Cattle Grazing as a Habitat Managment Tool

In some cases cattle grazing can be controversial – not on our ranch.

We believe that cattle grazing is a necessary component of good land management, especially when managing for native species. Native habitat  did not include thick stands of imported European annual grass. Native grasses tended to be perennial bunch grass with space in between the clumps. Space which accommodated the critters and also various other plants which the native species fed upon.

On a recent hike, I took two photographs of areas that were grazed and on the same hillside only about 200 yards apart (not on our property). They were in the same field and the same grazing practice was taking place at each photo site. The difference is dramatic. In both cases, the habitat was not ideal.

In the first photo, the grass was thick and matted down.

At this location the cattle had completely ignored the grass. This thick stand was not useful for anything.

I had a hard time understanding how the grass could be so completely ignored. At the second site, the opposite was true.

This second photo is tough to fully appreciate, but the grass is nearly gone and the result is star thistle taking root.

At this overgrazed site, the grass had been nearly completely grazed and non-native star thistle, an invasive and undesirable plant is moving in. Why did the cattle prefer this site to the other? I don’t know. Part of it may have been access, as the second site was very close to a road, which made it easy to reach.

These photos demonstrate why it is difficult to manage grassland with cattle grazing – it’s a dynamic situation.

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Unfounded Fears, New ATV

For about a week Rob and I had been discussing the ranch. Out of reach during the week’s storms, we could only wait for a break in the weather and a couple days of drying before heading out to determine damage.

In the meantime, we decided it was time to purchase a new ranch vehicle. Having lost one of our ATV’s to engine failure and needing a two seater, it was decision time.

After years of debate, we concluded it was time to purchase a Yamaha Rhino. We looked at other side by sides, but the Rhino won the contest and after riding around for a day I’m convinced we made a good choice.

The Rhino had plenty of power, good breaks and compression for slowing on hills.

We barely had the Rhino out of the trailer when a group of jakes stopped by.

The break in the weather was welcome by all.

A creek crossing along the way, could have created a real issue, but wisely we loaded the Rhino back into the truck trailer before crossing. The water was deep and would have turned our vehicle from an ATV to an AWV and sunk.

That was the biggest obstacle. We checked ponds and roads for a couple hours and were amazed that more damage had not occured.

The ponds we checked were full and looking good.

Our biggest fear was that the roaring water had wiped out one or more of our culverts or caused a big slide making the road impassible.

We were relieved to find the road in good shape.

Deer were out in good numbers.

About a dozen deer fed on the ridge.

We also found the skull of one more good buck that met up with a lion.

Rob found this skull in the canyon.

All in all it was a good day at the ranch. Hopefully we’re over the worst weather and we’ll have nothing but spring showers from here on out.

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Ranch Visit, Spring Maintainance

We’re considering doing some significant work on a key spring at the ranch. The project will include installing a new spring box and a couple of modern troughs. Of the two troughs currently in place, one doesn’t work at all and the other won’t last too much longer. This work will insure a longer life for the spring and help spread the grazing more evenly.

This trough is working, but we'd like to install a new concrete trough.

The project should qualify for matching funds under the Farm Program. We’ll know for sure once the plans have been finalized and approved. The spring currently has no spring box, just gravel and a pipe. The second trough will be installed down the hill a few hundred yards. There’s plenty of water to handle two troughs. We may install some type of wildlife drinker as well.

We came upon a sow and two juvenile pigs not far from the spring.

This sow and juvenile has been spotted before. They're living near the spring.

Here's where they were rooting when we came along.

Although many people call this damage, I’m not sure it amounts to much. Maybe it’s beneficial.

Here's a track from the biggest of the three pigs, the sow.

My guess is that the sow was pushing 200 pounds.

On the way home we saw buzzards cleaning something up. Another Ranch Road victim?

Looks like a calf, but I didn’t get out to get a better view.

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Thompson Falls, Montana – Timber, Ranching, Wildlife

This picture kind of says it all, timber, hay and wildlife - the basis of ranch life in Montana.

 Montana ranching is a mutiple use program. The hay fields are cleared areas that yielded lumber to build homes and outbuildings for the homesteaders. Clearing and leveling led to plowing and irrigating to produce cattle feed.

The improved habitat encouraged wildlife populations to expand.

And, the remaining forest provides a continuous supply of lumber when properly managed.

Our fishing guide, Jerry, holds the lumber lease on about 3,000 acres and harvested about 250,000 board feet of lumber last year, a one-man lumber company. Locally these types of logging operations are called jippo loggers.

Jerry uses this skidder to move and pile felled logs.

 Jerry also sells some cut lumber to local users – delivered on the ranch. Here’s a picture of his portable mill.

Jerry (left) with his portable mill.

Jerry and other locals support themselves with these local resourses.

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Ranch Ponds in March

 

Traveled to the ranch last weekend to take a break and look over the ponds we worked on last fall. http://hunterlandowner.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/pond-repair-at-the-ranch/

The pond repairs will produce water for cattle and wildlife. Stock ponds are also breeding habitat for endangered amphibians, the California red-legged frog and California tiger salamander. The winter rains were well spaced and appropriately timed for good results. We were quite lucky to have optimal conditions, conditions that allowed the bare ground to sprout the seeds we sowed. Here are a few photos showing that the ponds did well. 

This pond was deeply incised in the spillway area. We built up the dam and finished off the spillway with many loads of rock and other material.

The dam wall showed almost no erosion. Jute matting, straw and native seeds were spread over the bare dirt after we finished rebuilding the dam.

The gradual spillway was loaded with rock, bricks, boards and pipes driven into the ground for support.

Spring flowers were popping. Along with shooting stars, johnny jump ups and buttercups were showing.

California newts were the most visible amphibians.

It was a great spring day until about 4:00 PM when clouds appeared to the West and I decided to make my way home before the roads could get slippery.

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Pond Repair at the Ranch

The key to life at the ranch is water. It comes in somewhat limited supply and anything we can do to improve water sources improves the habiat not only for livestock, but  for wildlife as well.

With 18 ponds over the 2,000 acres, we do have good water supplies, but over the years the ponds have suffered from a lack of maintainance. This year we decided to bring them up to speed. Obtaining permits from the state was a challenge, but we did manage to obtain permits to work on seven ponds that were not on “blue line” streams. Blue line means streams that have some year-round water.

Here’s an example of the work.

With a D6 Catapillar bulldozer, dirt was scrapped from the adjacent hillside to create a source of fill. The large breach in this dam took several hours to fill. After filling it, we laid timbers and block to create a cascade effect in the spillway. We’ll be going back to rock in the remaining dirt portion. We seed the scarp with native grass seeds and cover the area with rice straw or jute matting. Rice straw contains few, if any, seeds from plants that can survive in the hills. Therefore we hope we’ve not introduced any unwanted new species.

We had a biologist on hand throughout the period and his job was to inform the bulldozer driver and other laborers (us) about any possible “take” of endangered species. He did a good job. Species of the most concern were the California tiger salmander and the California red-legged frog. This pond was very dry and there was not sign of any of the aforementioned critters.

As cousin Wes and I drove to pick up some blocks to use in the spillway, we came across this bobcat and I snapped a photo as it looked back at us.

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September ’09 Mayberry Update

It’s now been over two months since the arial spraying at Mayberry. Since that event, Rob has followed up by mowing, flooding and spraying the stuff that didn’t respond to our initial attempts.

Here are a few follow up photos.

Burmuda grass is a tough customer, but after a couple doses, this grass looks like it’s on it’s way out.

If not for chopping with the aspergrass chopper, this marsh wouldn’t show water. After flood up it won’t take long for the ducks to use this pond.

The fragmite population has been expanding, but our spraying has hit it hard. Different plants take longer to show results and we’ve been hitting this plant multiple times to make sure it dies.

The Farmall Tractor is too small for plowing, but it’s okay for spraying and mowing.

We brought in the neigbor’s big tractor to plow through the dead cattails and it did the job. It won’t be fun walking through the big clods, but it’s a necessary evil.

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More on the California Pheasant Crash

Ed Smith has a long history with pheasants and he is one of the most knowledgeable people in the country when it comes to producing pheasants. We spoke by phone today and he commented on the current pheasant decline.

According to Ed, the spring of 2008 was the driest on record and the record goes back to 1919. With no recordable rainfall after March 1, 2008 the lack of moisture assured that all pheasant nesting failed, unless aided by irrigation. 

At Little Dry Creek, Ed and the refuge staff managed several brood strips and they were productive, but brood strips are labor intensive and therefore cost prohibitive on public lands on a large scale.

Ed’s method of creating brood strips is very effective. He has worked with land managers in other states (Montana for one) as well with clear success. We have modified his program on our farm to fit our limitations.

In a nutshell, the brood strip is created by clearing annual grasses (disking, flooding or spraying herbicides) and then creating a method to irrigate the strip to promote insect life. The pheasants nest near the strips and the chicks live along the strip during the first critical months of their life cycle. During this time frame they are dependent upon insects for food and overhead cover from broad leaf plants to minimize predation by birds of prey.

For more detailed information about creating brood strips give Ed a call. He will be very happy to hear from you. His number is (530)868-1313.

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The Pheasant Crash

A comment on my post about the weekend hunting asked my opinion on why there are no pheasants in the Central Valley. The question is very appropriate and to say that the pheasant population has declined dramatically is an understatement.

Pheasants are survivors. They live in diverse habitats and under good conditions they thrive in California farm lands. However, they require habitat. At one time, corn and rice farms provided habitat for pheasants. As farming became more efficient, ground was occasionally set aside for wildlife and pheasants could nest successfully.

Farming is now so efficient that almost no ground is left unfarmed. Roundup ready corn can take direct application of herbicides that kill all other plants. No habitat exists between the corn stocks.

I don’t have as much experience with rice, but with rice and corn prices skyrocketing last spring, farmers stepped up their efforts to plant every square inch of land.  As hunter landowners, we take steps to promote habitat. Our fields are nearly 100% natural and we manage for maximum wildlife habitat. Therefore we should have large numbers of pheasants -right?

The answer is no we don’t. We are somewhat confused by the lack of pheasant production on our 300 acres, but at least we have enough pheasants to make hunting reasonably worthwhile.

Why don’t we have more pheasants? The weather in California can make things difficult for pheasant chicks to survive and survival of pheasant chicks is probably the most critical link in the life cycle of pheasants. Chicks need to be able to maneuver through the field in search of bugs. Bugs are critical nourishment for the birds during the first few months of their development.

Bugs only live in ground that has moisture. Once the ground drys up, the bugs go away and the chicks starve. However, cover is also important. If the chicks don’t have cover over their heads, they fall prey to avian predators – like the marsh hawk.

Therefore the critical link in springtime is to have habitat with moisture and leafy upland plants to hide the birds from predators. This annual grasses don’t do the job. If the annual grasses take over, that will also break the cycle and reduce the number of successful broods.

Therefore, management of pheasant habitat is critical to optimum success. Farming does contribute, primarily by disking or otherwise killing annual grasses and making a place for br0ad-leaf plants to grow. Farming also can irrigate areas to create insect life that is critical. Where farming may have once been a net positive for pheasants, it now almost a total negative.

The reduction in the number of pheasant hunters is also a problem. The loss of hunters reduces pressure on farmers and landowners to manage the ground with pheasant in mind. We’re losing on all fronts.

What can we do? I believe that hunters should own more ground and manage with hunting and wildlife in mind as a viable by product of good land management.

Education of landowners and people who like to see pheasants is very important.

The California Department of Fish and Game is aware of this issue and can be responsive if querried. Ed Smith, retired from Fish and Game is an expert on this subject. Since his retirement a few years ago, he has spent many days afield with landowners and pheasant hunters educating them about this isse. He is the source of much of my knowledge on this subject.

Ed’s approach is to clear a path to remove annual grasses. Then create a way to irrigate the path such as making a ditch line. Then water is run down the ditch on a weekly basis to provide moisture for chicks. Once the annual grasses are prevented from taking over, the warm spring weather will allow broad leaf plants to grow along the ditch providing cover for the pheasant chicks.

It’s not as simple as it sounds, but it does work. That’s why we still have some pheasants on our property. I’ll post Ed’s phone number once I locate it. When his process is managed carefully, it can produce a boat load of pheasants.

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Mayberry Farms in Summer – Cocklebur Battles

Arrived at Mayberry this morning about 9:30 AM. I was amazed at the amount of water on the ground on Sherman Island.

Rob is battling cockleburs and he needed me to cut off irrigation of one of our fields. He kills the cockleburs by chopping them and then flooding them up for a few days. The combination seems to work pretty well.

You can see that the cockleburs are taller than Lola.

 

We have good crops of swamp timothy, smart weed and water grass in our now-dry ponds so we don’t want to kill off the good stuff. Flooding can also kill the good stuff, but not if we put the water on and off quickly. Watergrass only improves with irrigation, but swamp timothy and smart weed can die off with too much irrigation.

One of our ponds has quite a bit of water in it from the cocklebur flood up and mallards are using it quite a bit. It has enough cover so you can’t see them except when they are landing or taking off. In the process of chopping, Rob got the tractor stuck. Looks like the pond bottom may be dry enough now so he can get it out and continue chopping.

Lola was with me and she got right to work looking for pheasants. I could tell she got a few whiffs and then she got very excited. I urged her on and then regretted it when she came back with a young pheasant. I was surprized at how small it was. Then Lola grabbed the bird when I took it from her and punctured my middle finger – blood everywhere. Oh well.

Hope a few of these morning doves stick around until September 1. Had a pretty good dove shoot last year.

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