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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.
By Krista Lucas Wynn
Each year, when the professional rodeo season wraps on Sept. 30, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and Women’s Professional Rodeo Association announce the Nutrena Horse of the Year, presented by the American Quarter Horse Association, in each event. This is a prestigious award, voted on by the members of the associations. To be named Horse of the Year by fellow competitors is a high honor only a few achieve.
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 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 Tony Dean
Snow on the Mountain is an annual forb that is part of our landscape almost every year.
It is adapted to most of Texas and grows north to Montana and Minnesota and south to Mexico.
Although is seems to be most adapted to clay soils, this plant can be found on a wide variety of soil and moisture conditions.
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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