act?
Why We Burn Our Pastures by Marlboro Man <http://thepioneerwoman.com/author/marlboroman/> on May 13, 2011 <https://pioneerwoman.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/grass1.jpg> *Post and photos by Marlboro Man. * Our ranch is located on the southern edge of the Flint Hills, a large strip of tallgrass prairie that begins in northern Oklahoma and runs north across Kansas. Its steeply rolling hills and rocky terrain kept most of this area ever from being farmed, making it the last large area of tallgrass prairie in the United States. While not suitable for farming, the tallgrass prairie (which consists mostly of Bluestem, Indian and Switch grasses) makes the Flint Hills excellent for grazing cattle. Over the years, many ranchers in the area have decided that the best use for these rich, nutritive grass is to use it to fatten cattle during the primary growing season of April to August. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to take yearling cattle (8- to 12-month-old calves that have been weaned from their mamas) and graze them on these pastures. During a normal year, a 500-600 pound yearling will gain about 250 to 300 pounds over the four-month grazing season–an average of 2 to 2.5 pounds per day. Prescribed burning in the spring is an important part of grass management. It’s been proven to release nutrients into the ground, which help revitalize the prairie. It’s also a proven method of brush and weed control. For any yearling operation in the Flint Hills, burning is an invaluable and important tool. <https://pioneerwoman.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/grass1.jpg> There are many advantages to burning pastures in the spring, not the least of which is that it cleans things up and makes everything look nice. I love the look of the prairie after it’s been burned. Another reason for burning the pastures is ridding them of unwanted brush and weeds. Two things in this area that can cause problems with ranchland are cedar trees and blackberry bushes. While we burn frequently enough that we’ve knocked back the cedar problem, blackberry bushes do rear their ugly heads every year. [image: REE_1763] <http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerwoman/5716395902/>Here’s an example of a blackberry bush that’s been burned. While the bush is still there, the leaves are gone and the plant’s growth has been stunted. While regular burning doesn’t eliminate all of the blackberry bushes, it does keep them from spreading to some degree. [image: REE_1795] <http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerwoman/5716394966/>But burning pastures in the spring does more than make things pretty. It also kills the ticks and parasitic worms that were hiding in the old grass. Fire is pretty much the only way to get rid of ticks on a widespread basis. [image: REE_1804] <http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerwoman/5716395418/>As you can see in this photo, the burned grass in the foreground looks lush, even, and clean while the unburned pasture in the distant background still has the brown tent of the old dead grass. [image: clumps] <http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerwoman/5716394610/>Another advantage to burning is illustrated here. In pastures like this one that haven’t been burned in awhile, it’s not uncommon for them to develop “bunches” of grass. As cattle graze the pastures, they’ll avoid areas where the old grass was thicker, and graze the areas where it is lighter. This, over time, causes an uneven grazing of the pasture, which results in these clumps. [image: stem] <http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerwoman/5715831269/>The old, dead grass in the bunched area has a hard stem that’s not only unpleasant for the cattle to eat, it also pokes them in the mouth if they try to eat the good green grass surrounding it. This discourages them from eating in the bunched area altogther, which creates a self-perpetuating cycle. Burning prevents these clumped areas from accumulating. Besides the aesthetic and pasture management aspect of burning there’s also a financial reason to burn when running yearlings. Cattle are bought and sold by the pound, and cattle grazed on burned grass will gain more weight overall than cattle grazed on unburned pasture. Usually, there will be a 50 to 75 pound difference in weight gain, which can translate to $60 to $80 per yearling. When I was young, my dad explained it to me this way: [image: REE_1728] <http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerwoman/5715830421/>This is what a steer eats in a pasture that’s been burned. The grass is packed with nutrients and protein. [image: REE_1740] <http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerwoman/5715830627/>This is what a steer eats in a pasture that hasn’t been burned. The dead grass mixed among the green grass is just a filler; there’s very little nutritive value. The steers who graze this grass will still do fine, but never as well as the other steers. I’ve always found this the clearest way of explaining the difference between burned and unburned pasture. ------------------------------ *From:* Dernon Ruton <[email protected]> *To:* "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; " [email protected]" <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" < [email protected]>; Robert D. Adams <[email protected]>; Valdis Gailitis < [email protected]>; "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; " [email protected]" <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" < [email protected]> *Sent:* Sunday, January 3, 2016 11:33 AM *Subject:* RE: Takeover of Federal building in OR a terrorist act? They've imprisoned a rancher and his son as *terrorists *per the draconian EPA, and are sending them *back *for more prison, for burning leaves. If the Republic survives, there will be poems and folk songs about this rancher and his son. And if there are lampposts, and memory, and recollections of m*ss*l*n* -- and justice -- then there will be other events memorialized, too. D R ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Jan 2016 18:09:17 +0000 From: [email protected] To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Takeover of Federal building in OR a terrorist act? Leftists are freaking that ranchers took over some national park building in Oregon. I don't know. I seem to remember Eric Holder was part of an armed takeover of an ROTC building on Columbia's campus. That's kind of a federal space, isn't it? And he became AG....I guess it's all good. <http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vk8wO9ns2g8/UM6-xZkVyjI/AAAAAAAAKRY/wSCDJIducZw/s1600/598574_10151161806480773_1780546364_n.jpg> __._,_.___ ------------------------------ Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Visit Your Group <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmOHNsM3ZmBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NTE4NTE2NzU-> [image: Yahoo! Groups] <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlb2I2bm5mBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQ1MTg1MTY3NQ--> • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • Unsubscribe <[email protected]?subject=Unsubscribe> • Terms of Use <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> __,_._,___ -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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