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The Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch
By Russell A. Graves
“We’ll start a fire on both sides of this field and it will eventually burn together,” says Dale Rollins as we ride his side-by-side utility vehicle along the ranch’s interior roads and monitor the bustle of activity that’s around. Spread out around the 40-some-odd acre field, interns, researchers, and prescribed fire experts carefully coordinate their plan so that winter cured prairie grasses and diesel-fueled drip torch are brought together to create a conflagration that (albeit contradictory to conventional wisdom) will actually benefit this land and its inhabitants therein.
Rollins is articulate and animated as he talks. He’s a natural and relaxed speaker, a dedicated teacher and has often been called the Will Rogers of Wildlife Biologists. As such, he’s dedicated his entire professional career to understanding the idiosyncrasies of quail and the nuanced land management they require to thrive on harsh and often inhospitable rangeland environs.
When the technician inverts the torch and spurts out a stream of orange hot flame that can’t be fueled by more than a couple of tablespoons of diesel, the dried and dormant grass crackles and pops. Its stores of energy built from sunlight, rain, and photosynthesis turn to flame and heat in an instant.
Dirty white smoke drifts high and pushes lazily to the north as the fire advances at a safe and manageable pace across the field. I feel uneasy about the fire at first as it seems unnatural to start a blaze during the peak, late winter wildfire season and in country that’s been plagued with raging and out of control wildfires over the past decade.
Rollins and his crew; however, are studied and knowledgeable about fire science, and the flames behave exactly as his burn leader said it would during the safety briefing earlier in the day. A prefect mix of temperature, humidity, and wind speed make the fire behave predictably. When you can control the fire, it becomes a valuable tool for wildlife managers, and the team assembled to administer prescribed burns on the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch (RPQRR) this season wields their powers deftly.
To read more pick up a copy of the April 2018 issue. To subscribe call 940-872-5922.
One of my professors out at Texas Tech University always told us that we aren’t just raising cattle, we’re raising grass, because without grass there is no cattle business. The same applies to most livestock species and crops we seek to raise- without good land management, no good yield can grow.
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.
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.
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