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Don’t judge a book by its cover

Ok, so this isn't normally the type of plant diversity we are shooting for…

 

The above photo has a bunch of weeds in it.  From the road, that's all you can see.  I'm sure there have been a number of folks driving past this field wondering what kind of poor managers we are to allow all those weeds to take over that field.  I would be thinking exactly the same thing normally.  But, I know something most of them don't.

 

 

Here we are a little closer to the weedy mess.  You may start to notice some flowers.  The purple ones are alfalfa.  They yellowish-reddish one is a blanket flower, a native wildflower.  Over towards the right, in the foreground, theres a tall, slender spear of grass that goes almost from top to bottom of the photo…that's the seed head of sideoats grama, a warm-season native grass.

 

 

Now we're up close and personal with this weed patch.  But things look a lot differently now.  Yes, we still see weeds.  But there's a lot more grass in there than previously thought.  And lots of alfalfa coming as well.

This field, and another nearby, we seeded back to grass and other plants this spring.  It had been farmed or cut for hay for quite some time, maybe 100 years.  It has always been marginal farm ground due to the heavy clay soil type.  Here's the mix of plants we sowed:

Big bluestem, alfalfa, green needlegrass, western wheatgrass, switchgrass, intermediate wheatgrass, sideoats grama, maximilian sunflower, blanket flower, hoary vervain, wild bergamot, golden alexanders, purple prairieclover, white prairieclover, and Illinios bundleflower.

It normally takes 3-5 years to get a stand of native grasses and forbs established, so it might look like a weedy mess for a while.  Spraying the weeds would kill all the wildflowers we planted, so that's not an option.  We did mow the field in June to trim the weeds back a bit, giving the new seedlings more sunlight and less competition, but you can't tell now.  These weeds are all annual weeds.  They establish easily, grow quickly, and their seed can survive a long time

But you know, the weeds aren't all bad either.  Jay Fuhrer, a district conservationist with NRCS in North Dakota, says that soil tries to heal itself, and it does that with living things – which weeds are, of course.  It's nature trying to cover itself up.  Those weeds are protecting the soil from sunlight, wind and water erosion, and softening the impact of falling rain (which can cause soil crusting, limiting the amount of precipitation that can soak into the soil). 

The weeds are also feeding the below-ground biology while the native perennial plants are getting established.  A teaspoon of productive soil has between 100 million and 1 billion bacteria.  Imagine two cows grazing on an acre of rangeland.  Believe it or not, there is the equivalent (by weight) of two more cows feeding off that acre – that is, the below-ground biology.  They need living and dying plant and animal tissue to live.  Without the weeds, the bacteria don't have much to eat.

In time, the species we seeded will take over and the weeds will diminish.  Until then, it will be the ugly caterpillar that nobody thinks much of.  We're expecting the beauty that unfolds over the next few years will be worth it though!

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A Walk Through The Hills

Don’t be fooled by the empty look of these hills, they are full of all sorts of life.

After a couple of days of cool temperatures and on and off rain showers, the sun came out this afternoon here at Rock Hills Ranch. I was reasonably caught up on my list of things to do, so I decided to call it a week and take a little walk out through the pasture. My little walk turned in to a jaunt of better than five miles.

As I circled the northwest part of the ranch, I crossed paths with a good number of the members of our grasslands ecosystem. Among them were numerous pheasants, a sharp tailed grouse, a badger, a thirteen line ground squirrel, several ducks, a couple of white-tailed deer, several mule deer, some rabbits, a red tailed hawk, a pair of redwing blackbirds, many western meadowlarks, a number of other songbirds that I was unable to identify, a horse, and a couple hundred cows. I also saw insects of every shape, size, and description and plant varieties without number. All of these organisms– together with the rocks, soil, water, and air– come together to make up the great grasslands ecosystem that we value so highly here on the ranch.

I had plenty of time to think things over while I was out on my walk, and I have three take-away thoughts in particular that I would like to share with you.

1.  When the Lord made these hills, He certainly made something very special. When you are sitting by yourself on a rock on top of the highest hill in the back pasture, looking out over miles upon miles of grasslands, it gives a unique perspective on the world and your place in it. These hills have lasted for centuries, sharing their beauty with anyone who would come and look. There is a reason that families live and work here for generations; they have found something special and they aren’t anxious to leave it. These grasslands are a great gift, and we should all take the time to enjoy them whenever we get the opportunity.

2.  While they look huge and empty from a distance, these hills are full of life when you are up in them.  I mentioned the many creatures that I saw on my walk partly to make a point. There are many different individuals that call the grasslands home, but they are all part of the same biosphere and are heavily dependent on one another. If any one of the many plant or animal populations are depleted, many others are adversely affected. The symbiotic relationships between them are often delicate, but when they all come together they make up the beautiful web that is our ecosystem.

3.  As stewards of this biome, it is our responsibility to work to protect and conserve this great gift. There are many ways small and large that we can do this, and all are important. Just this week we have worked on several projects here on the ranch to help keep our ecosystem healthy and thriving. Over the past few days I have installed bird ramps in several water tanks. These ramps help birds and other small animals to get a drink from cattle water tanks without falling in. Should they end up in the water, these ramps help them to escape unharmed. This helps protect many songbirds, and also helps maintain good quality water for other animals to drink. I have also made and set a number of dung beetle traps. We are in the process of trying to get a handle on what dung beetle species we have here on the ranch and what we can do to protect them (I hope to dedicate an entire post to this project next week). Luke has spent a number of days this week spraying invasive weeds to help preserve the habitat of native grasses and promote better grazing areas. Lyle and Luke also planted food plots this week. These will be used for pheasant hunting in the fall, but they are also an important source of food and shelter for countless bird species throughout the year.

 

I hope that I have been able to convey some of what I saw and thought about on my walk today. No matter how effectively I write, however, it could never hope to take the place of seeing and feeling these things for yourself. So the next time you get the chance, come on out to the grasslands. Appreciate the amazing place that they are. Witness the life that fills them. And do your part to insure the sustainable health of this wonderful ecosystem.

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It’s complicated…as it should be

I'm learning to appreciate diversity and complexity more.  Nature seems to favor these over simplicity and monotony.  It frustrates us as humans because we have a much harder time managing all that complexity.  Maybe we don't have to manage it.  Maybe we can just be part of it.  I listened to several speakers at the Grassfed Exchange in North Dakota a few weeks ago, and in a nutshell, what I learned was that it takes more skill to work with nature's complexity, but the skill is rewarded by healthier and thus more productive natural resources.  It fits with something I remember Dr. Tom Noffsinger (cattle handling expert) say in another venue about the need for humans to greatly improve our powers of observation if we are to be successful in relating to nature.  We like to compartmentalize different components of a system and max out each components production or value, sometimes at the cost of other components in the system.  The interactions between these components are very important for the overall health of the system.  Push things out of balance and there are consequences.  One example I can think of is chemical application on rangeland.   I think there is a place for it, please don't misunderstand.  But I cringe when I read a herbicide brochure describing anything that isn't grass or alfalfa as a weed, and worse yet, taking away from the "productivity" of a pasture.  Wrong answer.  Removing invasive noxious weeds, ok (although I'd rather use biological control methods).  But taking out everything that isn't grass?  That diversity is there for a reason, and it's rather conceited to think we understand all the implications of messing with that balance.  There is not a plant we have that I haven't seen a cow eat at some point (except leafy spurge).  The more I learn about plant interactions, below-ground biology, and cattle diets, the more repulsed I am by our (my) want for simplicity for management's sake. 

Set aside 20 minutes and check out this thought-provoking video.  Mike Rowe, host of the TV show Dirty Jobs, is a hero for those of us who work with our hands.  In this video, he speaks of his experience castrating sheep and how American culture has forgotten the importance of manual labor.  It's well worth your time to watch.  Trust me, there are much dumber ways to spend 20 minutes on the internet.  It is such a good video that it might warrant its own follow-up journal post some snowy day this winter.