A Marriage That Works

By Loretta Sorensen
Progressive Farmer Contributor

By Loretta Sorensen

Progressive Farmer Contributor

In many parts of California, high-priced crops and even higher-priced land have left traditional ranchers with little room to roam. The Stone family has faced the challenge with innovative practices that are a boon to both its cattle herd and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres used as part of its grazing program.

This operation, known as Yolo Land and Cattle Co., is just 45 miles west of Sacramento. Developed by Henry (Hank) Stone, Yolo is a family operation. Hank works alongside his two sons every day -- Scott manages the cattle side of the business, and Casey oversees crops.

It's a big job. The main ranch's 7,500-acre headquarters sits in the Sacramento Valley, near the San Francisco Bay area. The operation consists of approximately 13,000 acres of deeded and leased grazing land, and irrigated pasture in Yolo and Solano counties. The family's 800 Black Angus cow/calf pairs winter in the valley from October to May or June. They return to nearby oak-studded mountain ranges for the summer.

Helping preserve the Stone's multigenerational ranch has been the establishment of the largest Yolo County conservation easement held by the California Rangeland Trust. Its goal is to protect the ranch from urban sprawl that stems from both Sacramento and San Francisco.

PRACTICES LAUDED

Over the years, Hank, Scott and Casey have worked with their local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), participating in programs such as the Conservation Stewardship Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and the CRP. The men's efforts have netted many benefits and a great deal of recognition, including being named winner of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP) in 2007.

More important than recognition, all of the Stones' work in conservation has yielded a benefit no amount of money can cover: It's helped them weather California's current drought cycle.

"It's not easy to find pastureland here," Scott said. "Irrigated acres are used for crop or orchard production because returns are so high. There's no irrigation in the rangelands in our area, and much of the land here is highly erodible, making it eligible for the CRP."

Eligibility for the program has often meant the land wasn't open for grazing, putting even more of a squeeze on the cattle operation. Plus, something Scott determined years ago was that CRP didn't necessarily mean the land was good wildlife habitat.

GRAZING BOOST

Scott noticed some longtime CRP acres on a neighboring ranch looked like they were in bad condition. Old thatch had built up, suppressing new growth and making it difficult for birds and wildlife to find habitat there.

"Occasionally, I saw some deer there, but no birds," he said. "Because I had seen the benefits of grazing grassland, I decided to contact California CRP officials and inquire about the possibility of grazing those acres."

That was around 2001, and Scott was just one of numerous ranchers across the United States seeking grazing resources. Ranchers in drought areas helped drive a change in CRP guidelines that would allow grazing, at least in emergency situations such as drought.

"It took about a year, but California officials gave me permission to graze the CRP acres for 120 days, once every three years on two different ranches here," Scott said. "The deal was that CRP officials deducted a percentage of the CRP payment to the rancher, and I paid the rancher for grazing the acres."

The three-year restriction frustrated Scott. He needed to find a way to bring cattle to those CRP acres every winter. His solution was to take the total CRP acreage on each ranch and divide it into three grazing units, so cattle could graze one unit each year.

CREATIVE ROTATION

"We went a little further and split the 120 days into two 60-day grazing periods," Scott explained. "That way I can bring cattle to that CRP ground in October, when we bring them home from the mountain pastures."

The cattle knock down the old thatch and trample grass into the ground, stimulating soil biology. When they come back to that pasture toward the end of the grazing season, they'll finish cleaning up the old thatch, and they'll stomp seed into the ground. This encourages new growth, while the grassland rests and recovers during the next couple of years.

The cattle will graze till about December and then move to grassland not enrolled in the CRP. They will stay there until February and then rotate back onto CRP, where they'll stay until the end of March.

"We have to be off the CRP acres by the end of March because, by then, birds start nesting," Scott said. "With this strategy, we're able to stock one cow per 3 acres. A more common average around here is one cow per 10 acres of grassland in a six-month period. In the past, we split cattle into small bunches. Now, we run them in herds of 150 pairs."

In order to make his grazing strategy work, Scott had to organize a fencing plan and establish water resources. Paddocks divided by mobile electric fences average between 150 and 200 acres. Movement of cattle depends on observation of the quantity of forage left and the availability of water in each paddock.

Water is sourced from strategically located earthen ponds fed by heavy summer rainfall. In a normal year, Scott would expect to receive between 18 and 22 inches of rain. In 2014, barely 11 inches of rain came in half-inch or quarter-inch rain events.

"There were no big winter storms to put water in the reservoirs or replenish the natural springs here," he said. "It hasn't been this dry here for 30 or 40 years. Since November and December 2014, we've received about 16 inches of rain, so our bigger reservoirs have water that will carry us through for a couple of years."

CONSTRUCTIVE CHANGES

While he didn't document specific results demonstrating the positive benefits of grazing impact on the CRP acres he's using, Scott has observed development of more desirable grazing plants and increased wildlife activity on the grazed CRP land.

California oatgrass, annual brome, fescue and ryegrass are typical plants found on Scott's grazing land and much of California's CRP acres.

NRCS Yolo County range-management specialist Nick Gallagher says many of California's native grasses were outcompeted by invaders in years past.

"In California, we see primarily annual grasses and forbs, and in CRP, it tends to become overgrown, which promotes growth of invasive species," Gallagher said. "The big benefit in grazing CRP is that it cleans up the old thatch, which prevents new growth. It also opens the canopy, which better stimulates new plant growth [and] soil biology, and creates a suitable environment for wildlife."

Because grazing leaves CRP land covered and doesn't expose marginal soils to wind or rain erosion, Gallagher believes it's a viable way to help maintain the quality of CRP land.

"The grazed CRP I've observed seems to respond to the disturbance quite well," Gallagher said. "Grazing this type of land more often may create too much disturbance and expose the land to erosion. It seems grazing it every third year stimulates plant growth and doesn't have a negative impact on the soil condition."

LIMITED ACREAGE

Alan Forkey, California NRCS program manager, said California has a small number of CRP acres in contrast to many other U.S. states.

"California had only a little over 80,000 enrolled CRP acres in 2014," Forkey said. "We have observed that undisturbed CRP acres are susceptible to invasive plant species. Grazing has been shown as an effective way to help manage less desirable species, such as medusahead, goatgrass and yellow starthistle."

Scott expects to continue utilizing available CRP acres, since the growth of crop production continues to advance in his area.

"We're seeing development of almond and walnut tree farms here," Scott said. "Recently, a neighboring ranch took 962 acres, drilled two wells on it and planted it all to almonds. I see the profit allure with a return of $1,500 to $2,000 per acre. And almond trees are easier to manage than cattle. They don't run through fences and get out and get hit by cars. But we're committed to maintaining our ranch, and grazing CRP on some of these ranches has been a lifesaver for us in the recent drought years."

(BAS)

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