The Newsletter for the Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management

Center Staff:

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

With the Texas drought on everyone's mind this summer, the Center's workshop in Laredo was right on target for the many who attended. Management of Grazinglands was the emphasis of the second in a series of five binational workshops to be held focusing on the South Texas and Northern Mexico region known as the Tamaulipan Biotic Province. The workshop was held at Texas A&M International University in Laredo June 25-26th. Drought was not the only issue discussed. Other topics, covered in English and Spanish, included pasture forage production, grazing strategies, range ecosystems, and integrated resource management. The second day included a tour of the Killam Ranch.

South Texas and Northern Mexico have been hit hard by the drought and many Texas and Mexican producers are looking for ways to survive. Two ranchers, Robert Fulbright, from Hebbronville, Texas and Rodolfo Hinojosa, from Nuevo Leon, Mexico gave practical advice on their drought strategies for survival. While droughts are normal in the south Texas/northern Mexico region, severe droughts present significant problems. Use of pricklypear for feed and water management were the main topics emphasized.

Wildlife has fast become a substantial part of ranching. Additional cash flow received from hunting is carrying more and more of the burden of ranch operations. Game can suffer from drought as much or more than the cow herd. Wayne Hanselka and Eduardo Gonzalez showed how to maintain a healthy herd even through these dry days.

Participants were treated to a tour of the Killam Ranch to see first hand the management techniques implemented there. The Killam's have long been a leader in the ranching industry and welcomed the group onto their ranch adjacent to TAMIU. Tour participants saw demonstrations of watersheds management, wildlife food plots, different pasture grass species, as well as their cattle operation. Robert Lyons from the Uvalde Research and Extension Center demonstrated the "Brush Busters" program to the crowd.

As with all of the workshops, the Center along with the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro and the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey have the objective to build a collaborative binational relationship, identify common problems and potential solutions in the region. The end result is to obtain funding for a project to improve the natural resource-based production systems in the area. The Center was pleased to have Reed Hertford from the Fontagro Fund, Sara Mazie from the USDA and Guillermo Fernandez de la Garza from the United States-Mexico Foundation for Science attend the workshop. Mr. Hertford addressed the group during a lunch break about the importance of cooperative research and extension between the two nations.

The next workshop is being planned for late January or early February, 1999, in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. The focus of the workshop will be marketing and environmental issues. As with the previous two workshops, presentations and proceedings will be in both English and Spanish. We would like to have a strong contingent from Texas attend the workshop. Check the Center web page and future newsletters for more information. The proceedings from the Laredo workshop will be available on the Center web site in about two weeks. Printed copies are currently available from the Center for $8.00. They are in Spanish and English and have excellent articles related to grazingland management in the binational region.

Former President George Bush was made to feel at "home on the range" when he visited the Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management's field lab located near the Texas A&M University campus. Bush, accompanied by his friend, rancher Lavoyger Durham of Falfurrias, toured with Dr. Bob Whitson, department head, Mr. Wayne Hamilton, director of the Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management, and Dr. Steve Whisenant, professor. He also stopped and chatted with 20 students in Dr. Whisenant's restoration ecology class. The former president was very interested in range management practices.

The former president was fascinated by Dr. Whisenant's class installing a spillway structure for a farm pond to prevent soil erosion and to effectively reduce the erosion energy from the spillway flow during flood periods. The students were placing pipes and gravel on the day of the former president's visit. Bush watched and asked many questions. He also shook hands with each of the students and chatted with them about their careers after graduation.

Bush said he expected most of the students to come from rural areas; he was surprised to learn most are from the cities, many from his hometown Houston. The students enjoyed the informality and the exchange. Bush showed a sincere interest in their activities and they were impressed by that interest in what they were doing, how they were doing it and why they were doing it

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Bush was also intrigued to learn prescribed burning is used in the management of grazinglands to maintain a balance between areas covered by tree vegetation and open grasslands, and asked how much land was burned at the field lab. When told, he joked they should not let it skip across the highway to his Presidential Library. Bush also was interested in wildlife habitat and the influence of management practices.

Durham told Whitson, Hamilton and Whisenant that Bush had asked about whether it is best to plant native species or introduced species of grasses. Hamilton told him there is a place for both. Native plants give better long term stability, whereas introduced grasses can give more immediate and greater production. Hamilton also told the president about the Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management. Its role is one of integrating the various departments and agencies within the A&M Agriculture Program to focus on grazinglands and ranch management.

Bush also asked how Dr. Whisenant had been able to establish grass plantings in areas that had been badly eroded with no topsoil left, only a hard clay pan. Whisenant deep-plowed and seeded areas at the lab. Rain washed soil in and over the seed, and the roughness of the area held a tremendous amount of water, allowing the seed to establish and grow well. This is not a commonly used method, but it gave good results in this case.

The lab consists of several hundred acres and is used by the department for field studies and classes. Additionally, several professors have ongoing projects such as watershed management and animal interaction with the environment. Students can study ecology, range management and wildlife within a natural setting. The area even contains deer, small game and birds common to post oak savannahs.

The Center was an organizing co-sponsor of the successful prescribed burning workshop in Kerrville, April 28-29. This workshop brought together virtually all of the entities within the state with interest in the use of prescribed fire for natural resources management. A major focus of the workshop was concern over liability for those who utilize prescribed fire on natural resources. An additional meeting is scheduled to continue working toward overcoming constraints to the safe and appropriate use of prescribed fire in Texas.

Look for future details, but mark your calendar NOW, for the second annual meeting of the Center's committees October 22-24, 1998. The meeting will be held on the Texas A&M University campus in conjunction with the Texas Tech football game. The Center will use guidance from the committees at the meeting to develop our agenda for 1999.

The Center has been on the road once again. We traveled to the TSCRA Convention and Trade Show in Dallas in April. We met many new people and let more people know what the Center is all about. Many of the people we met have used the Center since then.

Center Staff Wayne Hamilton - Director Michelle Lee - Assistant Director Travis Whitney - Intern Ray Molina - InternThanks to Monte Rouquette and Tom Kasari for helping out in Dallas at TSCRA. It was also gratifying to have several of the Center's Clientele Advisory, Faculty and Steering Committees in attendance at Laredo. This evidence of support for the Center's activities is appreciated.