.

One of my favorite fall prairie wildflowers is Dotted Gayfeather. I've tried to transplant the original prairie plant into my home landscape, but have been unsuccessful so far. Of course, there are domesticated cultivars available in the nurseries.

If you're interested in more information about wildflowers in Kansas, I found a great website with pictures for identifying different flowers: http://kswildflower.org

A bit of relaxation, while storms rage to the east

Finally, after a busy week breeding cows and heifers and breathing dust, then slogging through 6 inches of mud, we took a couple of hours to relax at a farm pond and drown a few worms. I chose to just sit at the side of the pond and stretch my legs out!

The spring is a wild and crazy time (that phrase is stuck in my head from years ago when Steve Martin uttered it on Saturday Night Time--I can even still hear the strange accent he used!) for ranchers. We work hard during the entire daylight hours to get the pastures ready for cattle--that means fixing or building fences, putting out mineral feeders and of course, burning pastures in Kansas. Then we spend days (sometimes weeks) sorting through cattle to pair up mamas with their babies to haul them to the correct pasture. I don't want to put a bull in a pasture to breed his mama or a sister, so I have to keep detailed notes on who is related to who and make sure they are organized in such a way that a bull can go to a pasture with no close relatives.

All this organization, as well as the physical work of sorting and loading cattle, can wear me out! So even though we're only just over halfway done, it is nice to relax for a bit.

 

My son enjoys fishing, but the "big ones" were caught by a GIRL this time...a friend of ours spent a week with us working on the ranch. She caught 3 fish....Eric....None! Actually we hadn't expected to catch any since we've had pretty cool weather and lots of rain. So any fish caught were fun!

While fishing, we were enjoying the amazing cloud display to the east. The skies were deep blue above us and no rain, but we knew the cloud formations we were seeing meant a rough storm to the east. Turned out, that was the storm that spawned the tornado in Reading, Ks. A small town of only 200 residents was nearly wiped off the map, but only one death. Not as bad, or widespread, as the tornado of Joplin, Missouri just a day later, but try telling that to the residents of Reading!

Earth Day 2011

This will be an interesting April 22 for my husband and me. We will spend Earth Day 2011 away from the land that we love and work on every day. We will be in a foreign country--New York City!

Although I'm excited to meet New Yorkers and tell them about how I raise cattle to provide the Certified Angus Beef they are enjoying in the James Beard Foundation pop-up restaurant, I'll miss the beautiful green prairie of the Flint Hills of Kansas.




Every day ranchers like us are working to improve the land. For generations farmers and ranchers have passed down their love of the land and their responsibility to protect it. I look forward to sharing photographs of the prairie and our cattle.

Compared to 30 years ago, it takes less land, less water, and less energy to produce a pound of beef. At the same time we have increased the total amount of beef produced with fewer cows. More beef cuts have been certified lean by the USDA and advances have been made in not only production but processing and managing cattle.

Every day I work to make the land better than it was when I began ranching, not only because it keeps me in business, but because it is the right thing to do.

Wind Power - hot button topic in Kansas Flint Hills

 

Wind power is a clean natural resource but is it good for Kansas? These wind towers are actually a very controversial topic in conversation with cattle ranchers in the Flint Hills of Kansas. If your ground is situated in an area that receives the optimum amount of wind and has main transport electrical lines running near or through it, you may be a candidate for wind towers. But the Kansas legislature has placed a moratorium on these in the Flint Hills.

I have to be honest, I am not really sure my feelings about having these huge towers situated along the tops of hills in the beautiful Flint Hills of Kansas. I love the unobstructed views that we have of the sunsets over the prairie and I can almost imagine what it must have looked like when the homesteaders traveled in their covered wagons across the hills of our pasture to select their own homesite. The wind towers certainly do not add to the beauty of the landscape. But the real question is...do they detract?

That is not a question I can answer--there are people on both sides of this issue and mostly for aesthetic reasons. There are a few conservation issues that have been brought up, but I think with the recent discussion of the safety of nuclear power (in light of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan) I think we need to utilize every form of safe, clean power that we have available.

These towers are situated in the middle of the prairie along Interstate-70 through Kansas. They are just west of the Flint Hills near Ellsworth, Kansas. They are at a location that has historically received wind gusts on even a calm day! As I drove through them today, I had to stop and snap a few photos as I truly do like how they look on the prairie. You may not be able to tell but the black dots below them in the top photo are cattle! These towers are huge!!

The controversy comes from ranchers looking to earn some extra money by allowing wind power companies to erect these towers on their land. They usually pay money for some kind of lease and there is an annual payment to the owner of the land.  These farmers and ranchers are able to make some extra money with no extra work! Why is that wrong?

On the other side of the issue is people who say that the wind towers spoil the "viewscape" and they alter the wind flow patterns and scare away wildlife. I have read studies that show no affect on the local environment and others that show a negative effect. The only thing you can't argue with is when someone says they are ugly. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

Realistically, it is not a problem I need to, or can, solve. My land is not in an area where wind towers will be placed. But my question is, who am I to say that my neighbor can't have them on his land? I'd really rather put laws in place that say only pretty houses with garages behind the house can be built. But that is not a realistic law...even though I think that is important to the looks of the house! I don't believe the legislature has any right to say what I can and can't do aesthetically to my property! I pay taxes (a lot of property taxes) on this land. I believe that I have the right to build an ugly house, or a bunch of wind towers if I want to!

And, frankly...I don't think these are any uglier than the power lines, telephone lines, interstate system and metropolitan areas that crisscross our country! All in all, it is not a question we will answer here. But I thought you'd be interested in the discussions behind the scenes when wind towers are erected on the prairie.

Pastures up in flames

Pasture burning is a spring time ritual in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Fire is a great grass management tool to control weeds, burn off old dead grass and kill woody shrubs and cedar trees--which cattle can't eat and can choke out the native grass.

Yesterday afternoon, we contacted the neighbors and the police department to alert them that we would  be burning a pasture. In addition, we checked the smoke modeling online to make sure the smoke would dissipate before reaching a metropolitan area.

We burn the pasture to remove the old dead grass, and new grass begins to regrow within hours! By burning at the time that the woody shrubs are just beginning to bud, it controls the invasive shrubs and trees that would kill out the grasses.

This is only about 100 acres, but some pastures may be 1,000s of acres burning at the same time.

Our ranch is staffed by our family! We have one neighbor who helps us from time to time, but these are two of my boys overseeing the fire. At left, my son holds a fire stick that we use to set fires. The 4-wheeler on the right has a water tank on it to put out the back fires.

The fire boss (my husband) oversees the burning operation. Burning takes a lot of organization, equipment and then finally nerve! But it is a necessary job in the Flint Hills.

For more information about burning pastures for environmental management, see previous blog posts:  Photo Blog - Grassland Management via Fire ~  The Kansas Prairie is Up in Smoke  ~  Cattle Ranchers are True Environmentalists