Heat, Flies & Get Ready! The dog-days of summer in the southern plains are hot (!) and full of things that need management before they get out of control. One of those things is flies, but it can be hard to know how to address the problem with available methods […]
Things happen fast The southern plains are known for strong cool season forage. It’s a blessing through the winter and early spring for our native grazers, but as the transition sets the game for a long summer, the management of pastures and knowledge of plants can help you understand what’s […]
Calving & Adapting To Us Things tend to happen all at once this time of year, or so it seems in the southern plains, leaving us charged with thinking ahead and managing for stepping aside and letting nature take its course. Calving problems can happen with bison. Heifers do heifer […]
Green-Up Green-up happens early in the southern plains bringing diversity in the available food for your herd that may not catch your attention. Many become selectable during fleeting successions, while other plants seem to dominate the landscape and by now; look like ‘emerald waves of gain’ [sorry] for those operations […]
Ramping up for Red-Dots While it’s true that bison are a wildlife species native to the southern plains, it’s also true that they are roaming the southern plains of the 21st Century. 300 years ago, they would have been grazing highly mineralized native forage and benefiting from a diverse plant […]
Successes, Failures &Taking Responsibility Tis the season in which we find out about our management, our handling and our bottom-line validation in raising and producing bison. I am not home much this time of year and am privileged to watch, and be part of, many operations in the process of […]
This holiday season was nothing short of a roller-coaster for folks and bison in the southern plains. We went from Christmas in the 70’s to spring jet-stream collisions and tornadoes, to drifting snow and ice in a period of a week. This kind of stuff really brings into focus the […]
Checking boxes: Tis the season to check boxes as you make plans for addressing the health, both financial and physical, of your herd and their habitat. If you would rather refer to their habitat as a farm or ranch, I’m fine with that, but at the end of the day […]
Conception Rates, Culling Decisions & The #1 Factor This is the time of year when we all prepare to work our bison and make decisions about our herd based on what they are doing for us, or represent to the sustainability of our economic model. I tend to look at […]
It’s Official! Texas and the southern plains are back in a drought. Just last spring, we were literally under water. Some regions are becoming severe while others are just damn dusty. Unfortunately, the drought is hitting southern plains bison herds at the worst time of year for health and reproduction. […]
What’s going on out there? While I wish there were management boxes that could be checked that result in herd-health and production assurances, it just doesn’t work that way when you’re in charge of habitats and animals. August and September are the months that require of us the ability to […]
Out where the buffalo roam, the mating season is marked by behaviors and sounds of territorial declaration. In my travels across the southern plains – breeding season normally begins now, and is evidenced by deep loud vocalizations, as well as a change in the attitude of otherwise un-aggressive bulls. All […]
Lots of grass, plenty of water; what could go wrong? Right? This year is different than many of the past, and in many ways including any normalcy in nature. We can expect that our native-grazers might also be a bit more mysterious if we don’t observe diligently – ascertain and […]
A historic amount of rain is blessing the southern plains to the point, in some locations, of causing reason for concern in ranch and bison health management. This year will also be historic, because of the rain, as a liver-fluke year. Take a ‘Google’ at the liver fluke life-cycle, and […]
Decisions – decisions – decisions… Managing a bison herd and their habitat is all about decisions. During the changing of seasons; some decisions are being made for you – but without you. Dealing with the decisions made for you, by ‘mom-nature’, are the proverbial curve-balls that take a little more […]
Red Dot Alert! The first new lines of 2015 models are sprinkling the southern plains with big heavy brown clouds gathering and indicating a big event. It will soon be ‘Raining Red-Dots’. The colors of the southern plains this time of year are brilliant and diverse as ecological succession paints […]
February in the Southern Plains is a time for questions and checking the management-boxes for preparedness to leave the herd alone throughout the calving season. Some of those questions and boxes are: Am I feeding them too much in the last trimester? Is my mineral program up to speed? Do […]
Getting Over the ‘Hump’ Thanks to an unusual November and an atypical polar blast, the southern plains is experiencing less winter forage than we usually enjoy. Even the dedicated forage-croppers are unusually stressed for feed, causing the need for additional supplementation for bison health. This reality can vary widely within […]
Christmas is 360 days away and people already have their lights up! It’s all about perspective… For those folks that my little comedic intro applies to; it might also be about preparedness and efficiency. My personal perspective, as a southern plains bison steward, is that the cool season and winter […]
Making the Hard Decisions Easier Well…. Here it comes again – the season of change, with some for bison – forever. In the southern plains, winter does not have to be dead and dormant, but if we are not busy in September and October, we may not find ourselves in […]
Going in to November is all about planning and making the best decisions possible during the seasonal shift to winter operations. Once again, as with all other seasons, it’s all about feed. Personally I like to enhance the already bountiful cool season in the southern plains, by adding seed to […]
Busy-busy-busy! Fall in the southern plains is the best and most productive time to be busy in preparation for the cool-season, which is our strongest growing season in the south. Whether you apply conventional agriculture methods or forward regenerative practices, getting some land care and habitat enhancement boxes checked will […]
A Time for Questions – Not Answers! Many bison herd-managers and owners, feel that they are winding up the breeding season and are; pretty much ‘bred-up’ by now. If the largest percentage of the calves come in late March and April, this could be an accurate assessment of your situation. […]
It ain’t very cold out there! J Actually going into August sucks no matter where you call home in North America. Things like nutritional regimes, ambient temperature and behaviors are changing. Bison in the south are more equipped for the southern plains heat than you think. The latter is a […]
It ain’t very cold out there! J Actually going into August sucks no matter where you call home in North America. Things are changing, and the bison in the south are equipped for the southern plains heat more than you think. The latter is a true statement with the caveat […]
Just a word before I write about southern plains bison realities that are current, but less about ‘meanwhile-back-at-the-ranch’ stuff. That word is worms! I will follow that by saying worms, worms, worms, worms, worms! They are the enemy and the #1 production and reproduction challenge to bison of the southern […]
Spring has sprung and it won’t be long before it’s “raining red-dots” across the southern plains. There are a few points of interest in preparing for a new generation of American icons. The lush spring green explosion in the south can be less mineralized than the harder grasses during the […]
Green-up’s here! Yee-haw! What a great place to live if you’re a [Native Grazer] while your relatives in the north battle blue storms and last mile of what can only be referred to this year as a marathon winter. Our green-up in the southern plains is very aggressive and prolific. […]
Well… we got hit early and the assault continues as old man winter takes toll on, and tasks survival of the southern plains. We’ve only got another 20-30 days of having to put up with his polar rant. Food plots will re-emerge and bolster the nutritional regime for southern plains […]
Old man winter showed up early for work in the southern plains this year with a historic ice storm. Roads were closed; cattle were huddled up against the fences; pigs, goats and chickens in the barn; dogs and cats living together and declaring armistice inside by the fire, but the […]
November is a very interesting month for Southern bison habitats and operations. The definite and oppressive announcement of winter upon the landscape changes everything forever: once again. It is during this time of year that we humans, be-we: ranchers, park superintendents, consumers, lawmakers or bison stewardship-collectives and consortiums, also […]
This month I would like to shift the focus of my comments from managing herds, to managing destiny as a bison producer and/or bison-species restoration partner. You may have already read; its official that November 2nd is now National Bison Day! Woohooo – yeehaw and job well [done] right? […]
Southern Plains Bison Pointers Aug 2013 The dog-days of summer are upon us in the southern plains and hopefully we have all our preparations for a strong breeding season in order and working. If you’re catching up, then exhaust solutions to herd management that do not_ require high levels of […]
It’s getting crazy out there! Bulls are ‘roaring’, tending and sparring causing you to begin to sensing that you might not be as safe out there on foot all of the sudden. Trust your senses…. And don’t be out there on foot this time of year. They’re busy and other […]