Birdwell & Clark
A couple on a mission to regenerate.
Birdwell and Clark Ranch, a stocker operation, is a 11,700-acre ranch of tall grass prairie, river bottoms and brushy draws located in north central Texas in Clay County. Emry Birdwell studied under Allan Savory in the 1980’s learning the benefits of holistic management. Deborah Clark is a HMI Certified Educator. The knowledge of grazing and passion for the land held between Emry and Deborah makes the Birdwell and Clark ranch a unique regenerative agriculture operation that has received national notoriety.
Deborah speaks regularly at conferences such as the Regenerate Conference put on by the Quivira Coalition, Holistic Management, and The American Grass-fed Association. They have also participated in Executive Link an arm of Ranching for Profit . Emry and Deborah are a dynamic duo as you can see in the Soil Carbon Cowboy video at the bottom of this story.
Emry Birdwell and Deborah Clark discussing their Big Herd's next move.
Location of Birdwell & Clark Ranch
Emry observes the Big Herd as it is moved into a new pasture.
Easier than it Looks
The Birdwell and Clark ranch is divided into approximately 140 paddocks ranging in size from 45 to 145 acres. Their stocker herd, referred to as the Big Herd, ranges from 4,000-5,000+ head at a time. In the fast growing season, the Big Herd is moved 4 -6 times a day depending on the rate of growth of the forage and the quantity and quality of available forage. Movement of the herd can be done with only one or two people. Managing one Big Herd is not labor intensive. It does require focused, planned, observant stockmen who are experienced in low stress handling of livestock. The Big Herd is sold on the commercial market at the end of the growing season.
In this image on the left you can see the impact of the herd on the pasture after grazing. It is largely trampled litter on the ground which is fast food for the microbes.
Grazing as an Art
The importance of the recovery period and animal impact to the overall improvement in range conditions experienced at the ranch in the past 17 years cannot be emphasized enough. The recovery period allows adequate time for individual plants to grow and controls overgrazing by keeping cattle from returning to the same or preferred plants. Root systems flourish and establish healthier, stable grasses and forbs.
The benefit of animal impact is the result of a concentration of dung and urine adding nutrients back to the soil. Animal impact also provides for the trampling of old grasses and forbs that help keep the soil covered as well as exposes new plant growth to sunlight and disturbs existing seed beds for new growth. The average rest or recovery period of any given paddock is a minimum of 45 days and a max of approximately 150 days depending on rate of regrowth.
Large stands of the ranch are covered in high quality forage grasses such as the Indian grass pictured here.
Keep it Covered
The benefits of high density, short duration grazing management are evident on the ranch. When the ranch was purchased in 2004, it was estimated that approximately 25% of the ranch was bare ground. After 17 years of holistic planned grazing, less than 5% of the ranch is bare ground. This plays a significant factor in water holding capacity, water infiltration, decreased erosion, and improving soil health due to increased organic material.
Eastern gamma grass, a high forage value bunch grass, has popped up around the ranch.
Diversity is Key
The factors mentioned above are fundamental to a second significant development that is seen in the increasing diversity of grasses and forbs on the ranch. Once a sea of moribund Little bluestem, the rangeland now consists of nutrient rich grasses including Eastern gama grass, Indian grass, Switch grass, Little bluestem in vegetative state, Side oats grama, Blue grama, Vine mesquite, White and Purpletop tridens, and Buffalograss.
Yellow Neptune is a legume that provides nitrogen to the soil.
Forbs, too, have increased in diversity and play an important role in a varied diet for the herd including vetch, Illinois bundleflower, clovers, deer vetch, Texas filaree, Prairie Acacia, Englemann’s daisy, yellow neptunia, and Maximillan sunflower.
On Transect 82 Corner #3 you can see the higher quality forage grasses in the background close to the transect line but not in it.
Monitor to Manage
Soil for Water has two transects set up on the ranch in two selected areas. Both transects on the Birdwell and Clark Ranch are designed to monitor changes in plant succession over a period of time as it is impacted by the Big Herd. These transects are in areas where plant succession has already begun to shift to a higher quality of forage but has not yet moved into the area of the transect. Our goal is to assess long-term changes in soil health, available water holding capacity, and the time it takes for higher succession grasses to move into the transect areas.
Transect Lone Star with sedges growing close to the ground along the transect in April 2019.
Transect lone Star, pictured on the left, is in an area with a sloping hill and a large population of Cherokee sedge and Broadleaf sedge that start at the top of the hill and descend down about half way into the transect. These sedges tend to prefer moist soils but can also tolerate dry conditions thereby keeping the soil covered as conditions fluctuate.
Kara Kroeger (NCAT), Kenneth Prewitt (NRCS), and Deborah Clark standing in a field of Indian grass taller than their heads on monitoring day at the Birdwell and Clark Ranch.
Soil Carbon Cowboy video featuring the Birdwell and Clark Ranch produced by Peter Byck, a professor of practice at Arizona State University, in both the School of Sustainability and the Cronkite School of Journalism. He is the director, producer and writer of carbon nation.
