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

Freeze Branding Registered Cattle

All the cattle on our ranch are identified by a specific number.

Registered cattle must be permanently identified, so we either put a tattoo in their ear, or a freeze brand on their side.

The brass irons are cooled in a bath of methyl alcohol and dry ice.

We also put our legal identifying brand on their hip.

Immediately after applying the iron, the skin layer is frozen, which changes the structure of the hair follicle so the hair grows in white forever!

For more information about freeze branding, see my previous posts:

• Family Time on a Family Farm
• Do You  Know Where Your Cows Are?

How do we train new cowhands?

This post is a collaboration with Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. on behalf of the Beef Checkoff. I received compensation, but all opinions are my own. 

Kids...Cows...and Grass...I didn’t choose that name by accident. Those are three of the things I am most passionate about, and in my life, they are all very intertwined! It is not a surprise that our main source of labor on the ranch is our family—mostly our kids. These days our kids are also adding significant others to the mix, and since working with family is important to us, it is also important that we encourage them to help us care for the cattle if they are interested. Working on the ranch is a great family activity—as well as a way to get the work done.

 

My son Trent started dating his wife Brier when she was a freshman in high school and a few of their early “dates” included helping on the ranch. Brier had not been around lots of cows, so when she started helping on the ranch, she needed to learn not only how to stay safe while working among the cattle, but also how to do the best job possible. So, we sent her to school! Yes, seriously, there is a school of sorts for handling and managing cattle. It is called the Beef Quality AssuranceProgram (BQA) and it is a series of online, or in-person modules that teach things like how to give various vaccinations, how to move around cattle to keep them calm and doing what you need them to do, and even how to tell if cattle are sick. There are so many useful topics that I cannot list them here without taking up too much space.

Before someone new is able to help us, we need to teach them how to handle cattle correctly and how to do certain tasks to ensure that cattle are well cared for. Naturally, cattle are prey animals, so they see unfamiliar people as predators and are afraid of them.  In addition, fear increases stress and stressed cattle don’t eat well, may not rest easily, and they get sick more often. Calm, unafraid, cattle are easier to work with, but they are also healthier, and easier to tell if they are hurt or sick. We raise our cattle from newborns to not be afraid of us and to be calm and quiet when we are with them; so when Brier started working with us, we taught her how cows think, and where to stand to make them move in the direction she wants. We don’t yell or wave our arms to frighten them, but instead give them space to go the way we need them to go, and step closer to them from the side to encourage them to move that way. It really is a learned skill!

Throughout the year we sometimes need extra help, particularly when we are vaccinating the young calves before they go to the pasture with their mamas in the spring. In the pasture, they will have lots of grass and water and room to run all summer, but it is more difficult to treat one if they get sick. We coordinate with our veterinarian to plan the vaccinations they need and before we take them to the pasture, we gather them all and give them those vaccinations. Brier has been given the job of giving each calf a vaccination. Before she started working with our cattle, she learned how to properly give vaccinations. There are two main ways we give a vaccine: subcutaneous (under the skin) and intramuscular (in the muscle). For the most part, we give vaccinations under the skin of nearly all ages of cattle, it is extremely important that we all understand how to do that safely.

Brier has helped vaccinate cattle for many years now and she has also helped with other tasks. When they were dating, she helped freeze brand bulls and as they worked, Trent knelt down to reach the area on the bull’s shoulder.... he didn’t realize then that he would be getting on one knee eight years later to ask her to become Mrs. Blythe! They have been married for more than three years now and she is still helping us with cattle, and she is a full-time kindergarten teacher!

We have recently added a new Mrs. Blythe to the family—Cece has taken the BQA classes and has her certification and has started helping us on the ranch! It really is all about the cattle and making sure we are not only keeping them healthy, but also calm and content—because stressed cattle get sick. It is important that each of us working with cattle knows the best way to handle them and that helps us all!

Our veterinarian is a vital ranch team member

 This post is a collaboration with Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. on behalf of the Beef Checkoff. I received compensation, but all opinions are my own.

Sustainability is such a complex idea! Everyone around seems to be talking about sustainability. Ranchers and farmers are focused on being sustainable—and that means taking care of the land, cattle, and people, and it also means being profitable. Right now, on the ranch, our focus is taking care of the cattle. There are so many jobs that need to be accomplished, but the most important is to focus on animal care.

Most ranches in America are family owned and operated, so the animal care team is often the husband and wife who own the ranch, their kids and possibly their parents or siblings.  Another key member of the team is the local veterinarian. On our ranch, it is vital that the local veterinarian, Dr. Kathryn Miller, is familiar with our cowherd. She comes out to the ranch when we are vaccinating cattle, checking for pregnancy, or just needing a bit of advice on a cow’s health! But most importantly, Dr. Miller helps us plan our herd health program.

“What’s a herd health program?”

A herd health program is a very precise plan coordinated to keep our cattle feeling good and not sick! With Dr. Miller's help, we decide exactly what our cattle need at exactly what time of the year. This includes what dates to plan to be calving, when to vaccinate the calves and cows as well as what vaccines they need, and even when and how to wean the calves for the lowest amount of stress on them. Then we get the veterinarian scheduled on our calendar to have her help us assess them throughout the year.

Today, we are checking the cows for pregnancy and Dr. Miller brings her portable ultrasound machine—she can tell if the cow is pregnant, project when it will be born, look for twins and if we take extra time, she could tell the calf’s gender! We usually are just happy with knowing the cow is healthy and pregnant and the calf’s due date! When you have 285 heifers (those are young cows who are pregnant with their first calf) to check, we focus only on the cattle to get the job done quickly and efficiently!

 

The first job when we want to check the cows is to gather them up into a pen so we can walk them through an alleyway one at a time and catch each one so the veterinarian can use the ultrasound machine to check them each. Our cattle are calm and trust us, because we have always worked calmly with them, not raising our voices or waving our arms to scare them. They know that we are not to be afraid of, so they are safer to walk around and pose no danger to us or to each other. This is called “Low Stress Cattle Handling” and cattle ranchers actually can attend a training to learn about low stress tactics.

This year, we had great luck with our pregnancy exams, despite hot weather. Dr. Miller said we should be expecting 266 calves from these heifers starting in January! That means the rest of our team (a.k.a. the family) can start preparing for calving season when we will have hundreds of baby calves running around on the ranch! Looks like it will be a busy spring!

Supermarket beef is raised by farm families!

I have talked to people in grocery stores in Manhattan, Kansas and Manhattan, New York and they all have the same concerns--is supermarket beef safe and good for me? I actually love getting this question. I usually tell them that we own a ranch in the Tallgrass Prairie of Kansas. We are in the middle of cow-country with more grass than crops. We are focused on taking care of the environment, and frankly, the reason the grasslands still exist is because the ranchers figured out more than a century ago that this grass is highly nutritious for cattle and they fought to protect the native grassland.  Today, I work beside my husband and my kids to care for our cattle in good weather, and in bad weather. Every day we work to give our cattle and land the best care we can.  And...I love cattle!

What is upcycling?

This post is a collaboration with Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. on behalf of the Beef Checkoff. I received compensation, but all opinions are my own.

That big belly is not because she is pregnant,
but instead it is her 4-part stomach filling up with grass
and helping her make delicious Beef! Upcycling!

Recycling, upcycling, composting, using less and doing more.....those words and ideas are all part of the sustainability picture and the bigger picture of climate change. We all need to do our part and identify ways that we can really make a difference for the environment--and that means cows too! Cows have a really cool ability called "upcycling" and it has already been helping the environment! So what is "upcycling?"

Merriam-Webster dictionary site defines UPCYCLING as "to recycle (something) in such a way that the resulting product is of a higher value than the original item; to create an object of greater value from (a discarded object of lesser value)."

Grow what you love!

I love, love, LOVE fresh garden produce! But I really don't have time to grow a large garden. That confession is really difficult for me. You see, my grandma was a committed gardener. My mom is an excellent gardener and I'm pretty mediocre! The previous two generations relied on garden produce to feed their families, but I have a really good supermarket just a short drive away. (well, my grocery store is 30 miles away, but realistically, that is a half hour drive and that is no big deal!)

The Best Meat Seasoning Recipe...EVER!

Seriously, I NEVER exaggerate...well, mostly never...almost never, but THIS stuff is awesome! I have made it for years and given it for gifts.  After receiving a mason jar of this seasoning for a Christmas gift, my friends start dropping hints about July 15 that they are starting to run low on my seasoning.

How long does it take to make a steak?

 This post is a collaboration with Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. on behalf of the Beef Checkoff. I received compensation, but all opinions are my own.

How long does it take to make a steak? First question—are you Team Medium-Rare like me? If you are, then it takes about twelve minutes to make a delicious Porterhouse Steak! My favorite way is grilled over charcoal with a bit of woodsmoke, but frankly, even pan-fried in a cast iron skillet is okay with me.

Before that steak appears at the grocery store or restaurant, ranchers like me have already spent up to THREE YEARS of planning and hard work on your steak! Yes, seriously! For National Agriculture Day, March 23, 2021, let’s talk about how long it takes to make a steak!

Let’s start at the beginning. I am a Seedstock Rancher—which is kind of like the person who grows the seeds you buy to plant in your garden, except with cattle. My family and I use many tools to determine which are the best bulls to breed to our cows, that will help in producing the best breeding stock to sell to other ranchers. When I make a breeding decision, it affects the people who buy my cattle, as well as the calves that they raise, and finally the beef that they produce and send to the restaurants and stores!

My customers who buy breeding stock rely on me to sell them the best genetics available. DNA sampling is one of the coolest tools that I use to know the genetics for the bulls that I sell. From a sample of tail hair, the lab can extract DNA, and based on genetic markers we know if the bull’s progeny will have superior marbling characteristics or not! Of course, we want the best marbling so they will make delicious steak. There are other traits that we use to select superior cattle as well, but marbling is very important in determining quality steaks.

My customers use my seedstock (bulls and cows) that I sell to them, to raise cattle that make the beef we eat. A cow’s gestation is nine months, so after purchasing a bull from me, my customers will have calves about a year later, and then they are about 1 ½ to 2 years-old when they are slaughtered for beef.  So, when I say that it takes at least three years to make a steak—I am not exaggerating!

Are you looking for new beef recipes so that you are ready to break out the grill this summer? My favorite place for browsing recipes is BeefItsWhatsforDinner.com and you can find delicious ways to cook steak, roasts and ground beef! Grilling season is just around the corner and on National Agriculture Day, enjoy a steak knowing that a rancher just like me has been working to send you the best steak we can!

Are you Team Medium-Rare? Team Medium? Or maybe even Team Rare? How do you like your steak? You can trust that it is safe and nutritious, and that I have done all the work and planning to bring the best steak to your grill.

How do cows have their babies?

Often the first sign of a cow in labor is her raised tail. She will look for a place to be alone. The membranes may appear as a water "balloon" that will burst and you can then see the calf's front feet.

I usually don't get to see calves actually born. We have about 300 calves on our ranch each year, but when I see a cow in labor, I leave her alone to have her calf and I return in about 30 minutes to see a live calf. She will be licking it and teaching it to nurse. So when a heifer was in labor yesterday in the sunshine, I decided to get my camera and sit and watch. From the point of when the calf's feet are showing, to delivery, it should only be about 30 minutes.

A heifer should calve within 30 minutes of the feet being presented. I check to make sure the calf is presented correctly by how the feet look. If they're upside down, the calf is backward and we need to help her deliver.

Uh-oh. She sees me! Cattle like to be alone and protected when they calve. Soon she is too busy pushing to worry about me. I hid behind the feed bunk!

You can see the calf's nose now. The front feet should come first, with the nose and head next. He kind of looks like he is diving out!

Soon the head is pushed out with the calf's knees (or elbows?!). The membranes are still around the calf.

Very quickly the cow pushes the calf out. The shoulders can be a difficult part. But this time, the calf's shoulders slide right out.

The cow is really concentrating and I can sneak closer.

She has the calf pushed out to his rib cage, and he tries to breathe, but he can't yet because his rib cage is still compressed. His tongue is sticking out reaching for a breath!

As his rib cage is pushed out, he stretches out to take a breath. The mama cow is still focused on her contractions.

The hips can also be a point of difficulty. If the cow's pelvis is shaped wrong, or if the calf is very large, it may become "hiplocked." As the calf is born, it rotates slightly to free the hips.

Unfortunately as the calf rotates, this time his head becomes rotated and his body pushes it around. If he doesn't straighten out quickly, he may suffocate!

The heifer finishes pushing the calf out. She must now stand up soon and begin licking the calf to get him to breathe immediately.

Another successful delivery! Congratulations, it's a boy!

Cooking Prime Rib--tips from a rancher!

Who better to ask than a rancher how to cook the perfect prime rib? Many people are overwhelmed by a prime rib roast and it is a relatively expensive cut of meat. So you don't want to screw it up--but it is really pretty easy!

My "Boys of Fall"

I couldn't resist sharing this post from a number of years ago. My boys have now all graduated from our small town high school and the oldest has even graduated from college. But their time on the 8-man football field in our little town surrounded by community members cheering them on has grounded them and tied them to our little community.  So even though this was a few years ago, this post still gets me....The Boys of Fall!

Small town sports are like no other! Last week was our first football game of the year for our small town high school. I have three boys in high school and they all play football. My oldest boy is a junior and the other two are twins who are freshmen.

I have to admit, I am not a great football mom. I'm a big chicken! I can barely sit on the stands and watch my boys get tackled without yelling, "Get off him!" But I control myself and when they do get an especially rough hit and take an extra few seconds to get up, I make myself stay on the stands and not run to the field to ask, "Are you okay, honey?" I've been told that is not helpful.

Italian Wedding Soup - with a beefy twist!

The following is a guest blog post by my friend Leslie Williams--an amazing cook who is a very gracious host! I think you will enjoy her meatball soup recipe. I also believe that I will try this recipe in my electric pressure cooker during Christmas break while I have a houseful of kids home to feed! Thanks for sharing this recipe with it's "BEEF-y tweaks," Leslie!!

“No soup for you!”  The Soup Nazi, Seinfeld

I was scrolling through Facebook a couple of weeks ago and came across this recipe for an easy and quick Italian Wedding Soup from Jenny Rosenstrach in her blog, Dinner: A Love Story.   I work from home so soup is a great option to have on hand for a quick and filling lunch.  Here is Jenny’s soup with my own tweaks and tips.  Enjoy!

I’m married to the BEEFMAN (@REAL_BEEFMAN) so it’s unlikely I’ll ever make this with ground turkey but to each his/her own.  I used mild Italian pork sausage the first time I made it and it was delicious but a little salty so be sure to taste before you add the salt in the “soup” portion of the ingredient list. 

Today, I made it with ground BEEF and used BEEF broth instead of chicken broth.

Do ranchers care about animal welfare?

Guest post by Paige Pratt, a friend of mine from my hometown and lifetime family rancher in Kansas. I recently saw Paige and she said she had attended a meeting that Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the US was one of the main speakers! Mr. Pacelle is often considered an enemy of animal agriculture and many people are afraid to confront him in person...but not Paige! She even asked a question during the Q&A and clearly showed him that as a farmer and rancher, she is involved in animal welfare every single day.  Below are her thoughts from the meeting...

Paige Pratt, a lifelong farmer and her son take a break
from feeding cattle to pose for the camera.

Earlier this week I went to the Bob Dole Institute for Politics and attended a session entitled Animal Welfare in America.  The speakers were Wayne Pacelle, President of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Nancy Perry, Senior VP of Government Relations, ASPCA.  The topics of the evening ranged from puppy mills to horse slaughter to food animal production.

Being a farmer and rancher, I was very intrigued by the discussion regarding food animal production, especially when Mr. Pacelle indicated one of their top priorities is to shut down all intensive confinement operations.

Happy Birthday Hamburger! #Recipe post! #giveaway

On July 28, 1900, Louis Lassen served a hamburg steak between two slices of bread--and voila! The Hamburger was born! So, today in celebration of Louis and the first hamburger, let me share a recipe or two, and a link or three and just see if you can't get excited about hamburgers!

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!!

Aftermath of the Wildfires

Wildfires recently devastated the area around a town in Kansas called Medicine Lodge. My friend Sandra Levering lives there and is involved in the recovery efforts with her family. Now that pressing needs have been met and farmers and ranchers have been able to assess the full situation, Sandra has had time to record a few of her thoughts. Below is her heart wrenching, yet hopeful guest blog post.



As I listen to the wind blow relentlessly outside tonight, my thoughts and prayers go out to those fighting another grass fire in our area and to those that have been undoubtedly affected once again by nature’s wrath. Almost 2 weeks ago, lives and perspectives were forever changed by the Anderson Creek Wildfire that consumed grass, trees, fences, livestock, but stopped short of the human spirit because those of us in agriculture take care of each other and find a way to get up and go again and renew our spirit by taking care of our fellow man in times of need. Countless tragedies, whether local or national, unite the agriculture community and we pay it forward in helping others in need. This experience was no exception.

Calving season is here--you are not going to believe what else is in my pasture!

Take a look at this pictures...what is the first thing you notice? As a rancher, I notice the cow on the left has just moments ago had a calf and is trailing the afterbirth and licking her brand new, slimy baby calf.

What is the next thing you see? Look up at the top right corner and notice the bald eagle soaring above the cows. Wait, did I say a BALD EAGLE is in my calving pasture?! YES I did!!

Children's Books Starring Agriculture!

Book Review: "It's All About That Beef!" 

by Rianna and Sheridan Chaney   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of my favorite ways to connect with people who want to learn about agriculture is to volunteer to read in grade school classrooms.  Kids love having new people read to them and then once the book is done, they have tons of questions for me.

In addition, the teachers enjoy not having to be "in charge" all the time and a few minutes off in their day can make all the difference! So I have compiled a pretty good list of books about agriculture, specifically raising cattle.

These books by the Chaney Twins are some of my favorites! Now they have a new book--the 7th in a series. If you haven't seen these books, let me introduce you and give you a quick review...