NRCS Meeting 5/20/25

Meeting Notes

Participants: 

• Joe Carter
• ShaMarie Tamminga, NRCS Eastland
• MicKayla Horton, NRCS Eastland
• Rafael Aldrich, NRCS Weatherford, Grazing Expert
• Matt Pruner, NRCS Weatherford, Wildlife Expert

1. Recommended cattle exclusion zone along the creek is about  60 feet on each side of the creek. This is calculated as 2.5 times the creek width. 
2. We have a lot of beneficial native species along the creek. It’s probably not necessary to reseed there. If we fence it off from grazing, the native species will thrive.
3. Beaver dam analogs (BDA’s) can help to slow erosion in the creek bed, but we’ll probably have to redo them from time to time after major rains
4. The Lower Place has sufficient remaining coastal bermuda grass to recover and serve as a hay field. We need to grub out the mesquites, poison the prickly pear and fertilize based on a soil test.
5. Electric fencing will not pose any particular challenges to deer movement. Bottom hot wire needs to be high enough for them to crawl under. 
6. Klein grass may cause problems for sheep if we use it for reseeding. We don’t currently have any Klein grass.
7. The north HomePlace pastures will benefit from reseeding with a mixture of native grasses and forbs. Process for reseeding is as follows
   1. Grub out mesquites
   2. Rake
   3. Distribute seed with a broadcaster. NRCS Eastland office and equipment rental places in Eastland have reseeding equipment available for rent.
8. Coastal bermuda grass is most nutritious in summer but nutrient value wanes in cool weather. Native grass varieties provide good nutritional content in cooler months.
9. Re: Establishing a new hay field in the Middle Poe Pasture (Middle 30 acres of Poe Place)
   • NRCS guidelines specify not reseeding native pastures with “improved” non-native varieties. They want to keep native pastures native. The Middle Poe hay field could take an improved grass variety since it was previously cultivated and doesn’t have significant native grass in it.
   • NRCS grazing specialist recommends either Wilman Lovegrass or W W B Dahl Bluestem
   • NRCS grazing specialist recommends a monoculture (single grass variety) rather than a native mix for the hay field so that all the grass matures at the same time for best haying yields
10. Some other regenerative ranching practitioners in Texas:
    1. Hilary Knight, Dixon Water Foundation, Decatur, TX
    2. Birdwell Clark Ranch, Henrietta, TX
11. NRCS gave us a well thought out grass measurement stick. It has marks on it for best forage heights to begin grazing and stop grazing for various types of forage. It also has guidelines for calculating carrying capacity based on available forage.
12. Action Item for Joe Carter:
    • Since we’ll need to keep our stocking rates low initially until our pastures improve, we may need to establish a wildlife management plan to retain our ag exemption. Joe will look into what that entails.
13. Next Steps: Rafael will return with a crew in a few weeks to create a map and inventory the existing plant cover. This exercise will help with our baseline assessment which we can use to measure progress moving forward.