Drought Recovery

By Clay Coppedge
Progressive Farmer Contributor

The west Texas rangelands can be a forbidding place for man and beast alike. It's rough. It's arid. And it's just four years removed from the hottest and driest year in state history -- a year that tested the resolve of many livestock producers.

It was in that unpleasantly historic year of 2011 that Sims Price joined his dad, Frank, as co-owner of the family ranch, called simply enough "Frank and Sims Price Ranch." That year, they were plagued by 100 days of 100 degree Fahrenheit-plus temperatures and more days than that without a drop of rain. Their land seemed to become little more than kindling for a series of devastating wildfires, from which parts of the ranch are still recovering today.

For the Prices, it isn't the hardships that tell their story, it's what they did with those hardships. After that trying year, the two turned the ranch around, receiving a series of awards for environmental stewardship, including the National Cattlemen's Beef Association's Environmental Stewardship Award Program award in 2014. Ask Frank Price about the recognition, and he will tell you how honored he and his family are to have received it; but he'll quickly add that awards don't pay the bills.

"We're not telling anyone this is the way it's supposed to be done," Frank said during a visit to his ranch last summer. "I think as ranchers, we have an obligation to take care of the land and make a profit. The way we do that may not be for everybody, but it works for us."

FLEXIBILITY THE KEY

The main message both Frank and Sims want to get across when asked about environmental stewardship in the operation is the importance of flexibility. It starts with the way they conduct rotational grazing on the ranch's 68,000 acres of rangeland, spread across four west Texas counties -- Coke, Glasscock, Nolan and Sterling. The Prices divide their ranch into 11 units, with a single herd on each unit for a prescribed number of days. Herd sizes can range from 50 to 200 mother cows per grazing unit. Don't ask for specifics, as Franks explains the calculations change with the conditions -- that's what makes it work.

Their one-herd, one-unit grazing plan was influenced by presentations from grazing gurus Stan Parson and Alan Savory. Frank has tried cell, or mob, grazing but soon gave it up.

"My constitution isn't strong enough to move cattle three times a day," he said. "We move them pasture to pasture in a rotation. We have grazing charts to keep up with it, but again, you have to be flexible. Flexibility is the key to making it work."

A HANDLE ON BRUSH

Balancing out herd and grazing areas can be a little easier when there's more forage. For the Prices, that meant putting a priority on brush control. Aside from being good for the land, Frank said it also turns out to be good business, because it helps create an environment where cattle can feed themselves on grass for 12 months a year -- no supplemental feeding normally required.

"With the exception of 2011 and 2012, we have not fed mature cows," Frank said. "It helps the bottom line tremendously when you take feed out of the equation."

In this part of the country, getting rid of brush generally means getting rid of a lot of mesquite, cedar (juniper) and pricklypear. Removing these populations does help provide more forage for the herd, but it also improves the land's ability to utilize moisture -- critical in a region with an average yearly rainfall of 18 inches.

Most of the initial brush-control work was done with the help of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), beginning in 1998. Since then, the Prices have found it beneficial and ultimately economical to go back with follow-up treatments, which have evolved over the years. Today, most of their chemical control involves individual treatment of mesquite with a foliar mix of Reclaim/Remedy; and pricklypear with Tordon and Surmount. All are applied at approved rates based on current conditions.

THE RIGHT MATCH

The grass that germinates and sprouts after brush is gone is utilized by cattle that, like the people who work them, need a certain toughness to survive an often extreme and unpredictable environment. For the Prices, that kind of cow is an F1 Tigerstripe (Hereford/Brahman cross). They add a Black Angus bull and end up with calves that are half Angus, one-quarter Hereford and one-quarter Brahman. He will put a Black Angus bull back on those females (he calls them black super baldies) to produce replacements for today's hot heifer market.

Frank said this sort of herd is well-suited to the rough country and conditions in which they have to survive. And most years, these cows do more than survive. They thrive.

The ranch boasts a 90% to 97% calving rate. Calves, born in February, average 700 to 725 pounds. The Prices let mama cows get their calves on the ground without a lot of interference and continue their low-stress approach during weaning.

"We use fenceline weaning because it's easier on the calves and the cows," Frank said. "We put the calves in one pasture and the cows in another right next to it. That way, they can find each other. They each know where the other one is, and they're fine. Within three days, those calves are half a mile out, grazing. It's neat how easy and effective that is."

The Prices work the cattle on horseback, the same way cattle have been worked on the ranch since its founding in 1876. The cattle have come to associate men on horseback with fresh forage. Rather than being rounded up, the cattle line up on their own at the gate, ready to be the first to sample the new grass.

"On horseback, you get to see the country up close," Frank added. "You get the feel of a pasture. You make a more informed decision when you see grazing conditions that way."

Along with the visual check, Frank tracks the operation with an Excel spreadsheet program designed specifically for the ranch. The most important spread sheet he follows is the one that outlines the grazing plan, including pasture sizes, condition, usable acres, grazing periods, rest periods, acres per animal unit, order of rotation, dates, etc.

"We literally could not function within our grazing program without this information. The more grazing units we work, the more important it becomes," he said.

That spreadsheet, and the smartphones and iPads, are all part of what he said, tongue in cheek, are "an absolutely essential waste of time."

"I could never keep track of all this without the charts," he added. "The program isn't written in concrete, though. Sometimes we have to go in and adjust, depending on conditions."

Once again, it comes down to flexibility, a trait both father and son believe is crucial to the operation.

"I can look at what dad and granddad did, and see how this is ever-evolving," Sims said. "Right now, we have a good solid program in place, but in 10 or 15 years, we might have to change some things, depending on market conditions or weather conditions. You have to be willing to adapt to the situation."

In other words, to survive and to thrive, you have to be flexible.

FOR MORE ABOUT EQUIP:

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is offered through the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

EQIP provides farmers, ranchers and landowners with technical and financial help in bringing conservation practices to an operation. The goal is to improve soil, water, plant, animal, air and other resources. There are payment limitations and contract limitations.

Applications for the program are available through a local NRCS office. For more information, visit www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/financial/eqip.

(BAS)

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