TRI-COUNTY — If there were ever a room full of people who together could conjure up a late afternoon Far West Texas-style rainstorm by sheer willpower, it would be this room full of ranchers, land managers, grasslands conservationists, soil scientists, wildlife conservationists and Texas agencies here to help ease the struggle of this drought for Far West Texas folks.
The Alamito Foundation, headed by Garey Willbanks, put on a daylong workshop, “Far West Texas 101,” last Friday with the partnership of many local sponsors, bringing in a wide variety of speakers on the nuts and bolts of raising cattle, weather and soil data, vegetation zones, and agencies with resources for guidance. The refrain throughout the day — besides boots on the wooden floor from all the cattle people — was talk to your neighbors, ask what they have tried and what worked for them. Talk to each other. This is not an easy endeavor in the best of times, and heartbreaking in this drought.
Casey Wade, the president and CEO of Dixon Water Foundation, spoke to the humbling experience of coming out here to work toward the foundation’s goal of improving the watershed through sustainable grazing only to discover how brittle, fragile and unforgiving the land actually is, and just how hard mistakes land. Dixon is presently looking to relocate their herd to their other property further east, possibly end the cattle program out here entirely, or possibly only raise “stockers” (teenage cattle bound for slaughter, not long-term breeding stock) on the Marfa ranch. Wade stressed the importance of managing expectations of this land, which means grappling with the reality of the collision of a vision for the land and the unforgiving drought.
Workshop participants learned Texmesonet, a Texas weather service app and website, has added 108 new weather stations on ranches and conservation land in West Texas since 2016, collecting data crucial for ranchers and land managers yet available to anyone curious about our weather. Granted there are still some gaps they hope to fill with additional collection towers, however the interactive map allows for viewing a network of weather stations and rain gauges in real time.
Wayne Seipp, retired from the National Resources Conservation Service, followed with this simple statement, “Monitoring the weather, the lifeblood of ranching.” After a self-effacing disclaimer there were most likely others in the room that knew more than he did, he launched in to the ecological zones of the Trans-Pecos, how historical data helps fix what plants should be where your ranch lies, how to best figure the complex equation of acres to forage inventory, the rate of rest needed for specific acres, distance to water, and how difficult the terrain cattle need to cross to get your stocking rate. A 1,000-pound cow needs 26 pounds of food per day and 77 acres per animal is needed. The rancher takes all the best data they are able to gather from their specific land and then makes an educated guess, he said, and added, “Trans-Pecos ranching requires patience.” Seipp added, “Don’t fall in love with your cows and don’t name them,” which got a big laugh, then a voice in the audience piped up, “T-Bone,” to more laughter.
Bonnie Warnock, a rancher from a multi-generational local ranching family, and faculty member at Sul Ross University, went into detail from macro (cattle) to micro (dung beetles) and herbivores (jack rabbits, prairie dogs, etc.) in between. Her detailed analysis of the trial and error of a particular piece of land, the very helpful photographic data collected over many years, of what worked and what didn’t, is one of the ranchers’ best tools to determine if a particular section can support cattle.
Warnock urged ranchers to work with what beings are already on the land because it “breaks the system to work against Mother Nature.” Instead of working to eradicate other herbivores, figure out how much they will eat and add that to your stocking needs. A 1,000-pound cow eats 10,000 pounds of plants per year. Two-hundred-fifty prairie dogs also eat 10,000 pounds of plants per year. Add those smaller beings into your total needs so as not to be surprised when your calculations are off for available forage for your cattle.
Participants heard that land management is basically balancing energy flow. With the drought conditions there’s a push to go back to hybrid breeds that produce smaller cows. If a rancher has to add additional feed in terms of buying 26 pounds of hay per day per cow, it’s a magnificently fast way to go broke. Warnock looks for cattle that are able to adjust to the climate and terrain, including a wide gut, strong legs, flat back and now, smaller hybrids. She added that it’s impossible not to have relationships with your cattle. One of her cows gave her a calf every year and died at 19 years of age. “It’s an emotional business,” she said.
It became increasingly obvious with each presenter that ranching requires profound analytical skills and a magnificent heart and a brain for calculating the odds. Due to the difficulty of raising cattle without going broke, some ranchers are turning to game hunting leases on their property and managing habitats to enhance certain species. James Weaver from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, noted that, “Politics in ranch management, i.e., aoudad are hot topics to avoid.” Ranching out here is clearly an emotional endeavor, voiced again and again throughout the day.
Yet, the friendly, neighborly demeanor persisted, with only a tiny bit of interagency ribbing. Toward the end of the day, a panel of local landowners and land stewards stepped up to share the current state of affairs and their visions for the future of the land they care for. For Casey Wade of the Dixon Foundation, grass production will now be their focus as watershed protection via agricultural practices continues to be the focus of the foundation. However, they will switch from cattle to grass. Healthy soil means more ground cover, and more ground cover feeds the soil to encourage the plains ecosystems. They are looking at options, but they may liquidate everything and be grasslands range managers for the Mims property. Wade stressed the importance of having a framework in place before the catastrophe hits. For Wade, this involves a passion for the land and livestock plus hard decisions.
Rainer Judd — president of the Judd Foundation, in charge of the 32,000 acres of land under her stewardship — said during her father Donald Judd’s life, he had cattle. Now the land is under conservation management. Judd looks to continue the work to eradicate invasive species of plants and provide “breakfast, lunch and dinner for birds and everyone else” living on the land.
Chip Love, a “cattleman by birth,” said his vision is to “fight the drought, stay afloat, and keep it all together.” He’s “facing decisions” about his ranch “he never thought he’d have to make.”
Caitlin Murray, director of the Chinati Foundation, oversees 340 acres at the edge of town damaged by artillery vehicles and horses when it was the Army base D. A. Russell, and even more recently in what translated to years of neglect –– as the accepted best practice for land was to not monkey with it. As part of a 2017 master plan for the art, buildings and land, she said work has begun with partners to access the non-native species and take a more active approach to conserving all the parts of their plan for the integration of the art, architecture and land, with a nod to the “brain trust” in the room for continuing guidance.
Director of the Center for Big Bend Studies Bryon Schroeder brought to life the ancient people with no recorded history who lived out here 13,500 years ago. Through human and plant DNA from excavations of caves in the region, we know there were very large grazing animals on this landscape, including the Shasta ground sloth, and the inhabitants were hunting with boomerangs.
Garey Willbanks of the Alamito Foundation closed out the workshop encouraging all to think how we can engage differently so as not to push the land so hard. Willbanks brought this workshop to life as an opportunity to discuss and promote sustainable land management practices in the Far West Texas region and continue the mission of the foundation: “Nurturing something worth caring for.”
The heat of the late afternoon sun and bright blue, cloudless sky met participants after the workshop ended, and everyone went their separate ways. No rain that day.