Master Plans [Work in Progress]

Plan # 1: Electric Fencing

Work in Progress
Objectives: Lay out a plan for electric perimeter and cross fences to support paddock grazing

At present, our acreage is divided into 3 large pastures as depicted in the following map:

{Label 3 major pastures on map}

These 3 pastures are too large to support any kind of effective rotational grazing plan much less a paddock-based grazing plan. Accordingly, we plan to install an extensive collection of permanent electric perimeter fences and electric cross fences. The white lines in the map below represent our preliminary plan for electric perimeter and cross fences. We expect to refine this fencing map in consultation with NRCS and Agrilife experts.

Plan # 2: Cattle Herd Development & Stocking Rates

Work in Progress
Objectives: Plan and schedule incremental acquisition of registered cattle and set target stocking rates 

Our preliminary plan for herd development is to purchase 5 registered South Poll heifers per year until we reach our projected carrying capacity of approximately 30 cow-calf pairs. We will retain all heifer calves until we've reached carrying capacity. We will artificially inseminate mature heifers until we have enough heifers to support a registered South Poll bull. 

Until we're at carrying capacity for the ranch, we will purchase stocker calves up to carrying capacity each Spring for sale each Fall.

As our pastures recover via our various regeneration practices, we will expand the herd beyond 30 cow-calf pairs as appropriate without risking over-grazing.

Plan # 3: Soil Regeneration

Work in Progress
Objectives: Develop a general approach to soil generation and create a specific plans for soil regeneration for each pasture on the ranch

We plan to work with NRCS and Agrilife experts to analyze the soil types and health of each pasture and develop a plan for regenerating the soil in each location using various soil regeneration practices.

Plan # 4: Pastures & Grasses Regeneration

Work in Progress

Objectives: Develop a general approach to regenerating our pastures and grasses. Create a specific grass regeneration plan for each pasture.

We plan to work with NRCS and Agrilife experts to create a grass regeneration plan for each unique soil type and pasture on the ranch. The plan will include target grasses and forbs for each location along with the prescribed methods for propagating them.

Although we are pre-disposed to using native grasses and forbs, we’ll acquiesce to the judgement of experts on the best grasses and forbs for achieving our objectives as follows:

• Optimize pasture carrying capacity
• Prevent erosion (e.g. use deep rooted grasses in erosion-prone areas
• Provide wildlife habitat for native species such as quail and horned toads, etc.
• Extend our grazing season with an optimal mix of warm and cool season grasses
• Use complementary nitrogen-fixing forbs to minimize fertilzer requirements
• Provide an optimal mix of grasses for grazing and hay production

Our predisposition is to use no-till methods for re-seeding and overseeding grasses and forbs, but again we’ll rely on expert judement regardihg the best propogation methods for each pasture.

Plan # 5: Water Sources & Water Distribution

Work in Progress

Create layouts and bills of material for each water distribution system. Identify additional water sources needed and develop approaches for developing those new water sources

Plan # 6: Erosion Control

Work in Progress

Develop general approaches to erosion control and specific approaches for each of our erosion problem areas including ravines, creek, pastures and bare slopes

Plan # 7: Wildlife Diversity

Work in Progress

Objectives: Develop a plan for conserving existing wildlife species, re-introducing native species and developing wildlife cover throughout our pastures

Plan # 8: Invasive Species Control

Work in Progress

Objectives: Develop plans for eliminating and control of invasive animal species including fire ants, feral pigs and coyotes

Plan # 9: Ranch Development & Operations Financing

Work in Progress

Objectives: Identify sources of funds and approaches to arranging financing

Our primary guideline for financing asset acquisitions and operations are as follows:

• Borrow money only for acquiring easily sellable assets.
• Use cashflow from ranch operations and other disposable income to pay for non-fungible assets and operating expenses.

For example, we’ll used borrowed funds for acquiring cattle but not for purchasing fence supplies.

Our financing plan will include budget projections for each of the projects outlined below.

Project Plans [Drafts for Discussion Purposes as of April, 2025]

Project # 1: Research Regenerative Ranching

After moving out to the ranch and realizing how badly it had deteriorated over the years, we knew we had to do something about it, but we didn’t know what. Thanks to YouTube videos and the generous content creators who publish there, we discovered regenerative agriculture. That topic seemed to have some solutions to the sad state of our ranch. At this point, we’ve watched 100’s of hours of video, read scores of articles and consumed a dozen books on the subject. With all the resources available on the internet, it’s a great time in history to try to learn a new subject in short order. We can’t imagine trying to get our heads around such a complex topic in the libraries of our youth.

At this point, we still need to do extensive research into the following topics:

• Grasses and forbs
• Greenhouse operations
• Vertical gardens
• Water distribution systems
• Soil regeneration methods (earthworms. bacteria, fungi, organic matter, chemical additives, fertilization, etc)
• Wildlife cover
• Invasive species eradication
• Etc.

There’s still much to learn, but we now feel like we know at least enough to get started. We’ll continue to allocate time for doing additional research in parallel as we execute our ranch regeneration projects. We’ve provided links to articles, books and videos on our Resources and References page. We’ll continue to update this list as our research continues.

Project # 2 – FarmStead Renovation

Our most urgent task when we moved to the ranch was renovating the old farm house. It’s hard to concentrate on other tasks when the roof is leaking, the appliances don’t work, the toilet won’t flush and the septic tank cover has collapsed.

Our grandparents built the ranch house in 1941 from recycled barn wood and native orange sandstone quarried on the ranch. When we moved in, it was much like they left it in the 1970’s along with 30 years of added wear and tear. We’ve now brought it up to modern living standards on all fronts. {Insert picture of the ranch house.}

SubProject 2.1: Farmstead Renovation Phase 1 – Essential Renovations

When we re-occupied the farmhouse, it was a basket case. A leaky roof, 1960’s shag carpeting, cheap paneling, worn-out appliances, 2 small closets to serve the whole house, unvented propane heaters, noisy window unit AC’s, drafty double hung Sears & Roebuck windows, collapsed septic tank and rotted bathroom floors were just a few of the problems we encountered. Since then, we’ve completed the following renovation projects:

• New mesquite hardwood flooring
• New doors and casement windows
• Gutted and started over with the bathroom with tile flooring, all new cabinets and fixtures
• Central HVAC using redundant mini-split units
• New vented propane heaters and fireplace insert to supplement central heat
• New hot water heater
• Replaced gutters
• Repaired roof leaks
• Replaced rotted siding
• Gutted and started over in the kitchen with tile flooring, new fixtures and new appliances
• All new lighting fixtures with smart switches
• Added new closets and storage cabinets
• Added electrical sub-panel
• Repaired septic system
• Relocated propane tank and propane lines further away from the house
• Painted exterior trim
• Exposed original interior wood walls
• Added closets and pantries
• Painted interior
• Relocated storage sheds so they don’t crowd the house
• Built a remote storage yard to get stored items away from the house
• Flower beds and computer-controlled flowerbed irrigation
• Trimmed 40 years of dead limbs out of yard trees
• Enclosed yard to keep livestock away from the house (except for planned grazing in the yard)
• Painted exterior house trim
• Painted all outbuildings to match each other
• Installed an antenna tower for fixed wireless internet connectivity

Warning: If your ranch regeneration project includes renovation of an old farmhouse, assume it’s going to cost 5 times more and take 5 times longer than you expect.

SubProject 2.2: Farmstead Renovation Phase 2 – Curtilage Landscaping

We think it’s important to run a first class operation and to look first class while we’re doing so. Accordingly, we want the landscaping in the ranch house curtilage (the fenced no-tresspassing area around the house) to reflect the quality of our pastures and our livestock.

The grounds around the ranch house haven’t been landscaped in the past. Until recently, livestock were able to graze freely around the house so there wasn’t much sense in landscaping. We’ve now fenced off a curtilage area around the house so we can control how and when livestock have access. We still plan to permit livestock grazing in the curtilage area. This will give our yard the benefits of regenerative grazing. We’ll design the landscaping so that we can temporarily fence off sensitive areas when livestock are present in the yard.

The fenced area around the house has about a 5 degree grade from the road in front of the house down to 2 ponds behind the house. This grade presents both challenges and opportunities. We need to berm and terrace the area to slow down and retain water running from the front of the property into the ponds. The grade change and the ponds provide a great opportunity for water features in the landscaping.

We have mass quantities of orange sandstone scattered around the ranch. This is the same stone that our grandfather used in constructing the ranch house. We plan to make use of this native stone for rock features in our landscaping plan.

After designing the terraforming and landscaping, we’ll complete the following tasks to implement the plan:

• Install terraces and berms to retain water and prevent erosion
• Install a computer-controlled irrigation system
• Install rock and water features
• Reseed grass and wildflowers
• Install beds and plantings
• Install ranch signage at entryways
• Install driveways and walkways
• Install front curtilage boundary
• Seed bluebonnets in the farmhouse yard to supplement existing wildflowers

SubProject 2.3: Farmstead Renovation Phase 3 – Farmhouse Additions

Now that we have our Essential Renovations largely completed in Phase 1, we’ll be taking a breather on home improvements for a while. We now have everything we need to live comfortably on the ranch. Once the pastures are in better shape and the cattle are generating some cashflow, we’ll think about some nice-to-have additions that will make ranchlife more enjoyable. These future additions include the following:

• A 3rd bedroom addition for a master suite. The 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom we have are adequate for the ranch manager and a couple of guests, but we’d like to have more room for large family gatherings. We plan to add this third bedroom on the southeast corner to take advantage of the beautiful view of the trees and ponds over there. {Insert picture of the ponds and pumphouse} We’re planning to include lots of windows on the south and east to take advantage of the morning light. The light should be great for lots of indoor plants in the master suite. We’ll also add a much needed 2nd bathroom in the master suite.
• Family room/Dining room addition. The house has a den of sorts that was added to the back of the original house in 1979. It is not rocked on the outside, so it doesn’t blend well with the rest of the house. We plan to tear down this addition and replace it with a new addition that better matches the rock exterior of the original structure. We’ll replace it with a combination family room/dining room. The existing dining room only accomdates 8 diners, so we hope to build a larger dining space for big gatherings and parties. We’ve found that a large, family room is essential for ranch livng.
• Since the nearest cinemas and music venues are 15 to 50 miles away, we do most of our movie watching and music listening in-house. A state-of-the-art audio/video setup in a family room is a good investment on a ranch. We also hope to host live music concerts for a small group of friends in our new family room/dining room, so it needs to be larger than average.
• Wine/Whiskey/Cigar/Music Instrument/Root Vegetable Cellar. Our grandfather built a rocked utility room behind the orginal house. It beautifully matches the rest of the house, so we want to preserve it. We think it will work well as a humidity and temperature controlled storage cellar for some of the finer things in life.

• Porches. We love ranch houses with wrap-around porches. The original ranch house had a large porch in the back where we spent many happy hours shelling peas and churning homemade ice cream with our grandparents. Unfortunately, that porch was torn down to make way for the den addition in 1979. We’ll correct this unfortunate modification by adding large screened porches on the north and south sides of the house.
• Outdoor kitchen. We’ll be adding a large screened outdoor kitchen to accomodate our penchant for barbecued meats. This kitchen will be the centerpiece for our outdoor entertainment.
• Enclosed garage. The property currently has a 3 stall carport added by our parents in the 70’s. We’ll be enclosing that structure and adding HVAC to provide a warmer/cooler place for vehicle repairs in the winter and summer.

Project # 3: Repair and Replace Perimeter Barbed Wire Fences

Our second most urgent task after getting the old ranch house inhabitable was to fix our perimeter fences. About half of our barbed wire fences were incapable of confining cattle when we moved out to the ranch. We tackled this challenge with some hired help while we were working on house renovations.

As of early 2025, that task is mostly complete. We’ve replaced 2.5 miles of fence and rebuilt our water gaps where a creek crosses the fence. Another .5 mile of fence is still serviceable but will have to be replaced within the next 5 years or so. That’s Phase 2 of our fencing project which can wait while we complete higher priority tasks.

{Insert pictures of old, new and serviceable old fence}}

Project # 4 Renovate Outbuildings

SubProject 4.1: Shop Renovation

Our father built the 40X48 metal-framed shop in the 1970’s. We upgraded the rudimentary electrical system and lighting, added propane heating, built a concrete slab over the dirt floor, added insulation and installed shelving. {Insert picture of the shop} Status: Complete as of April 2025

SubProject 4.2: Barn Renovation

Our grandfather built the wooden barn in the 1930’s to store hay and cattle feed. Our father added metal siding in the 1970’s. We’ve added electricity, lighting and additional shelving for storage. {insert picture of the barn} Status: Complete as of April 2025

SubProject 4.3: Relocate Portable Buildings

• Relocate portable buildings. Our parents had scattered a number of portable buildings around the ranch house for additional workspace and storage. They’re great to have but they were blocking the beautiful views of our post oaks and ponds from the house. We’ve moved them out of site lines. Status: 50% complete as of April 2025.

Project # 5: Repair Ranch Roads and Water Crossings

Our ranch roads are in a constant state of disrepair, primarily because they’ve never been set up with proper ditches, drainpipes and culverts. In the absence of ditches and drainage, the roads becomes rutted and eventually turn into watercourses. We will be installing ditches on both sides of all roads. Wherever water has a tendency to flow across a road, we will install culverts. Where appropriate, we will install culverts in ravines and creek crossings.

SubProject 5.1: Roads & Water Crossings Phase I

Phase I: We’ve improved our roads and water crossings by adding some ditches, road base and riprap. Status: Complete as of April, 2025

SubProject 5.2 : Roads and Water Crossings Phase II

In a future project we will add culverts to our water crossings, improve drainage where water crosses the ranch roads and haul in more road base where water pools on the roads.

{Insert photos of road and water gap washouts}}

Project # 6: Ranch Regeneration Planning

As of this writing in early 2025, we’ve completed the high priority projects necessary for basic survival on the ranch. We’re now stepping back to prepare a long term master plan for regenerating the ranch. We’ve prepared this first draft of our Ranch Regeneration Project Plan. We’re hoping to work with our local experts from NRCS, AgriLife, FSA and the Veterans’ Administration to prepare a comprehensive Master Plan. The Master Plan will finalize this Project Plan. In addition, we will prepare individual plans covering the following topics:

SubProject 6.1: Electric Fencing Plan

SubProject 6.2: Cattle Herd Development and Stocking Rate Plan

SubProject 6.3: Soil Regeneration Plan

SubProject 6.4: Pastures & Grasses Regeneration Plan

SubProject 6.5: Water Distribution & Water Sources Plan

SubProject 6.6: Erosion Control Plan

SubProject 6.7: Wildlife Diversity Plan

SubProject 6.8: Invasive Species Control Plan

SubProject 6.9: Financial Plan

Project # 7: Ranch Website & Social Media

In 2025, we will set up a ranch website and YouTube channel. The target audience for our website and social media presence are the following:

• Our stakeholders
  • The family members and operators who have ownership stakes in the ranch are in 5 different locations hundreds of miles apart. The internet is the best way to communicate and ensure that all the stakeholders are on the same page.
• Collaborators
  • Our website and social media presence will be an effective way keep the experts and consultants on our team apprised of our objectives and our progress toward those objectives.
• Other ranchers who are interested in Regenerative Ranching
  • The more people involved in Regenerative Ranching, the faster the knowledge base will grow. We’re glad to share our experiences and we hope that we’ll get constructive input on what we’re up to.
• Potential Buyers of Our Ranch Products
  • Once we build up our herd of registered South Poll cattle, we expect to have bulls and heifers for sale. We’ll use our website and social media to market our livestock. The website will also be useful if we decide to sell other ranch products directly to consumers.

Status: 70% complete as of April 2025

Project # 8: Document Ranch Regeneration Progress

Project # 8 is an ongoing effort of communicating our progress via our website and social media. To provide a baseline for measuring progress we will first document the current state of our soils, grasses, trees, pastures, erosion and wildlife. We plan to post regular updates as we complete projects and reach milestones.

SubProject 8.1: Document Baseline Conditions

Before launching our regenerative ranching efforts in earnest, we will start off by documenting the current baseline state of the ranch. This baseline will allow us to measure progress as our ranch regeneration plan progresses. To establish our baseline, we'll do assessments in the following areas:

• Soil testing for fertility, compaction, permeability, organics, biome, etc.
• Brush coverage versus grass
• Erosion in the creek and pastures
• Grass varieties, coverage, quality, etc.
• Water quality and quantity
• Livestock carrying capacity
• Etc.

We’ll record our baseline assessments on this website for future reference. The baseline conditions will be illustrated with test results, photos and drone videos.

SubProject 8.2: Monitor & Record Progress

As we proceed, we’ll post our progress (or lack thereof). We’ll record before and after visual records as we progress. If we undertake projects that might be of general interest to others involved in regenerative ranching, we’ll post documentary videos on our ranch YouTube channel.

Project # 9: Install Electric Fencing

Our regenerative ranching plan is highly dependent on electric fencing. Compared to barbed wire fencing, electric fencing is much more economical and flexible. This economy and flexibility will give us the ability to break our 300 acre ranch into small 3 to 5 acre paddocks. We’ll move the cattle between small paddocks every day.

We plan to install electric fencing in three phases

• Phase 1 – Electric Perimeter Fence
• Phase 2 – Electric Cross Fences and Creek Fences
• Phase 3 – Portable Electric Fencing for Paddocks

At present, it’s hard to access the perimeter fence with vehicles because of trees and brush in the way. Before we begin installing the electric perimeter fence, we have to clear an ATV path running parallel to the inside of the existing barbed wire fence. Once we can access the fence via the ATV path, we’ll need to clear all the brush and trees growing in the barbed wire fence line.

SubProject 9.1: Clear ATV Path Parallel to Perimeter Fence

At present, our fencelines are not driveable. Mesquites, briars, post oaks and brush have grown up in and around our perimeter fences. Before we can attach a new electric fence to our existing barbed wire fence, we first need to clear an ATV path adjacent to the perimeter fence. We then need to clear the trees and brush that has grown into the fence.

Status: 70% complete as of April 2025

SubProject 9.2: Clear Brush from Perimeter Fence

{Insert photo of fence line brush}

The perimeter barbed wire fence is overgrown with brush and trees in many places. Before we can attach our perimeter electric fence to the existing t-posts, we need to clear the trees and brush out of the fence so they don’t ground out the hot wires.

We plan to have the fence line cleared and the electric perimeter fence installed by end of 2025. In 2026, we’ll install permanent electric cross fences to divide our 3 large pastures into 18 smaller pastures of 15 to 20 acres each. In 2027, we’ll start using moveable electric polywire on reels to fence off temporary 3 to 5 acres paddocks within our permanent cross fences.

SubProject 9.3 – Install Permanent Electric Perimeter Fence

The perimeter electric fence wires will be attached to the existing barbed wire fence posts using plastic insulators as illustrated in the picture below:

Along county roads, the perimeter electric fence will be comprised of 3 high tensile hot wires. On property line fences that are not adjacent to roads, we’ll install 2 high tensile hot wires. The existing barbed wire and metal t-posts will act as a reliable grounding circuit for the perimeter electric fence.

SubProject 9.4 – Install Electric Creek Fence and Watering Points

The ranch has a large seasonal creek (The Long Branch Creek) that runs diagonally from the northwest corner of the HomePlace to southeast corner of the HomePlace. It then crosses the north end of the PoePlace. We plan to fence off the creek using electric fencing for the following reasons:

• Watergaps where fences cross the creek frequently wash out during heavy rains. Cattle from neighboring ranches come through the washed out fence sections and intermix with our herd. It’s a major headache to get the herds sorted and returned to their respective pastures. A better solution is to keep our cattle out of the creek entirely. If another rancher’s cattle travel up our creek, then it’s his problem to get them back on his place. They won’t be intermixed with our herd. This is a major consideration since we’re planning on raising registered livestock. We can’t have mongrel bulls intermixing with our registered cows.
• Overgrazing and cattle trails on the banks and bed of the creek are a major source of erosion. The erosion is exacerbated because the cattle like to hang out in the creekbed where the grass and water are abundant. We need to limit cattle access to the creek so that the grass can grow on the banks and stabilize them.
• Cattle manure and urine negatively impact water quality in the creek
• Cattle sometimes get stuck in mud or in the narrow cattle trails that cut into the creek banks.
• We’d like to preserve the creek bed for an unobstructed wildlife highway through the ranch

Until we get our water distribution systems fully in place and develop a few more wells and/or stock ponds, we will have to use a few watering points in the creek. We’ll fence these off upstream and downstream so cattle can’t travel beyond the watering points. Once the new water sources and water distribution systems are in place, we can eliminate the watering points in the creek and close it off completely from cattle access

SubProject 9.5: Install Permanent Electric Cross Fences

Once the electric perimeter fences are installed, we’ll build permanent interior cross fences comprised of 2 strands of high tensile electric wire – one hot wire and one ground wire. In our hot and dry Texas summers, a cow’s frame won’t always provide a sufficient grounding path to complete the electric circuit when the cow touches the hot wire. The ground wire on our cross fences will help to ensure that the cow “gets the message” when she touches the hotwire. These permanent electric cross fences will form interior pastures of 15 to 20 acres each.

SubProject 9.6 – Implement Portable Electric Fencing for Paddocks

Once permanent electric perimeter fencing and permanent electric cross fencing is in place and livestock is re-introduced, we’ll be using reels of temporary moveable electric poly-wire to create 3 to 5 acre temporary paddocks within the large 15 to 20 acre pastures.

We’ll use the electric poly-wire to break our 20 acre pastures down into 3 to 5 acre paddocks.

SubProject 9.7: Eliminate All Cattle Access to the Creek and Stock Ponds

Once we the water distribution systems and additional water sources are fully implemented, we will close off all watering points in the creek and eliminate all cattle access to our stock ponds. We will use electric fencing to close off these water sources. Doing so will improve water quality in the creek and ponds. It will eliminate erosion in these areas and prevent cattle from hanging out around the water. They need to be in our paddocks eating, not hanging out around the water.

Project # 10: Water Distribution Systems

A keystone of our ranch regeneration plan is paddock-based grazing. Our plan dictates that cattle will be fenced into small paddocks of 3 to 5 acres each and moved between paddocks daily. In order to fully realize this grazing strategy, we need to deliver water to every paddock anywhere on the ranch.

At present, the water resources on the ranch consist of the following: 

• 8 stock ponds (2 of the 8 are co-located double ponds, giving us a total of 6 stock pond watering locations)
• One 10 gpm water well
• Metered city water
• Seasonal water in a creek that runs diagonally across the ranch

In addition, we plan to add wells or ponds in 4 locations that are poorly served at present.

The intent of our water distribution projects is to deliver water from the water sources listed above into each and every paddock on the ranch.

We plan to install the water distribution systems in stages as follows:

SubProject # 10.1: North HomePlace Water Distribution System – 2026

SubProject # 10.2 – South HomePlace Water Distribution System – 2027

SubProject # 10.3 – LowerPlace Water Distribution System – 2028

SubProject # 10.4 – Poe Place Water Distribution System – 2029

SubProject # 10.5 – West HomePlace Water Distribution System – 2030

Most of pastures have easy access to stock ponds, but 2 locations do not. The only water source for our North Poe Place and SouthEast HomePlace pastures is the creek that runs diagonally across the ranch. Also, our west LowerPlace and NorthWest HomePlace pastures are a long slog back to the nearest stock pond.

We want to eventually fence off the creek to cattle access completely, but we have to leave a few watering points open in the creek until we get some alternate water sources installed. These alternate sources may be shallow water wells or new stock ponds. In building out our water distribution systems, we will give highest priority to the pastures that are reliant on the creek at present.

We plan to drill a shallow test wells for additional water sources beginning in 2026. A neighbor has a decent shallow well at 35 feet that’s adequate for supplying stock water. We hope to hit the same aquifer. If the test well is successful, we will proceed to drill additional wells. If not, we’ll develop plans for building new stock ponds.

As of now, our water well drilling schedule is as follows:

SubProject # 10.6: NorthWest HomePlace Water Well – 2026

SubProject # 10.7 – SouthEast HomePlace Water Well – 2027

SubProject # 10.8 – SouthWest LowerPlace Water Well – 2028

SubProject # 10.9 – Poe Place Water Well – 2029

{Insert photo of our large pond}

Project # 11: Develop Hay Fields

One of the regenerative ranching techniques we plan to use is bale grazing. This technique involves unrolling hay bales over eroded areas and poor soils. As the cattle eat the hay, they trample a portion of it into the soil. The hay decomposes and builds up the soil. Any residual seeds in the hay bales get trampled into the soil where it germinates and replenishes the grass. We plan to experiment with broadcasting grass and forb seed into the hay to see if we get a higher germination rate than other means of seeding.

We will need an ample supply of hay to implement our bale grazing strategy and to feed our livestock through the winters. Accordingly, we plan to develop 3 hay fields.

SubProject 11.1: Rejuvenate LowerPlace Coastal Field – 2026

{Insert photo of Lower Place pasture and map showing it’s location}

We will first tackle our LowerPlace coastal bermuda field in 2026. Although we’re not crazy about coastal bermuda grass, we already have this field, so we’ll go with it for the time being. It hasn’t been fertilized or maintained for years, so it needs some rejuvenation. We need to remove mesquites and fertilize it at minimum. Also, it contains several berms where trees were dozed in a previous fencing project. We need to level these berms and remove any remaining tree trunks in the dozer piles.

SubProject 11.2: Create Middle Poe Place Hay Field – 2026

Our second hay field development project will be in our Middle PoePlace pasture.

{Insert map showing location of Middle Poe and South Poe pastures and photos of Middle Poe and South Poe pastures}

This pasture is overgrown with mesquites at present. We will clear the mesquites, root plow the pasture and sow it with grass seed. 2026 is our target for this sub-project. We will need to rest the pasture for 2 years after planting, so it will not be available for baling or grazing until 2028 at the earliest.

SubProject 11.3: Seed South PoePlace Hay Field – 2028

Our third hay field will be in the South PoePlace pasture. This is a cultivated field that produces Sorghum Sudan and winter wheat at present. In 2028, we plan to plant it in permanent grass.

Once our 3 hay fields are productive, we’ll rotate hay baling between these 3 hay fields to avoid soil depletion from over-haying. Once we have consistent grass growth throughout the ranch, we’ll also bale other pastures in rotation to avoid stealing soil nutrients from the same locations year after year.

Project # 12: Bale Hay Fields

Our initial hay field baling schedule is as follows:

SubProject 12.1: Plant, bale and stockpile sorghum sudan hay from South Poe hay field – 2026

SubProject 12.2: Plant and bale sorgum sudan hay from South Poe hay field – 2027

SubProject 12.3: Fertilze and bale rejuvenated LowerPlace hay field and new Middle Poe hay field – 2028

SubProject 12.4: Fertilize and bale LowerPlace & Middle Poe hay fields – 2029

SubProject 12.5: Fertilize and bale new South Poe hay field – 2030

Once we have all three hay fields in production, we will rotate hay production between 2 of the 3 fields every year. This will give each hay field a rest every 3rd year.

Project # 13: Registered South Poll Cattle Herd Development

We’ve tentatively decided to focus on registered cattle rather than grade cattle. Since we want to keep our stocking rate per acre low to avoid overgrazing, we want to maximize our return per head of cattle. Registered stock should provide a higher return per head than grade livestock. We’ll maximize our revenue per labor hour and per acre by concentrating on registered cattle. Since we live on the ranch, we’ll be able to provide the close attention required by higher-valued registered stock. Our regenerative grazing strategy will allow us to check in on our our high-valued cattle on a daily basis.

The breed we’ve selected for the ranch is South Poll. This is a relatively new breed originated by Teddy Gentry in Alabama. The genetics of the breed come from a 4-way cross of Hereford, Red Angus, Senepol and Barzona. The breed was developed to have the following characteristics:

• Heat tolerance
  • Red color absorbs less heat than black
  • Short slick coat retains less heat and attracts fewer flies
  • Genetics have been selected for rapid weight gain in hot climates
• Grass-fed genetics
  • South Poll genetics have been selected for thriving solely on grass without grain supplementation. Grass is a much less expensive feed source than grain. Although all beef are healthy food sources, grass-fed beef provides a healthier balance of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids for human consumption.
• Smaller size
  • Mature South Poll cows average 1000 pounds as opposed to 1500-1600 pounds for large frame breeds
  • Smaller size is associated with less grass consumption per cow and accordingly higher total stocking rates per acre
  • Smaller size creates less damage and erosion in pastures. This characteristic is especially important to us because our sandy pastures are highly sensitive to erosion.
• Docility
  • South Poll cows and bulls are bred for gentleness. Aggressiveness and lack of respect for fences is selected out of the breed genetics.

Our plan is to buy a few young heifers and bulls and bootstrap our herd by retaining heifers until we’re at full stocking capacity. We plan to purchase 5 additional heifers each year until we’ve reached the carrying capacity of the ranch. To reach our target stocking rate each year we’ll purchase grade stocker calves each Spring and sell them in the Fall to fill out the herd until we have a full herd of South Polls.

Project # 14: Acquire Basic Ranching Equipment

When we moved to the ranch much of the ranching equipment had been sold off or worn out. Consequently, we will have to repurchase basic ranching machinery. The items on our shopping list are the following: 

• Ranch truck
• Cattle trailer – acquired
• Hay trailer
• Seed broadcaster
• Hay bale unroller
• Shredder
• Disc plow
• Shallow water well drilling rig
• No-till seed drill
• High tension electric fence wire spool jenny
• Diesel fuel tank – acquired
• Backhoe
• Overhaul tractor – 70% complete
• Overhaul ATV’s

We’ll be frequenting auctions and looking for used equipment to keep the cost of equipment down.

Equipment Repairs. Our old 1962 model John Deere 4020 tractor needed a new clutch, major repairs to the front-end loader, hydraulic hose replacements and a starter. We’ve gotten it running like a top and expect many more years of use from it. We still need to repair the tractor’s front end loader and replace most of the hydraulic hoses. We’ll complete those tasks in Phase 2 of our tractor overhaul project in 2025.

{Insert picture of the tractor}

An equipment-related project we’ll undertake in 2026 is to convert a Class C recreational vehicle that we own into our ranch truck. This vehicle is built on an E350 Ford truck chassis and only has 45,000 miles on it. A low mileage heavy duty F350 ranch truck will cost us in excess of $50,000. Rather than incur that expense, we plan to remove the rear RV shell from the vehicle we own and install a bed with gooseneck hitch to convert it into a flat bed dually farm truck. For a few thousand dollars, we’ll turn the RV that we rarely use into a serviceable farm vehicle.

Project # 15: Implement Regenerative Grazing Strategy

Grazing Strategy Overview: At present our pastures are divided into 3 large pastures – 160 acres, 60 acres and 80 acres as seen in the map below:

{Label these pastures on the map}

These pastures are too large to implement any type of regenerative grazing plan. In the first stage of our regenerative grazing strategy, we’ll use electric fencing to subdivide these 3 large pastures into 18 smaller pastures covering 15 to 20 acres apiece as illustrated in the following map:

Once our regenerative grazing strategy is fully implemented, we will use moveable electric fencing to further subdivide these 18 pastures into small paddocks covering 3 to 5 acres. We will move cattle to a new paddock each day. The exact size of these paddocks will be determined by the available forage and the size of our herd. We will size the paddocks dynamically to meet the following grazing objectives:

• Cattle will eat a third of the available forage
• Cattle will trample a third of the available forage. The trampled forage will decompose and build up the soil over time.
• Cattle will leave a third of the forage standing. This remaining forage will leave enough of the leaves and stems to encourage regrowth of the forage.

Our grazing strategy is designed to mimic, as closely as possible, a herd of bison moving slowly across a grassy plain.

The native grasses we plan to use in our pasture regeneration efforts evolved in tandem with the bison that grazed the plains for thousands of years. The bison were dependent on the grasses and the grasses were dependent on the bison. The soil of the plains also benefited from this co-dependence between the grasses and the bison. It was rich in organic material, earthworms, beneficial insects, fungi and bacteria. Our grazing strategy is designed to mimic this co-dependence between grass, grazing livestock and the soil. We plan to follow the patterns of nature rather than fight against them.

Various grazing strategies have been developed over the past few decades to implement this general strategy of mimicking the bison. These strategies are listed in the lefthand column of the following diagram. We plan to select the best aspects of these strategies for our specific situation. Accordingly, we’ve collapsed all of the various regenerative grazing techniques into one strategy we’ll refer to as Regenerative Grazing.

We have a lot of work to do before we’re ready to fully implement our Regenerative Grazing strategy. Pre-requisites for achieving our ultimate grazing goal include the following:

• Clearing brush and mesquites
• Building electric perimeter fencing
• Building electric cross fences
• Building a ranch-wide water distribution system
• Growing our livestock herd to carrying capacity
• Improving the grasses in our pastures and hay fields

Rather than wait until all of the above tasks are complete before we implement our grazing plan, we will move toward our ultimate objective in stages. These stages are as follows:

• Regenerative Grazing Phase 1: Rotational grazing in 18 pastures covering 15 to 20 acres apiece. The first phase of our regenerative grazing is rotational grazing: moving the cattle every week or so between medium sized pastures. Before we can implement rotational grazing, we need to install permanent electric perimeter fencing and permanent electric cross fencing to break our 3 large pastures into 18 smaller pastures.
• Regenerative Grazing Phase 2: Regenerative Grazing in approximately 60 small paddocks of 3 to 5 acres apiece with pumped water in some pastures. During this phase we will be installing our water distribution system. We expect the full implementation of our water distribution system to be spread out over 3 to 5 years. During this time, some of our pastures will have pumped water and some won’t. We will break down all of our 15 to 20 acre pastures into 3 to 5 acre paddocks using moveable electric fence wire during this phase. When cattle are in a paddock with no pumped water they will walk back from the paddocks to our existing ponds or the creek for water. We’ll fence off a lane running back to a water source when we set up temporary electric fence for each paddock.
• Regenerative Grazing Phase 3: Regenerative Grazing with pumped water to each paddock. During Phase 3, we will have water available in every paddock. Cattle will no longer have to walk back from the paddocks to get water.

Each of these stages is described more fully in the project descriptions below.

SubProject 15.1 Phase Out 3rd Party Continuous Grazing – 2025

Some of our pastures are being used by 3rd party grazers who are practicing continuous grazing methods at present. We will phase out all 3rd party continuous grazing during 2025

SubProject 15.2 Rest All Pastures – 2026

During 2026 we will rest all of our pastures while we work on clearing brush, installing electric fencing and implementing water distribution systems.

SubProject 15.3 – Grazing Phase 1: Rotational Grazing – 2027

By 2027, we expect to have our permanent electric perimeter and cross fencing in place. We don't expect to have our water distribution fully installed by this time. Since we won't yet have water distribution into most our small paddocks, we will give the cattle direct access to stock ponds or creek water via an access lane from each paddock.  During Phase 1, cattle will be placed in pastures of 15 to 20 acres each where they will graze for several days at a time before being moved to a new pasture. Cattle moves will be managed to avoid overgrazing and to give pastures some time for recovery before they are re-grazed.

SubProject 15.4: Grazing Phase 2 – Regenerative Grazing with Partial Water Distribution Systems – 2028 to 2032

While we’re in the process of installing water distribution systems and developing new water sources throughout the ranch, we will start partitioning our pastures into small paddocks of 3 to 5 acres each. Cattle will be moved to a new paddock each day. During this phase some paddocks will have pumped water in the paddocks, but others will not. When cattle do not have water available within the paddock, we will create a lane back to a stock pond or the creek each time we set up a temporary paddock.

SubProject 15.5: Grazing Phase 3 – Regenerative Grazing with Full Water Distribution Systems – 2032 Forward

In Phase 3 of our Regenerative Grazing plan, we’ll cut off livestock access to our stock ponds and start delivering water directly to each paddock. We’ll accomplish this using/ plastic pex water pipe, moveable water spigots, moveable watering troughs, water storage tanks and solar-powered water pumps. Grazier extrordinaire Greg Judy provides a rough explanation of what we have in mind in this video. Paddock water will either be pumped directly from ponds or gravity fed from elevated water storage tanks. The water storage tanks will contain water pumped from ponds and/or wells.

Once the water distribution system is fully operational, livestock will no longer have to walk long distances to access water. They will no longer foul the ponds with manure and urine. Urine and manure will be spread evenly across all pastures rather than concentrating around stock ponds and favorite hangouts.

Project # 16: Soil Conservation, Erosion Control and Soil Regeneration

We have 4 major erosion problem areas on the ranch

• A large seasonal creek subject to flash floods and having insufficient groundcover on its banks and bed
• Ravines forming in pastures
• Bare slopes and other sensitive areas having no groundcover
• Widespread loss of pasture topsoil due to exposed dirt

{Insert pictures of erosion problems}

Our plans for controlling erosion in each of these areas are described below.

SubProject 16.1: Creek Erosion Control

There is a large seasonal creek (The Long Branch) that crosses the ranch diagonally. The creek was our main source of adventure whenever we visited the ranch as children. Over time, we pretty much memorized every aspect of it. Sixty years later, erosion has deepened it by 5 to 10 feet and widened it by 10 to 20 feet. Some of the 150 year old oak trees along its bank are starting to collapse into the creek. , There are major ravines feeding into the main channel that weren’t there 60 years ago.

We’d like to pass on a less eroded creek situation to our grandchildren, turn it into wildlife refuge and make it a recreation spot for hiking, biking, wading and tadpole hunting. Our plans for achieving these objectives include the following features:

• Use electric fencing to keep livestock out of the creek.
• Install beaver dam analogs (BDA’s) at intervals in the creekbed. These structures will be designed to slow down floodwaters, not to dam the creek.

• Supplement the BDA’s with leaky weirs (loose rock dams) where stones are readily available in the creek bed

• Contour the cut banks of the creek, unroll hay bales to stabilize the banks and overseed the banks with long-root native grasses
• Encourage long-root native grasses and reeds to grow on the banks and in the creek bed
• Plant a riparian buffer of native grasses and berry vines plus pecan, willow and wild plum trees along the contoured banks. Tree saplings will be transplanted from other locations on the ranch. This planned riparian buffer will replace the impassible brush/briar barrier that currently occupies much of the creek banks.

{Insert picture of brush on creek banks}

The Beaver Dam Analog’s (BDA’s) will be formed by driving steel pipes into the creek bed in a v-shape pointing upstream. We will then stack dead trees and brush against the pipe. The trees and brush will come from deadfalls and brush cleared from pastures adjacent to the creek.

Before tackling the entire creek, we’ll try out the formula outlined above on a test section. If the test section yields good results, we’ll proceed up and down the creek tackling one section at a time.

The following photo shows what portions of the creek look like at present:

• Steep cut banks
• Little groundcover on floodplain, banks and bed
• Unstable bank
• Insufficient tree cover on banks and floodplain
• Cattle have free access to the creek

We would like the creek bed to look more like the one pictured below, except we want taller grass and more trees, when our restoration efforts are complete:

• Contoured banks
• Native deep-rooted grass for groundcover on floodplain, banks and channel
  • Note: We want taller, thicker grass than that shown in the picture above
• Stabilized banks
• Riparian tree buffer along banks and floodplain
• Cattle fenced off from the creek

We have already begun work clearing a narrow fence line paralleling the creek on both sides. This fence line will be used for the electric fence that will keep livestock out of the creek. Based on our observations of erosion after clearing those fence lines, it’s obvious that we’ll need to go slow in removing the brush. As with most of the soil covering our ranch, the soil along the creek is very loose and sandy. Right now, the brush along the creek is the only thing holding the soil in place. We’re already seeing some erosion in the narrow strip we’ve cleared. We’ll need to go slowly as we replace the brush with reseeded grass along the creek bank.

Our plan for replacing the creekbank brush with long-rooted grass is to first re-seed the grass in the narrow strip we’ve already cleared. We’ll then clear and reseed narrow strips in sections along the length of the creek. Before we reseed, we’ll unroll hay bales on top of the cleared areas to stabilize the bare soil. Once we’ve reseeded, we’ll allow the grass to mature before we clear and reseed another strip. We’ll gradually move down the creek bank in narrow strips until we reach the creek bed.

This strip by strip approach to re-seeding the creek bank will require us to remove and replace the electric fence several times. We need room to maneuver a skid steer along the bank and the electric fence will be in the way. Removing and replacing the electric fence will be a pain, but it can’t be avoided.

Until we get our ranch-wide water distribution system installed, we will continue to give livestock access to the creek at designated watering points. To form these watering points, we’ll contour the banks on both sides and use hay to stabilize the banks. We will then overseed the banks with long-root native grass such as big bluestem. We’ll place electric fencing upstream and downstream to block livestock access beyond the watering point. To help prevent erosion on the banks of the watering points, we’ll bale graze with unrolled bales on these banks. If necessary to prevent erosion, we’ll bury 8 inch corrugated drain pipe to direct water down the creek banks into the watering point.

SubProject 16.2: Pasture Erosion Control

Over the past 60 years, several new ravines have formed feeding into the creek, expecially in the northwest corner of the ranch.

To prevent further erosion we will treat each of the ravines as follows:

• Contour the banks and the head of the ravine
• Berm the head of the ravine to slow water flow into the ravine
• Unroll hay bales to stabilize the ravine banks
• Overseed the banks with long-root native grass
• Build Beaver Dam Analogs (BDA’s) and leaky weirs at intervals within the ravine
• Fence off the ravines to prevent livestock access and associated erosion
• Once the ravines are fully healed, bale graze them occasionally for brief periods during dry spells to exploit the regenerative benefits of regenerative grazing

SubProject 16.3: Erosion Control on Bare Slopes and Sensitive Terrain

We have several locations on the ranch that have eroded down to bare ground. These are mostly on slopes with poor soil.

Our plan for treating bare slopes and thin vegetation on sensitive terrain is as follows:

• Fencing off bare and sensitive terrain to limit livestock access
• Overseeding with long-rooted native grasses suited to poor soil (such as a tank dam seed mixture)
• Unrolling hay to stabilize the soil
• Limited bail grazing with unrolled hay to give these areas the benefits of regenerative grazing

SubProject 16.4: Soil Regeneration

After being exposed to dewormers and antibiotics, etc. in livestock manure over many years, our soil harbors very little subterranean life. These medications, fertilizers, herbicides and overgrazing have inadvertently eliminated earthworms, dung beetles, fungi and microbes in the soil.

Over time, we plan to phase out the use of dewormers. Regenerative

grazing makes this possible since parasite larvae will hatch and die in any given paddock before the livestock return to re-graze the paddock. Moving livestock frequently and resting paddocks between moves provides a natural method of minimizing livestock parasite infections.

Until our South Poll herd is fully developed, we’ll be bringing in stocker calves from unknown origins each year. These stocker calves will need to be dewormed. Once they’ve been dewormed, we’ll hold them in a salvage paddock until the medication works through their rumens.

We still need to research methods for restoring earthworms, beneficial insects and microbes to depleted soils. We assume that we may have to propogate our own earthworms. We also assume that we’ll have to wait a couple of years while dewormers and antibiotics used on cattle in the past dissipate in the soil. In the meantime, we’ll set up a worm farm in an area that we fenced off from cattle 5 years ago. Once the residual chemicals and medications have dissipated and we have sufficient worm stock in our worm farm, we’ll systematically distribute the earthworms into our pastures.

We’ll be consulting with experts on methods to restore and nurture beneficial soil insects and microbes to come up with a plan for doing so.

Project # 17: AgroForestry -SilvoPasture Woodland Savannah Development

The ranch is blessed with an abundance of beautiful trees. As we improve our pastures, we plan to have a tree every 20 to 30 feet — slightly fewer trees than the pasture shown in the following picture:

Native species on the ranch include the following:

• Post Oak
• Live Oak
• Black Jack Oak
• Pecan
• Southern Rock Elm (aka Cedar Elm)
• Honey Locust
• Mesquite
• Willow

{Insert photos of different tree varieties from the ranch}

Many of the ranches in the area have been clear cut to make way for monoculture hay fields. While clear cutting trees may be convenient for hay production, we think it’s short sighted. Driving down the highway on hot Texas summer days, we observe the cattle bunched up under the shade of the few remaining trees at the edge of the pasture. Cattle bunched up under shade trees aren’t out in the pasture eating and gaining weight. With sufficient shade, cattle can be out in the pasture where the grass is, even in the summer heat.

Having trees spread throughout our pastures is especially important since our cattle will be fenced in small paddocks. On hot Texas summer days, it’s important that each paddock has sufficient shade.

In addition to providing shade for grazing cattle, trees provide the following benefits to pasture land:

• Lowered soil temperature to foster grass growth
• Soil stabilization via roots
• Windbreaks
• Addition of organic matter to the soil via decaying forest litter
• Hydraulic redistribution of water from deep aquifers to surface plants via tree roots

Regarding the last bullet point above, many ranchers have the misconception that trees steal water from grass. While this may be true in a limited number of conditions, the scientific concensus seems to be that deep rooted trees like oaks lift water from deep in the ground and share it with surface plants. To the extent that trees prevent grass growth, it’s usually because of shading. The effects of shading can be mitigated by thinning the trees and pruning them to allow sufficient sunlight to get through. We plan to thin and prune our trees so they can co-exist in synergy with our pasture grass.

As we’re clearing brush and excess trees, we plan to leave a tree about every 20 to 30 feet. We’ll prune the branches up to 6 or 8 feet so we can easily manuever equipment around the tree trunks. We’ll select the trees with the tallest, straightest trunks to leave standing as we’re thinning them out. In pastures where we don’t have enough trees, we’ll transplant saplings from the plentiful volunteer tree stock scattered around the ranch.

We have an overabundance of native pecan trees that have small inedible pecans. We plan to graft improved pecan stock onto many of the smaller natives so that we have pecans for harvest.

Other than some wild plums, we don’t have any fruit trees at present. We’ll be planting peach, plum and apricot trees for our personal use.

Although we don’t plan to engage in widescale timber harvesting, we will be cutting and milling a few trees each year to supply the business ventures described in Project # 21. For each mature tree we harvest, we’ll replace it with a sapling transplanted from elsewhere on the ranch. At present we have many large dead trees around the ranch that need to be felled and milled for lumber. We’ll fell these trees as we’re clearing pastures.

For project planning purposes, we’ve organized our SilvoPasture Development efforts into the following projects:

SubProject 17.1: Clear brushfire fuel around all large trees (2025)

The highest priority sub-project within our SilvoPasture efforts is to get the brush cleared from under our large pecan and oak trees. Over the years, brush and briars have built up around many of our trees. Some of these trees have survived the grass fires in our area for over 150 years, but we don’t want to tempt fate. The oak trees can usually survive a grass fire. They evolved to do so. But fire suppression and neglect over the years has allowed so much fuel to build up underneath them that they might not survive the next fire. Clearing the brush crowding their trunks is the very next project on our list. We hope to have that task complete before fire season starts this year (2025).

SubProject 17.2: Develop North HomePlace SilvoPastures

In each of our silvopasture development projects we’ll complete the following tasks:

• Clear unwanted brush and trees, leaving at least one tree every 20 to 30 feet
• Leave thickets for wildlife cover
• Harvest dead and unwanted trees for milling into lumber
• Transplant saplings to areas that have no trees
• Graft improved pecan stock onto native pecan trees
• Plant berry vines and fruit trees

SubProject 17.3: Develop South HomePlace SilvoPastures

SubProject 17.4: Develop LowerPlace SilvoPastures

SubProject 17.5: Develop PoePlace SilvoPastures

SubProject 17.6: Develop West HomePlace SilvoPastures

SubProject # 18: Pasture and Grass Improvements

With the exception of one 40 acre coastal bermuda field and one 30 acre cultivated field, all of the grass on the ranch consists of unimproved volunteer varieties. The coastal bermuda field has not been fertilized for many years, so it has deteriorated. This field is also becoming infested with prickly pear and mesquite.

Before we undertake improving our pasture grass, we will complete a comprehensive pasture-by-pasture grass plan. Objectives of the plan will be as follows:

• A diverse mix of grasses and forbs that will provide all the nutrients needed to keep our livestock happy and healthy
• A mix of warm and cool season forage in order to extend our grazing season
• Deep rooted grasses to help protect topsoil in erosion-prone areas
• Grass species matched to sensitive terrain such as bare hillsides, pond dams, ravines, washouts, creek banks and creek beds
• Nitrogen-fixing forbs for self-fertilizing pastures

Since we’re novices when it comes to grass varieties, we’ll mostly concede to experts in our selections. We’ll keep an open mind, but our preferences are as follows:

• Native grasses that would have been prime forage for the bison – We assume that these grasses would have evolved in symbiosis with the bison. Since we’re trying to duplicate this symbiosis, it seems reasonable that we should foster grasses that evolved in tandem with the bison.
• Seeded grasses as opposed to sprigged grasses like coastal bermuda.The mechanisms by which Regenerative Grazing restores pastureland would seem to require a seeded grass. Grazing ruminants spread the seed via manure and their natural movements through the pasture. They dislodge and distribute mature seed heads as they move through the pasture. Their hooves break up the top layer of soil and push the seeds into the soil for germination. As they move from paddock to paddock, they carry any undigested seeds to the next paddock in their rumens. As a side benefit, native seeded grasses will assist in restoration of habitat for horned toads and quail.
• We’re in favor of soil additives such as lime, carbon and potash that are necessary components of healthy soil, but we would prefer to minimize the recurring use of chemical fertilizers. Ergo, we’d prefer to not use grasses such as coastal bermuda that are dependent on added nitrogen. We will overseed native grasses with nitrogen-fixing forbs to achieve adequate nitrogen levels in the soil.

With respect to seed planting and propogation, again we’ll keep an open mind, but we prefer no-till methods to tillage. Also, we’d prefer to not root plow the fields in preparation for reseeding. Much of our property slopes downward toward a creek that runs diagonally corner-to-corner across the ranch. Root plowing and tillage is going to exacerbate the erosion that’s already decimating our sandy topsoil. We’re keenly interested in restoring the subterrainian health of our soil. It seems to us that tillage would expose whatever soil micro-organisms we have to sunlight, the great disinfectant.

Bale Grazing

Many regenerative ranchers are having great success with bale grazing. Hay is normally fed in stationary hay rings. The area around the rings will typically become mucked up over a winter of feeding. In bale grazing, bales are either plopped or unrolled into a different pasture location at each feeding. In the plopped technique, the bales are placed into the pasture and unwrapped pretty much intact. In the unrolled bale grazing technique, the bales are rolled out over a long stretch using a hay unrolling device pulled behind an ATV. In both bale grazing methods, the livestock trample about a third of the hay, leaving it to decompose over time. The trampled, decomposing hay provides the following benefits:

• Soil stabilization in erosion-prone areas
• Lowers the soil ph to discourage weeds and encourage grass growth
• Seeds in the bales will germinate into new grass
• The ground in not mucked and compressed around a hay ring
• When hay is unrolled, more cows get access to the hay without jockeying for position
• Any uneaten hay decomposes into an organic layer
• The decomposing hay builds up a thatch layer which acts as a sponge to retain water
• The decomposing hay fosters growth of beneficial earthworms, insects and microbes

We plan to use primarily the unrolled bale grazing technique since this approach spreads the hay and its associated benefits over a larger area.

Experiment: Bison-Style Cultivation

Regenerative ranching practitioners seem to gravitate toward no-till methods for re-seeding pastures. No-till avoids the soil damaging effects of plowing up the pastures. Other regenerative ranchers have had good luck with bale grazing to improve their soils. We plan to experiment with a related grass propogation technique we refer to as Bison-Style Cultivation. Our thinking is that native plains grasses evolved along with the bison. They were probably dependent on the bisons’ actions for their cultivation. As the bison moved through grasslands having mature seed heads, they would have dislodged and distributed the seeds. Some of the seeds would have passed intact through their rumen. The seeds would been trompled into the ground and prairie thatch via hoof action. Following these hunches, our grass seed cultivation plan is roughly as follows:

• Unroll hay in areas we want to re-seed
• Broadcast or no-till grass seed into the unrolled hay
• Intensively graze the seeded hay for short periods
• Monitor the variables that seem to provide the best stands of re-seeded grass
• Compare results of this cultivation method to conventional tillage and no-till grass cultivation methods

Pasture Aesthetics

We think beauty happens on a ranch when the form of something is especially well-suited to its function. For example, a cow is beautiful when she looks like she’d birth and raise a great calf – when her form is especially well-suited to her function.

The purpose of our regenerative ranching effort is to create a win-win relationship between our pastures and our livestock. At present, that relationship is win-lose — our livestock is the enemy of our pastures. Continuous grazing, antibiotics and dewormers are eroding our soil and sterilizing it. We’re not going to have any pastures left if we continue on our current path.

We hear a lot about sustainable agriculture, but we’re not going to settle for that. By pursuing regenerative ranching practices, we’re hoping to improve both our pastures and our livestock every year, not just to sustain them.

What will our pastures look like when our regenerative ranching efforts are accomplishing that win-win relationship between our pastures and our livestock every year? We’re envisioning a functional but aesthetically pleasing woodland savannah punctuated by happy, healthy livestock.

{Insert picture showing the target aesthetics for our pastures}

Here’s a description of how our pastures should look when we’re well into our regeneration plan:

• Tall grass
• A good mix of grasses and forbs
• Both warm and cool season grasses to ensure coverage over a longer season
• Full coverage of grass, eliminating bare spots. Where we have bare spots, we’ll bale graze with seeded hay. {Note: We may leave some patchy bare ground with bunch grasses to serve as quail habitat.]
• Trees distributed randomly with one tree every 20 to 30 feet. We want enough space between trees to allow plenty of sunlight through and to be able to maneuver equipment between them. Where we don’t have sufficient tree cover in a pasture, we’ll transplant pecan and oak saplings from elsewhere on the ranch
• In our 3 designated hay fields, we’ll leave them mostly clear of trees to allow for efficient baling. We’ll place a few trees scattered around in hay fields for shade when these fields are being grazed
• Tree trunks pruned high enough that a tractor can get by without hitting lower branches
• Tree canopies thinned just enough to let some sunlight through but still provide shade
• We’ll leave enough brush thickets sufficient to provide wildlife cover. Where we don’t have sufficient wildlife cover, we’ll create it by planting berry vines. Over time, we’ll replace briars in our wildlife thickets with berry vines.
• Where there isn’t a natural wildlife trail such as a creekbed across a pasture, we’ll create one with sufficient wildlife cover to encourage wild animal movement around the ranch
• Other than our planned wildlife cover thickets, we’ll eliminate all extraneous briars and brush
• Over time, steeply cut banks of creeks and ravines will be contoured and seeded with deep rooted grasses.
• Creek beds will eventually be planted with long rooted grasses suitable for that application. Creek banks will harbor a riparian buffer of grasses and trees.
• All fence lines completely cleared of brush, trees, briars and tall grass
• Plenty of spring wildflowers

We’re not talking about aesthetics for the sake of aesthetics. We’re just saying that, as long as we’re going to all this trouble to regenerate our pastures, we might as well put in an extra 3% of effort to make the pastures look good.

For planning purposes we’ve broken down our pasture and grasses improvement efforts into the following 5 projects:

SubProject 18.1 North HomePlace Pasture and Grass Improvement

Each of our pasture and grass improvement projects will follow the SilvoPasture Development project for the corresponding pasture, so all unwanted trees and brush will have been removed. Each of these projects will include the following steps:

• Add chemical and organic amendments to the soil as appropriate for the soil type of the pasture
• Overseed the pasture with grass and forbs selected for the soil type and our ranch-wide grass plan
• Bale graze pasture areas that need special attention

SubProject 18.2 South HomePlace Pasture and Grass Improvement

SubProject 18.3 LowerPlace HomePlace Pasture and Grass Improvement

SubProject 18.4 PoePlace Pasture and Grass Improvement

SubProject 18.5 West HomePlace Pasture and Grass Improvement

Project # 19: Expand Regenerative Ranching to Additional Leased & Purchased Pastures and Evangelize Regenerative Ranching to Other Landowners

Assuming that the results of our efforts show obvious benefits on our ranch, we plan to expand our regenerative ranching efforts to other leased properties in our vicinity. We think that this expansion might be a great business opportunity for the following reasons:

• There is a lot of land in our area that is in dire need of regeneration after decades of continuous grazing and soil sterilization via dewormers, antibiotics, pesticides and herbicides.
• There is a continual stream of families purchasing large acreages and moving into the area to get out of cities. Many of these families may want to engage a third party to restore their ranchland via regenerative ranching practices and manage regenerative grazing on their properties.
• Hunters are purchasing land in the area for use during hunting season. It is not used for anything the rest of the year. Regenerative grazing would be an ideal match for hunters because we can easily rotate the livestock off of a hunting property during hunting seasons.
• Property owners can save thousands in property taxes via agricultural-use exemptions.

If we can establish our home ranch as a showplace demonstrating the benefits of regenerative ranching, the ranch itself would be the best possible marketing tool for spreading these practices to other ranches in the area, whether or not we’re involved.

Assuming our ranch regeneration efforts are successful, we intend to become evangelists for regenerative ranching practices. Our evangelist efforts could consist of the following types of activities:

• Informal consulting with area ranchers
• Participating in regenerative ranching seminars
• Conducting seminars, demonstrations and agrotourism at our ranch
• Posting YouTube videos on regenerative ranching topics
• Partnering with other landowners to design and implement their own regenerative ranching programs

We owe a big debt to regenerative ranching pioneers like Greg Judy, Alan Savory, Joel Salatin and Gabe Brown. We’d like to carry on their tradition of sharing their accumulated wisdom, but we’re not being entirely philanthropic. The more ranchers and landowners who get on board, the faster the regenerative ranching knowledge base will grow.

Project # 20: Ranch InfraStructure Development

in Phase 1 of our ranch infrastructure development efforts, we built a storage area way from the house where we can store all of the ranch equipment, fencing supplies and other “junk-we’ll-need-someday” that inevitably build up around a ranch. The storage yard also contains a watertight 40 foot shipping container.

In Phase 2, we’ll add the following infrastructure items:

• Covered hay shed in the storage yard
• 40′ shipping container # 2 in the storage yard
• Metal awnings attached to the shop for additional equipment storage and covered work spaces on the west, north and east sides of the shop
• 40′ shipping container on the east side of the shop
• Move lumber storage rack the storage yard

Project # 21: Create Additional Ranch-Based Income Streams

As we’ve analyzed the economics of ranching in Central Texas, it’s become obvious to us that making a living solely as a cattle rancher is an extremely difficult proposition. The crux of the problem is that land values are so high that the return on livestock sales barely covers mortgage interest, much less the opportunity costs. To realize the dream of ranch living for us and our descendants, we’ll have to be creative.

At 300 acres, our ranchland would be worth over $1.5 million if it were valued as non-agricultural property. In its present state the ranch can support approximately 30 to 40 cow/calf pairs. Even that stocking level may lead to overgrazing in dry years. If our ranch regeneration plan is wildly successful, we might be able to run 60 cow/calf pairs. Our net profit will be somewhere between $600 and $1000 per calf depending on cattle prices and depending on whether we run grade cattle or registered stock. Given those figures, our total net profit from calf sales will be between $24,000 and $60,000 per year. That puts the annual rate of return on our land investment at around 1.5% to 4% from cattle operations. This ROI does not take into account the opportunity cost of our labor.

Texas ranch land has historically increased in value approximately 5.5% per year over the past 20 years. Between calf sales and increases in land value, our total ROI from our land investment is projected to be 7% to 9.5% annually unadjusted for inflation.

The S&P 500 has a history of increasing in value around 10% annually unadjusted for inflation. If we were to sell our ranchland and invest the funds in a S&P 500 index fund, we could be making a higher return on our assets without having to work cattle. Sure, we haven’t factored in the intrinsic value in living on the land. You can’t take your dogs on a pasture hike in an index fund. But our current pleasure shouldn’t keep us from being responsible stewards of our nest egg for our progeny. We have an obligation to maximize the nest egg we leave for our descendants.

To be responsible stewards, we clearly need to generate more income from the land than whatever the cattle will generate. In our case, we already own the land outright. If we had to purchase land and pay mortgage interest, we’d have to be even more creative to justify the investment.

Regenerative ranching pioneer Joel Salatin advocates building a “poly-farm” with many different kinds of agricultural activity to earn a living on the farm. While we do plan to diversify our agricultural endeavors somewhat beyond livestock, we don’t think those other agricultural opportunities are likely to be reliable sources of income every year.

Our county averages 27 inches of rain per year, and the rainfall varies widely from year to year. The Trinity Aquifer under our land won’t support large-scale irrigation. 50 years ago, our grandfather and his neighbors raised dryland peanuts to support themselves and the local economy. It turned out that the peanut crop was completely dependent on government price supports. When the price supports were dropped in the 1960’s, all the peanut farming moved elsewhere to areas with irrigated fields or more rainfall. The same was true for peach and pecan crops that thrived in this area 60 years ago. The sandy soil is great for growing peach and pecan trees, but the unreliable rainfall means that the trees don’t produce a reliable crop each year.

The only other reliable cash crop in the area is coastal bermuda hay. We’re averse to pursuing hay as a cash crop for three reasons:

• Harvesting hay off the land every year will eventually deplete the soil
• Coastal bermuda hay is dependent on annual nitrogen fertilzer applications. Nitrogen costs are rising, and they will probably continue to rise in the future
• Coastal bermuda is a hybrid grass that doesn’t produce seed. As a result, coastal hay fields are devoid of reptiles, birds and insects that subsist on grass seeds in their foodchain. Native species like horned toads and quail can’t survive in a coastal bermuda field.

SubProject 21.1: Additional Agricultural Income Streams

To supplement our income from cattle, we plan to experiment with the following agricultural income streams:

• Outdoor herbs and vegetables
• Greenhouse herbs and vegetables
• Vertical and hydroponic gardens
• Honey Bees
• Multi-Species Grazing
• Hardwood Timber Harvesting
• Catahoula Cow Dogs Trained for Regenerative Grazing Moves

Preliminary plans regarding these agricultural ventures are described below.

Fruit, Nut, Herb and Vegetable Production

It is becoming increasingly evident that the USA’s food supply is poisoning us. Certainly, processed foods with loads of preservatives, added sodium and added sweeteners are not good for us. Even our unprocessed fruits and vegetables are not ideal because we don’t know what herbicides and insecticides they’ve been exposed to. Because of these risks, we plan to grow as much of our diet as possible here on the ranch using organic, low-till methods.

Our first foray into gardening will be an irrigated vegetable garden located within the fenced curtilage of the farmhouse near a stock pond and well for irrigation. The second phase of the vegetable garden will expand to a full food-forest with the addition of fruit trees and berry vines.

Greenhouse, Vertical and Hydroponic Gardening

The third phase of our gardening ventures will be addition of a greenhouse with vertical and hydroponic features so we can grow our own produce year-round. These technologies are usually advocated for more urban environments as a space saving solution. Space is not our concern since we have plenty of space. We’re interested in indoor vertical and hydroponci solutions for the following reasons:

• Climate Control: North Central Texas is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. We’d like to tend our garden in a climate controlled environment
• Insects: We’re inundated with grasshoppers. The only way to control them outdoors is with pesticides and cumbersome netting. We think we’ll have a better chance against the grasshoppers indoors without using pesticides.
• Automation: We’re interested in automated gardening solutions. Indoor vertical gardens seem to lend themselves better to automated gardening approaches.
• Weeds: We did our share of hoeing gardens and peanut fields in our youth in spite of the herbicides that were used. We’re hoping indoor gardening can make weed control easier without herbicides.

Multi-species Grazing

A mix of different livestock species can multiply the benefits of regenerative grazing. The pasture development benefits of cattle have been described above. Goats can help with weed and brush management. Chickens can help by consuming parasites and fly larvae if they follow cattle in a paddock rotation. Although we plan to raise cattle as a cash crop, we eventually plan to add a small goat herd for weed and brush management and chickens for our personal poultry and egg needs. We may also rotate a couple of pigs through the paddocks for our in-house pork needs. Other regenerative ranchers in our area have had success with hair sheep as a cash crop, so we may experiment with them too.

Catahoula Cow Dogs for Regenerative Grazing

We’ve been a big fan of Catahoula Leopard dogs ever since we got our first one as a teenager. The breed originated in Catahoula Parish Louisiana as an all-around good farm dog well-suited for hunting, herding and hot weather. They have a short slick coat well suited to working in the Texas heat. Although they come in a variety of colors, they’re best known for a spotted merle coat. They frequently have beautiful blue or green eyes. Their high energy level makes them ill-suited to leashes and city life, but they thrive as ranch dogs where they can roam freely off-leash. They’re not overly needy. They’ll check in frequently, but they won’t shower you with affection. They’ll be off tending to other business after they check in. When they’re not napping, they’re always busy doing something.

{Insert picture of Catahoula with cattle}

We plan to train our Catahoulas to help out with daily cattle moves. If they thrive in that role, we plan to raise them and sell trained cow dogs along with our registered livestock. We think other ranchers will get as much pleasure from these dogs as we do. There’s nothing better than watching an animal do exactly what it enjoys doing.

SubProject 21.2: Additional Non-Ag Income Streams

It’s unlikely that agricultural activities will generate a sufficient return on our land investment. Most of the ranchers in our area have town jobs or do ranch services work for other ranchers to supplement their incomes. Rather than work for 3rd parties, we plan to launch a variety of entrepreneurial enterprises that are complementary to a ranching lifestyle. Following is a description of some creative approaches we have for maximizing returns on our ranchland:

Robotic Manufacturing Facility

A while back, it occurred to us that ranchland would be highly complementary with manufacturing of custom products for the following reasons:

• Direct marketing and sales of custom manufactured products can now be accomplished via the internet. A manufacturer no longer needs a complex distribution channel to get products to market.
• A factory can be established on rural ranchland much more easily than in town.
  • Zoning restrictions are much less onerous.
  • Factory noise is much less likely to disturb neighbors.
• Although it’s expensive, ranchland is still much cheaper than city property.
• Although we’d have to give up some grazing footage for a factory building footprint, we can still graze right up to the front door.
• Ranch work lends itself to side-hustles as long as the side-hustle has flexible hours. When you’re busy on a ranch, you’re very busy. When you’re not busy, you have a lot of flexibility on how to use your time.

To capitalize on the complementarity between ranching, ranchland and a manufacturing side-hustle, we’re setting up a 3D printing and CNC robotic manufacturing shop to build custom-made products on the ranch. CNC carving machines and 3D printers are simple computer-controlled robots.

Unlike the fancy humanoid robots of your imagination, a typical CNC carving machine only travels up-down, forward-backward and left-right. With these 3 motions, it can carve 3 dimensional objects. A 3D printer is much the same as a CNC machine. The only real difference is that 3D printing is an additive process while CNC carving is a subtractive process. A 3D printer builds up a 3D object incrementally from heated plastic filament while a CNC machine starts with a solid block of material and carves away the material it doesn’t need.

We’ll be making the following 5 products in our shop:

• Custom electric and acoustic guitars
• Custom loudspeaker cabinets
• Custom acoustic room treatments for home theaters & music recording studios
• Custom acoustics-friendly furniture for home theaters & music recording studios
• Custom carved signs

Some examples of our custom-made guitars are featured below:

The following developments in technology make these kinds of side-hustles possible for farmers and ranchers:

• The cost of 3D printers, CNC carving machines and 3D design software has plummeted in recent years. A CNC machine with design software would have cost $100,000 a few years ago. Today, it can be had in the $5K to $10K range.
• Creating computer aided design (CAD) files and programs that guide 3D printers and CNC carving machines will become much easier as artificial intelligence automates much of those processes.
• The cost of cheap manufactured products from abroad is going to rise as shipping costs and tariff costs rise. This will make custom products manufactured domestically more competitive
• The internet makes it possible for a rancher in Podunk County, Texas to sell merchandise in Paris, France or anywhere else in the world. Anyone can set up a virtual store as an internet website. Anyone can get on YouTube to hawk his products these days. Physical proximity is no longer a requirement.

We have found that the ranch is much more conducive to accomplishing research and development (R&D) work on new products than the city and office environments where we’ve performed R&D in the past. The factors that contribute to this more productive R&D environment are the following:

• A short commute to the “office”
• Peace and quiet
• Fewer distractions
• Less overhead and regulatory burden for setting up lab, testing, prototyping, warehouse and production facilities
• Ability to take a hike in the woods and clear the head when one is at an impasse on a hard research topic

Thanks to these R&D advantages, we’ve been able to develop the following new products since setting up our R&D facilities at the ranch:

• A new type of electric guitar that will be more responsive to a guitarist’s playing style
• A new type of hifi speaker cabinet that improves on current generation stereo speakers and capitalizes on the move toward immersive surround speakers for music and home theater
• A new type of acoustic room treatment that improves on existing room treatments for controlling low frequency room response in music studios, audiophile listening rooms, home theaters, cinemas and music venues.

We plan to begin production of these products in our ranch-based manufacturing facilities in 2026.

Photography, Music and Video Recording Studio

We have an old barn on the ranch that will make a great recording studio. Just like our CNC factory, our studio will benefit greatly from being out in the middle of nowhere. City zoning, traffic noise and noise-averse neighbors won’t be a problem.

{Insert picture of the barn}

Technology makes the studio possible. Music streaming services make it possible for anyone to distribute new songs these days without having to sign a record label contract. The streaming services are getting 100,000 new songs each day, so there is great demand for professional recording services. Although many of these songs are recorded in the artists’ bedrooms, professional quality still requires professional recording facilities.

In addition to generating revenue from recording services, the studio will serve as a testing and demonstration lab for the guitars, loudspeaker cabinets, acoustic room treatment panels and studio/home theater furniture coming our of our CNC factory.

Rental Housing

We predict that there is going to be more and more demand for rural rental housing. As the cities deteriorate with crime and vagrancy, more people are going to desire an alternative. Many professions can work anywhere today as long as they have reliable internet service. With the advent of StarLink and fixed wireless internet technology, ranch life can be a reality for these professions. Frankly, we can’t fathom why anyone would want to live in a city when they could live on a ranch, but that’s just our personal preference.

Rather than converting farm and ranch land to subdivisions, our idea is to plop a few high end rental units into secluded areas in our pastures. The ranch has some good elevation changes, so there are several locations with beautiful views. The renters will have to understand that cattle are going to be grazing right up to their back doors a few times a year.

Our regenerative grazing strategy is much more amenable to rental housing than continuous grazing livestock would be. With the latter, cattle can be anywhere at any time. As we’ve experienced personally, continuous grazing around a house can be disastrous for landscaping and entertaining guests. With our regenerative grazing strategy, we can easily shield sensitive areas with temporary electric fence when cattle are in a paddock near a residence a few times a year. If a renter has a social event planned, we can easily reschedule grazing near the residence.

As tiny homes, accessory dwelling units (ADU’s), modular housing, 3D printed housing, structural insulated panels (SIP’s), hybrid barndominium construction and similar technologies develop, we think that ranch life may be more feasible for more people. While we’re not keen on the mobile homes of the past dotting the landscape, we think that these newer housing technologies can be a welcome aesthetic addition to the ranch.

In addition to providing rental income, these rental units can complement the other ranch enterprises we have planned. Extra housing on the ranch can provide housing for ranch hands, our factory workers and visiting musicians using our recording studio.

It’s easy to foresee a dystopian future in which dense subdivisions gobble up more and more ranchland. This is a likely scenario as ranchland prices rise in line with its value as residential/commercial real estate rather than its value as agricultural land. If this phenomenon continues, more and more ranchers will be crowded out because their land’s value as commercial/residential real estate will outpace its value as cattle country. We think a solution to this conundrum could be, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” We foresee a brighter future where more and more people are able to benefit from country living. If every ranch contained one rental unit per every 50 acres widely dispersed around the ranch, and the residents were comfortable with a temporary grazing livestock herd in the back yard a few times a year, we could easily accomodate all the housing our country needs without compromising our agricultural land and our food supply. And the population would be living a much healthier lifestyle than they can experience living on top of each other in crowded cities.

Objectives of our Ranch-based Entrepreneurial Ventures: 

• Achieve a higher standard of living in a rural, agricultural setting than we could achieve in a city. Set an example for how to do so for other people who would like to do the same.
• Generate a higher ROI on our land investment than we could make by investing an equivalent amount in the stock market. By doing so, we can demonstrate to other landowners that they don’t have to sell their land to developers in order to generate a sufficient return on their wealth.
• Invent a lifestyle and workstyle that allows multiple generations of our extended family to live and work together on our family’s landholdings. Conventional modern careers and city life have torn families apart. Children no longer have the benefit of prolonged exposure to their grandparents and relatives. Many never even get the benefit of spending quality time with their parents. We hope to demonstrate that one can make a good living and still have time to maintain a close relationship with family members.

Project # 22: AgroTourism and Recreational Amenities

Growing up on the ranch, we spent many happy hours of non-digital, physical recreation – activities that are increasingly rare for children today. Hiking, biking, wading, fishing, hunting, camping, shooting, archery, arrowhead hunting and tree-house construction were some of our favorite pasttimes with cousins and friends. We’d like to expose future generations to these activities as much as possible.

Our agro-tourism efforts will initially be focused on relatives and friends. We want the ranch to be a fun and educational resource that promotes cohesion and camaraderie.

If, as we hope, the ranch becomes a showplace for the wonders of regenerative ranching, we can open up the amenities we’ve created for our family to other families. Fortunately, the Texas Legislature has made this possible by providing liability protections for landowners under the Texas Agritourism Act. This act and its implementation are described in layman’s terms in the Texas Agriculture Law Blog. To avail ourselves of the liability protections, we’ll need to post appropriate signage and/or include required language in our liability waivers signed by agritourism participants.

The recreational amenities we plan to implement on the ranch are as follows:

• Walking clays shooting course
• Deer hunting blinds and feeders
• Hiking/biking trails through silvopastures and along the creek
• Stock pond improvements
  • Fish feeders
  • Fence off stock ponds to prevent fouling from livestock manure and urine
  • Sandy beaches in ponds and the creek
  • Fishing piers
  • Rock walls and stairs
  • Fountains and water circulation system to improve aesthetics and water quality
• Pickleball/badminton court
• Beach volleyball court on the creek
• Archery and shooting ranges
• Disc golf course

Project # 23: Manage Wildlife Diversity

When our grandfather operated the ranch 60 years ago, there was abundant wildlife in the area. We would frequently see foxes, bobcats, quail and horned toads in addition to the more prolific varieties such as deer, armadillos, raccoons, skunks and o’possums. There are still a lot of the latter, but foxes, bobcats, quail and horned toads are rarely seen of late. The squirrel population is even much lower than in the past. There are multiple causes of the decline in wildlife diversity over the years. Following are some of the probable culprits:

• Overuse of insectides and herbicides
• Overuse of dewormers and antibiotics. These compounds sterilize the soil, killing earthworms and insects that birds, reptiles & mammals eat.
• Conversion of pastures to coastal bermuda fields. This seedless hybrid grass creates a food wasteland for any animal or insect that depends on grass seed in its foodchain. Quail and horny toad populations have been virtually wiped out by coastal bermuda fields in our area.
• Indiscriminate elimination of groundcover and thickets where wildlife can shelter to make way for improved pastures
• Invasive animals such as coyotes and feral pigs. These animals kill other species indiscriminately. They also compete for food sources, and they disturb any nest (quail, horny toad, etc) they encounter on the ground.
• Invasive insects such as fire ants. These insects compete with other native ant species that provide food for native animal species. People poisoning fire ants inadvertently poison native harvester ant and other insect species as well.
• Indiscriminate killing of any animal that isn’t domesticated. This is a common practice that needs to be curtailed by ranchers and farmers.
• Cats and dogs tend to kill any animal that crosses their paths. Feral cats in pastures are especially destructive.

To help avoid these culprits as we implement our regenerative ranching plan, we will pursue the following practices:

• Build up depleted native quail population. We plan to raise and release quail on the ranch once we have re-engineered our pastures to better support them as described below.
• Reintroduce horny toads. At present, it is illegal to purchase, sell or even touch a horny toad in Texas. The state has a few test sites and zoos where they are attempting to breed them for reintroduction. We’ve joined the Horned Lizard Conservation Society and will be working actively to become a reintroduction site when that option becomes available. In the meantime, we’ll be doing research and trying to determine what can be done to accelerate the reintroduction efforts.
• Fence off most of our creek to serve as livestock-free wildlife habitat. This will improve water quality and reduce creek bank erosion in addition to providing wildlife cover.
• As we’re clearing brush, we’ll leave large thickets to serve as wildlife habitat

• Research methods for peaceful co-existence with native predatory wildlife that might pose a danger to livestock (e.g. bobcats). Determine if electric fencing, shepherd dogs, etc. might provide peaceful co-existence.
• Ensure that our thicket placement creates “highways” for wildlife moving around the ranch
• Conduct research on the best alternatives for controlling feral hogs, invasive coyotes, invasive ants and other non-native intruders. Methods that have been tried to date are obviously not working. The feral hog and coyote populations are as high as they’ve ever been nothwithstanding years of eradication efforts. In the case of fire ant control, the remedies seem to have done more damage than the disease. Whatever remedies we come up with, we want to be careful about doing more harm than good.
• Research the effects of broadcast fertilizer applications on soil biome and wildlife populations. If fertilizer application is determined to be harmful, we’ll severely limit our use of it along with any grasses (e.g. coastal bermuda) that are dependent on it.
• Be extremely discriminating in our use of pesticides and herbicides. Under no circumstances will we be broadcasting pesticides or herbicides in our fields. If we have to use them, we’ll only administer miniscule amounts. For example, when we’re killing large trees in fence rows we’ll use the drill-and-fill technique. If we have to leaf spray mesquites, we’ll spot spray and dye the spray so we can limit any over-spray. If we have weed problems, we’ll mow them or goat-graze them before they seed out, adjust soil PH to discourage them and sow grass seed to compete with them rather than broadcast herbicides.
• Be extremely discriminating in our use of dewormers and antibiotics that sterilize soil along with the earthworms and insects that wildlife eat. If we have to use dewormers, such as when we acquire new livestock, we’ll hold the animals in a sacrifice lot for several days before including them with our herd. We’ll move our lifestock in such a way that parasite larvae will die off before cattle are reintroduced to any given paddock. Any animal that requires antibiotics to thrive will be eliminated from our breeding stock.
• Avoid monocropping seedless grasses (e.g. coastal bermuda) in our pastures. Seedless grasses create food wastelands for any wildlife that rely on grass seed in their diets.
• Minimize tillage that exposes the soil biome to the disinfecting effects of sunlight, killing earthworms and insects that wildlife eat. We’ll be using no-till methods as much as possible.
• Research effects of electric fence on wildlife movements. If necessary, modify our fencing techniques to better accomodate natural movement of wildlife

{Insert pictures of wildlife found around the ranch: porcupine, raccoons, armadilloes, etc}

Project # 24: Monitor Regenerative Ranching Lifestyle Benefits

While we’ve always maintained a fairly active lifestyle, we’ve never been able to sustain a regular gym habit. Exercising for the sake of exercising just hasn’t been appealing. We’ve gotten exercise from working, walking, hiking, biking and hobbies, not from going to the gym. If it wasn’t a side-effect of some compulsory or enjoyable activity, it didn’t happen. As a result, our exercise regimen has always been irregular.

As we studied regenerative ranching, it occurred to us that this would be a great way to achieve a regular exercise schedule as a natural by-product of our daily ranching routine. Regenerative grazing requires a daily commitment to exercise, much moreso than conventional continuous grazing practices.

In addition to exercise opportunities, regenerative ranching also provides an opportunity to consume a healthy diet. We’ll have access to all of the organically-grown grass-fed beef we can eat. We can be sure that our beef is free of antibiotics and growth hormones. We can be sure that our beef is fattened on grass, not grains. We can be sure that our pastures aren’t contaminated with herbicides and insecticides.

In addition to growing our own healthy beef, we can dedicate a small percentage of our ranch land to a garden and food forest which will supply organically grown vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, fruits and nuts. We can thereby avoid all of the highly processed foods that are poisoning the modern diet.

Most importantly, we can exploit our regenerative ranching lifestyle to improve our mental health. Some of the probable benefits we’ll reap from our regenerative ranching efforts are the following:

• Avoiding the stresses of city life
  • Traffic
  • Noise
  • Air pollution
  • Crime and fear of crime
  • Rude and annoying people
  • Competition for scarce resources
• Having a sense of purpose and observing accomplishments against that purpose
• Better sleep due to daily exertion
• Being in tune with nature
  • Grounding (Being able to physically touch soil, trees, wind and grass)
  • Hearing the sounds of nature (birds, cows, dogs, birds, the wind)
  • Watching animals doing what they like to do (cattle, dogs, cats, wildlife)
• Being in charge of our own agenda as opposed to serving someone else’s agenda
• Being part of a community of like-minded regenerative agriculture enthusiasts
• Fewer behavioral constraints – Ranch living imposes way fewer restrictions on simple everyday behaviors than city living does. No one is going to complain or think less of us if our dogs are offleash, if we play our music too loud, if we retrieve the mail in our bathrobe, if children are roaming free in the pastures, if our car isn’t washed, if we’re shooting skeet in the back yard or if we’re smoking cigars on the porch. There’s no homeowners association dictating the color of our shutters, where we park our vehicles and when we water our lawn. City dwellers may take these constraints for granted, but the thousands of rules intrinsic to urban living add up. Whether you notice them or not, they show up not just in your blood pressure but also in your brain pressure. After decades of subconsciously modifying behaviors to accomodate the the million written and unwritten rules of city life, we think the pressure release of ranch life is palpable.

We’ll be monitoring and reporting both our physical and mental health as we proceed on our regenerative ranching adventures.

Project # 25 – Arrange Ranch Development & Operations Financing

The principles of our financing approach for our regenerative ranching endeavor are as follows:

• Slow and steady growth – Rather than jump in headfirst and finance all expenses up front, we’ll be implementing our plans in phases. The phases are designed to spend the least amount necessary up front to begin generating revenue.
• Minimize debt
• Fund expenses from income whenever possible
• Budget up front, arrange funding and spend down the budget
• Explore grants as a means of funding

We will be developing budgets for the following categories of expenditure:

• Pasture clearing
• Electric fencing
• Grass re-seeding
• Water distribution systems
• Water source improvements (wells and/or stock ponds)
• Ranching equipment
• Registered South Poll starter herd acquisitions
• Ranch building structure additions and improvements
• Annual working capital for stocker calf purchases, feed, supplements and livestock care

Once we have our budgets in place, we’ll arrange for financing via grants, loans, ranching income and our personal non-ranch income streams.

With regard to loans, we plan to only go into debt in order to purchase assets that can be sold, if necessary, to repay the debt. We’ll purchase out-of-pocket any asset that can’t easily be sold to pay the debt. For example, we’ll take loans to purchase cattle, but we’ll pay for fencing out-of-pocket. A cow can easily be sold; fencing isn’t easy to sell. Following this principle, we will take loans when necessary to purchase the following assets:

• Livestock
• Ranching Equipment
• Vehicles
• Tools
• Pumps
• Fence chargers
• Water storage tanks

We’ll pay for the following out-of-pocket from ranching cashflow or from other sources of income:

• Fencing
• Hired labor
• Machine rental
• Professional services
• Water pipe
• Vehicle & equipment maintenance
• Fuel
• Veterinary supplies
• ?Purchased hay, cattle feed and supplements? [Note: Consider working capital loans for cattle feed since the feed is readily turned into profits]
• Grass seed
• Herbicides

Project # 26: Apply for 100 Year Family Ranch Designation (1928 to 2028)

Our grandparents Henry and Adella Reed purchased the main plot of our ranch in 1928 when they were 31 years old. After farming on leased acreage for over a decade, they finally had enough saved up for a down payment on their own land. Despite hardships, including our grandmother having to put her jewelry up for collateral at one point, they farmed this land continuously until our grandfather died in 1972. They passed on the land to our mother, their only surviving child, and she ran the ranch along with our father until they retired. Our sister and brother-in-law managed the ranch as a cattle and hay operation until our sister passed away. At that point, the remaining family heirs banded together to keep the ranch running as a cattle operation.

As of 2028, the ranch will have been under continuous management as an agricultural operation under direct control of our family members for 100 years. To commemorate that milestone, we will be applying for official status as a 100 Year Family Ranch under the Family Land Heritage program of the Texas Department of Agriculture.

Assuming our current regenerative ranching program is successful, we hope our descendants will be able to continue operating the ranch for another 100 years. Of course, that also assumes we’re able to come up with a business model that provides a decent ROI on the value of the land as agricultural property.

Like all other owners of family ranches, we have other alternatives that, at first glance, seem to offer better returns on the dollars invested in agricultural land. As we’ve outlined in this plan, we have some ideas for keeping the majority of our land under agricultural production while still generating a competitive return on investment. Only time will tell whether our strategies will be successful. We’d like to give our descendents good financial justification for keeping the ranch a ranch and not selling it off for greener investment opportunities. Wish us luck!

Major Projects Execution Timeline by Year

The projects described above are not necessarily presented in chronological order of execution. For a list of these projects organized by year of execution, click the following link: