Using fire to enhance sustainability of the prairie

Sustainability means different things to different people. Farmers and ranchers are inherently focused on sustainability--if they don't take care of the land and the animals in a sustainable manner, it can't be passed on through the generations. One of the most important goals we have is to hand our ranch down to our kids.

In our area, we work hard to maintain and improve the Flint Hills and the native grass that grows here. If you are interested in how we work every day to improve the prairie, please take the time to watch this video. It talks about controlled burning of the prairie as an important tool to improve sustainability....and if you watch closely, you might catch me on the video! :)

Taking care of the grass is one of my passions! I've written about our work to preserve the tallgrass prairie before. If you're interested, check out my posts:

• The Kansas Prairie is Up in Smoke
• Photo Blog: Grassland Management via Fire
• Tall Grasses of the Kansas Prairie
• Cattle Ranchers are True Environmentalists
• Wildflowers on the Prairie

Vaccinations make healthy cattle

It is vaccination day on the ranch...I remember taking my kids in to get their vaccinations and how important it was to good health. I treat my cattle the same way! So last weekend, we vaccinated 120 cows and calves on Saturday before Prom....that is a story in itself!  And on Sunday we vaccinated another 150 cows and calves once the boys woke up from spending the night partying at Prom!!

The first step in vaccinating cattle is to get them all caught in a pen where you can handle them.  So we push them up to our working pens between the barns, and put the mama cows in one pen, and the baby calves in another pen.

Calves receive different vaccines than cows. This is their first time to get shots, so they get a modified live vaccine for many different diseases--including respiratory disease, diarrhea, and other known bovine diseases.

Unfortunately, the cows and calves don't realize the separation is temporary, so they start bawling at each other...it reminds me of a mother at Walmart who's kid has hidden under a clothes rack...she hollers for him to get out and then yells at him for doing that. The cows make me laugh as they peer through the pipe fence, bawling out their calves for being in a separate pen!

Welcome Spring to Kansas...with ice!

Spring has returned to Kansas...with a lovely rain in freezing temperatures, turning the trees and grass into ice sculptures!