The Best Stewards of the Land
Post by Clemson Montana Summer Program student Erin McDaniel
When you really think about everything that goes into management practices when working with cattle, only the simple everyday things come to mind. Things such as food and shelter right? No! There are hundreds of things that play into rangeland management, and the job of a cattle rancher never seems to end. Imagine this, everyday you open your eyes to endless fields of grass, ready to throw on your boots, and tackle the day no matter what the weather or how intense the workload is. Without a decent strategy and land management plan, year-to-year grazing would be impossible. What amazes me is the resilience and intuition these ranchers have when it comes to their beef cattle operations.
Jeff Hermanns, the area forester in the State of Montana, came and spoke to us on the impacts fire ecology has on the prairie landscape. Back East, fire is just another known management practice in the forests that actually improves the landscape. Here the same thing applies, but many people see fire as only a destructive force and don’t implement it as a very serious beneficial ecological force. With all the education we’ve received in the East about fire ecology, I wondered what was being done to educate the locals? What plan was set in place to prevent fire instead of simply suppress it? The only answer Mr. Hermanns could give me was, “There is no plan…”. Wow! As I write this, looking out over the beautiful landscape scarred by a fire that happened 30 years back and took $8 million plus dollars to control and consumed peoples' very lives, I wonder what it will take for them to see the need? Why do the government agencies worry so much about their jobs that they would rather leave fuel on the forests floors and assume, “if we just do nothing, then there’s no risk”? The land is their life, and to preserve their land, fire needs to be a management tool, not a fearful elemental force.
I pushed harder, wanting to understand the people he works so closely with throughout the State of Montana, Wyoming, and previously Alaska. Fire ecology on the land not only mimics historic wildfire, but also prevents future destruction and promotes the native vegetation. He spoke of innovation and education within the community. He also spoke of local groundbreaking conscious ranchers conversing and speaking to him on a friendly level and one of the first things he said to us was, “Ranchers are one of the best stewards of the land.” What a revelation that was. Working on the Frosty Creek Angus Ranch the next day, Terry and Lavonne Frost were the greatest examples of the rangeland management stewardships in all of Montana.
After wrestling cattle into the chute, pinning them for vaccinations and tagging, then turn them out into the pasture, we got to pick the Frosts' mind about their management methods. They explained the rotational grazing methods they use and how there are only two nutritional factors they care about year to year. After explaining their preference for fall calving vs. spring calving, Terry told us in an area such as this, filled with Ponderosa and Juniper pine trees, that abortions in the third trimester are too high if the cow calves in the spring due to ingestion of turpentine. His second concern with nutrition in his cattle is the fat accumulation in the cow when she feeds. If she spends so much energy on feeding her calf, she won’t do what she’s made to do and provide enough energy for her in beef production. Genetic input into the calves for future herds is the main focus at the Frosty Creek Angus Ranch, so surprisingly they also spoke about coal mining and fire on their property as a management tool that they also implement.
To properly manage rangeland, culling out the herds by way of feedlots and finishing the cattle is the way of the rancher. We visited the Weschenfelder Feedlot in Billings Montana and spoke to Jack McGuinness about what all goes into his job. He gave us a tour and showed us the ins and outs of the entire business he runs there. Later, his nutritionist explained to us the process of feeding each cow and how putting on weight to finish out and head to the butchers was their only goal in their industry. The health and nutrition of each cow came first, and the significance of the feedlot in a rangeland management system goes far beyond any of us ever thought of. People like to think they know better when they hear simple stories about how awfully animals are treated even when they’ve never set eyes on the operation. But here at the feedlot, I can see they are not only important in the steps taken from field to table, but they are also as efficient and nutrition driven as they can be.
Time and time again, the idea of “rangeland management” seems simply centered around grassy fields with lovely cows grazing in the distance. But the nutritional impacts, the rotation of the fields, genetics that go into the animal, fire on the land, the weather of each passing season, and the relationship between rancher and cattle year after year are just a few things that barely scrape the surface of all the elements that go into rangeland management here in the grassy plains of Montana.
After wrestling cattle into the chute, pinning them for vaccinations and tagging, then turn them out into the pasture, we got to pick the Frosts' mind about their management methods. They explained the rotational grazing methods they use and how there are only two nutritional factors they care about year to year. After explaining their preference for fall calving vs. spring calving, Terry told us in an area such as this, filled with Ponderosa and Juniper pine trees, that abortions in the third trimester are too high if the cow calves in the spring due to ingestion of turpentine. His second concern with nutrition in his cattle is the fat accumulation in the cow when she feeds. If she spends so much energy on feeding her calf, she won’t do what she’s made to do and provide enough energy for her in beef production. Genetic input into the calves for future herds is the main focus at the Frosty Creek Angus Ranch, so surprisingly they also spoke about coal mining and fire on their property as a management tool that they also implement.
Time and time again, the idea of “rangeland management” seems simply centered around grassy fields with lovely cows grazing in the distance. But the nutritional impacts, the rotation of the fields, genetics that go into the animal, fire on the land, the weather of each passing season, and the relationship between rancher and cattle year after year are just a few things that barely scrape the surface of all the elements that go into rangeland management here in the grassy plains of Montana.
