Farm & Ranch
A change of PACE: Promoting Agriculture & Conservation Education
By staff Jessica Bartel
As rural kids, we like to run barefooted, make mud pies and play with bugs! The youngest of three, Lisa Bellows grew up in rural Saint Jo, Texas, doing just that. Bellows’ mother was a school teacher and her father farmed and ranched while also stock contracting rodeos. Her rural roots and child curiosity lead Bellows to her passion in life, nature.
“It’s just how I grew up,” that lead her to her occupation. “As a kid I always had a curiosity of nature. Dung beetles and earth worms fascinated me!” she said. Bellows has been a resident of Gainesville, Texas, for 31 years alongside her husband and son.
Bellows has been a professor in the Biology department at North Central Texas College for 21 years. Along with teaching General Biology, Zoology, Botany, and Environmental Science, she teaches one agriculture class a semester. Presently she teaches pasture management.
In an effort to promote agriculture and conservation education, Bellows devised a project known as the PACE which is an acronym for Promoting Agriculture and Conservation Education. The Pace is a project within the Josey Institute of Agroecological Studies at NCTC and is funded by the Dixon Water Foundation. A major focus of the Pace project is a field study located on property owned by Gainesville ISD and leased to NCTC. To read more pick up the May 2014 issue of North Texas Farm & Ranch.
By Barry Whitworth, DVM, MPH
With the prolonged drought, most pastures in Oklahoma end up in poor condition. With the lack of available forage, animals may go in search of alternative foods.
If oak trees are in the pastures, acorns may be a favorite meal for some livestock in the fall. This may result in oak poisoning.
Oak leaves, twigs, buds, and acorns may be toxic to some animals when consumed.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By: Tony Dean
There are a handful of grasses on North Texas grazing lands ranchers need to know, not because they are highly desirable, but rather because they are not of much value. I call them “decom” plants, which is am acronym for “Don’t Ever Count On Me.” Silver bluestem is a “decom” grass.
Silver bluestem is a perennial which grows in all areas of Texas. It can survive in almost all soil types, and in full sun conditions or in semi shade. It grows up to three feet tall and is easily recognized with the presence of the white fuzzy seed head. Also, one of the identifying characteristics of Silver bluestem is a bend in the stems at each node, causing the plants to take on a rounded shape as they mature.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By: Rayford Pullen
Fall is here which means winter is closing in on us and before we officially get into winter, we need to make sure our factories are either producing or will be producing in a few months.
We have been pregnancy testing our cows this fall and if they are not bred or nursing a calf, we are bidding them adios. With annual costs somewhere between $900.00 and $1,000.00 per cow, those cows not producing a live weaned calf are costing us quite a bit.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
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