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 Heather Welper
Husband and wife duo, Heather and Calvin Welper, are the Co-Owners and Operators or Two C Livestock, located in Valley View, Texas.
The pair’s operation has a show cattle focus where they raise and sell purebred heifers of all breeds and club calf Hereford steers.
When it comes to show cattle, the Welpers know a thing or two including how to prepare for the cold winter months and the Texas major show season run.
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 Hannah Claxton, Editor
As the sun rises each day, so do the dozens of mouths that Meghan McGovern is responsible for getting fed. Rather than the sounds of a rooster crowing, McGovern hears the bellows and bleats of a variety of exotic deer, the chortle of kangaroos, the grunts of water buffaloes, and the chirps of a lemur.
Nestled against the banks of the Red River, the Double M Ranch and Rescue, with its high game fences and deer sprinkling the landscape,s its in stark contrast to the surrounding ranches.
“Having deer is kind of like eating potato chips- you can never actually have just one,” said McGovern with a laugh.
McGovern has several herds to take care of- fallow deer, axis deer, water buffalo, goats, and bison. In smaller numbers, there’s also a few kangaroos, a lemur, a potbelly pig, a pair of zebras, a watusi, and a few horses.
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 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.
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