The Newsletter for the Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management

Center Staff:

• Wayne Hamilton - Director
• Michelle Lee - Assistant Director
• Travis Whitney - Intern

The Center for Grazingland and Ranch Management began the new year with the first of five workshops planned to focus on the southern part of Texas and the northern part of Mexico known as the Tamaulipas Biotic Province. This region includes south Texas, and the states of Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The range resources in this area have long provided the underpinning for cattle ranching, development of hunting enterprises and most recently ecotourism.

The workshops will focus on livestock production systems and natural resources conservation in this semi-arid region. The first workshop centered upon beef cattle and was held in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, February 26-27, 1998. The topics discussed were beef production systems, matching genotypes with the production environment, beef cattle reproduction and management, range animal nutrition, animal health, ranch administration, and integrating whitetail deer management in the region. The participants also got "hands on" experience with the Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) computer program developed by the Agricultural Economics department at Texas A&M.

The Center provided experts to present topics from the Southern Texas viewpoint. The Mexican universities also provided speakers for each topic to give Mexico's point of view. After each topic, the floor was open for discussion among the participants. The Texas speakers were: Dr. Garry Adams, Professor, Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Bruce Carpenter, Livestock Specialist, Texas Agricultural Extension Service, Dr. Wayne Hanselka, Extension Program Leader for Rangeland Ecology and Management, Tony Hinojosa, Agricultural Extension Agent, Bexar County, Dr. James McGrann, Extension Economist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Dr. Jerry Stuth, Professor, Rangeland Ecology and Management Department, and Dr. J.W. Turner, Professor, Department of Animal Science.

During each presentation, simultaneous electronic translation from English to Spanish was provided and each participant received proceedings in both English and Spanish. After the presentations, all presenters, university and agency personnel, industry representatives and interested producers broke into "round table" discussion groups to discuss the future needs for the area and where they would like to see thediscussion groups to discuss the future needs for the area and where they would like to see the Universities focus their research. We were particularly pleased to have former Congressman Kika de la Garza attend the workshop along with Dr. Jose Amador, Resident Director of Research at the Texas A&M Weslaco Center. Mexico was well by represented Dr. Heriberto Roman Ponce, Director of Livestock for INIFAP, Ing. Ignacio de Jesus Lastra Marin, Director General de Ganaderia of the Department of Agriculture, Ing. Felipe Suarez, President of the Zebu Breeders Association and other dignitaries. The Center is representing the Texas A&M Agriculture Program in this project along with the Office of Special Projects of the Office of International Agricultural Programs headed by Dr. Manuel Piña.

The Center for Grazingland and Ranch Management along with the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro and the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey make up a consortium that is interested in providing this region with a means of sharing information on common problems. It was recognized that south Texas and northern Mexico have a unique opportunity to exchange information about this area from scientists and producers from both sides of the Rio Grande.

The purpose for the workshops is to develop a long-term project for sustainable livestock production systems and natural resources conservation in the binational region. A project proposal will be developed from the programs of all five workshops that feature identification of problems and opportunities, research needs and areas for institutional collaboration that will foster improved resource management and economic growth in the region. The second workshop will be held June 25-26 in Laredo, Texas. The topic will be grazinglands management and will again include speakers from both Texas and Mexico. Topics at the workshop will include adapted forages for the region, brush and weed management, range plants for wildlife management, economics of range improvements, the role of complimentary forages and pricklypear for emergency feeding, planned grazing systems, drought management, and others. There will be a tour of the Killam Ranch and demonstrations in the field. Be sure and watch our web page for complete details on the meeting and make plans to attend. The proceeding form the Ciudad Victoria meeting can also be found on our web page.

The Center for Grazingland and Ranch Management realized that there is a large population of small acreage ranchers in Texas. These ranchers have less than 300 acres and small herds but collectively they comprise about 75% of the cattle going to market. Most of these ranches are managed by part-time managers whose primary income comes from another industry or source. Since their management practices directly impact the market, the Center has invited two such producers to the Clientele Advisory Committee (CAC). These "small producers" will give the Center a resource of how to better assist these part-time ranchers to improve the overall industry.

The first new member is Mrs. Patricia Stults. She is a graduate of Texas A&M with a bachelors degree in Biomedical Science. After graduation, she shifted into the financial industry. For the past 15 years she has worked as a licensed investment securities representative in the banking industry. She is currently the Vice President and Senior Investment Securities Sales Representative for Overton Bank and Trust in Fort Worth. Mrs. Stults and her husband currently live in Lillian, Texas in northeast Johnson County. They have 145 acres, 35 cows and heifers and one bull.

Mr. M. J. Florence has also accepted our invitation to join the CAC. Mr. Florence is no newcomer to the A&M System. He is a retired herdsman for the pasture and forage research project at the Overton Experiment Station. He has a 35 head herd with one bull on 75 acres in Troup Texas. Mr. Florence boasts outstanding weaning weights of 750 lbs per calf that rank in the top 1% of all cattle in Texas. His intensive management skills will prove to benefit the CAC in helping these small ranchers.

The Center for Grazingland and Ranch Management has been very busy. We have been traveling to different conventions and meetings to promote the Centers activities. We attended The Role of Genetics in White-tailed Deer Management symposium on January 26-28th at Texas A&M University. It was sponsored by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences and the Texas Chapter, The Wildlife Society.

On February 13-15th, the Center traveled to Houston to attend the Texas Veterinary Medical Association annual convention. Over 800 veterinarians plus hospital staff and vet students were able to visit with the Center to learn how we can help them. Many veterinarians are called upon to answer all sorts of questions about ranch and wildlife management. Now we can help these veterinarians find answers or they can refer to the Center for the answer. The Center is planning to attend the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) Annual Convention in Dallas April 5-7. This will be the second time the Center has been to this meeting and we hope to inform even more people about the Center's activities and resources available to them

The Center will participate as an organizing co-sponsor of a workshop on prescribed burning to be held in Kerrville, April 28-29, 1998. The workshop will bring together people from within and outside of Texas who are involved with prescribed burning for natural resource management. Prescribed fire is a recognized tool for management of woodlands and grazinglands to develop wildlife habitats, reduce wildfire potential, control undesirable vegetation, and increase and improve forage quality. However, there are questions concerning the liability associated with the use of fire and the need for comprehensive training that must be addressed. The workshop will feature presentations that address issues critical to the use of fire and the experiences of people from other states that have dealt with liability, training and other questions. Attendance at the workshop will be by invitation and will include representatives from all agencies within the state that have interest in prescribed burning.

Progress has been made on developing a proposal for funding of the RangeNETT project involving the Center. RangeNETT will provide a way for Range Extension Specialists to interact with producer clientele through the use of digital photographs. Ranchers and County Agricultural Agents will be able to take photographs of a variety of problems to get specialists assessments of such things as 1) brush and weed encroachment and recommendations for treatment, 2) plant identification, 3) documentation of results of treatments, 4) assessments of grazing utilization and a host of other uses where photographs can provide the basis for diagnosis and recommendations. The photographs can be made with digital cameras or regular prints can be scanned and stored on disk. The Center will serve as the "hub", receiving the digitized photos from the field, storing the images and sending them to the appropriate specialist. The specialist will view the photos on their computer, write recommendations and return them to the Center for redistribution to the original source. We believe that the RangeNETT process will allow more access to range specialists by producers while reducing costs of technology transfer.