Stewards of the Land
T.E. Mitchell & Son, Inc. operating also as Tequesquite Ranch was established in 1896. Five generations later, the ranch has seen many changes. Great grandfather, grandfather and father conventionally grazed the 28 pastures with 750 animal units that comprise the current ranch. After the death of their parents, the current owners, Thomas, Terry and Lynda made the decision to initiate a Holistic Resource Management program in 1992.
The three owners and their spouses all attended an HRM workshop and made the decision to hire an HRM consultant, Ken Williams. With his assistance the management team created a long term ranch plan, set goals, and created a mission statement. The “biggest bang for our buck” was fencing and water development. At this time the ranch has approximately 46 pastures or paddocks and we have installed two 20,000 gallon storage tanks and approximately 40 miles of 3“ pipeline. We maintain a base stocking rate of 1,450 animal units but have ran as many as 3,000 animal units. We have partnered with our local NRCS office and Ute Creek SWCD to obtain EQUIP and CCRP funding. The ranch was granted a Conservation Security Program in 2005. 2 Miles of the Tequesquite Creek was fenced for the CCRP program. Grazing is excluded in this area and is a safe zone for wildlife. This is a pilot project; we plan to fence 11 additional miles of the creek and allow grazing during the dormant season. Our goal is to use hooves as a biological tool to renovate creek bank erosion.
In 1993 we initiated an intensive grazing plan. Every fall a dormant season grass inventory is taken by the crew which entails visiting every pasture and taking a minimum of three randomly picked inventories where we step off and visualize an area that if fenced would feed 1 cow for 1 day (approximately 3/4 a bale of hay ). These numbers are then put in a program which gives us animal days per acre for each pasture. With this information we create a dormant season grazing plan for each herd. We run approximately 3 herds of cows with a maximum count of 450 per herd. The growing season plan begins May 1, we plan our grazing to incorporate a cow/calf pair and the number of bulls in each herd and the main goal of the growing season plan is 110 days of rest for all pastures or paddocks. Both grazing plans incorporate a buffer for wildlife. Some areas of the ranch are only grazed during the dormant season such as the canyons and fenced riparian areas. The canyons rest in the growing season to accommodate the two main herds during the fall months before calving. Each cowboy maintains his records of grazing dates and at the end of the season turns these into management. All know that these are plans and not created in stone. After the initiation of intensive grazing management we have noticed an increase in the variety and quantity of grasses and forbs. We have significantly decreased the amount of bare ground and mature capping noted when we began. We have found that this management system allows us to manage for times of drought and times of plenty. During the last drought when neighbors were destocking, we managed to maintain our cow numbers. While this system is very management intensive it is also very productive.
The ranch has sprayed approximately 7,000 acres of mesquite in the last 5 years. Our intent is to start a 7 year controlled burn plan to further improve the condition of the land. We partnered with the Ute Creek Salt Cedar Project and sprayed approximately 1500 acres of salt cedar in our riparian area. Three years later the salt cedar was mechanically removed and stacked. In 2010, the project sprayed for resprouts. The result has been an increase of water available in our stream, an increase of grass and cover in the streambed and sinuosity in the streambed. Yearly maintenance of salt cedar control is required.
Our goals are to leave the next generation an improved landscape and the ability to vertically integrate a business they create. |
