2001 Winners

Stewards of the Land:
Stories of Commitment and Pride

Stewardship of the land presents each rancher and farmer with different challenges and requires different approaches. But it always demands ingenuity and commitment.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association believes those traits and all that cattlemen accomplish for the environment are worth noting, both for the public and to encourage others in the industry.

During its annual convention in February, the NCBA honored Iowa River Ranch, Union, Iowa, with the Eleventh Annual Environmental Stewardship Award. Sponsored by Dow AgroSciences, the award recognizes beef producers who use innovative practices to protect and enhance natural resources, all while maintaining or increasing the profitability of their business.

Here's a look at this year's national and regional winners.

Iowa River Ranch – Union, Iowa
Church's Grove Farm – Frankfort, Kentucky
Barthle Brothers Ranch – San Antonio, Florida
Holcombe Farms – Jay, Oklahoma
Milesnick Ranch – Belgrade, Montana
Dave Woods Ranches – Coalinga, California
Nagel Cattle Co. – Avon, South Dakota

Iowa River Ranch – Union, Iowa

The Iowa River Ranch manages forage and beef just as carefully as it manages its 1,300 acres of corn and soybeans. A commercial cowman and partner in a feedlot, this year's national and Region III winner David Petty got into agriculture by working for area farmers. He rented small, under-utilized pastures, then cleared brush and re-seeded grass. As he and his wife Diane bought adjacent properties, they implemented rotational grazing.

The 3,000-acre ranch is home to more than 300 head of native deer. Four ponds and one lake offer habitat for Canadian geese and other fowl. The couple also has stocked the farm with pheasants, quail and partridge. Hilly terrain, carefully managed wooded areas, and Forest Reserve and Conservation Reserve Program acres enhance wildlife habitat.

Petty uses several watering systems to keep his 400 cows out of ponds. A stand pipe located in the center of one pond feeds to a hydrant and tank. In another pasture, Petty drilled a new well and installed 4,000 feet of watering pipe below ground. Eventually, the system will include six different watering locations and allow for more rotational grazing.

Church's Grove Farm – Frankfort, Kentucky

Region I winners Zack and Yvonne Saufley were featured as experts, not actors, in a video produced by their state's Agricultural Water Quality Authority. They've put best management practices and water quality plans into action.

A stream through their 800-acre farm runs into the pristine Elkhorn Creek, a scenic waterway, highly visible to the public, along a major highway. To protect this tributary, the couple maintains filter strips and built limited-access livestock ramps of filter fabric and crushed rock. On some ramps, metal gates floating on PVC pipe move as water levels change. Pasture pumps, operated by the cattle, draw water from an existing fenced pond and from the main Elkhorn Creek through a culvert under a highway. The Saufleys also developed several springs that gravity flow to watering tanks.

They fenced 200 cows from forested areas. A covered waste facility stores manure from a backgrounding operation until it can be properly applied. Municipal sludge provides additional fertilizer, with groundwater quality carefully monitored using several test wells.

Barthle Brothers Ranch – San Antonio, Florida

Region II winners from the Barthle Brothers Ranch are increasingly penned in by urban sprawl. The 8,250-acre ranch, started in the 1930s by J.A. Barthle, is now operated jointly be several descending families, including Jeanette and Jim Sutton, Randy and Patty Barthle, Jan and Ed Dillard, Steve Barthle, Kathy and Steve Paige, Larry and Lynn Barthle, and Mark and Tammy Barthle.

Municipal wellfields have drained much of the surface water from the property, forcing the ranch to offset the loss of grazing with hay production. Barthle Brothers use a combination of solar- and electrical-powered wells that feed into watering troughs strategically placed around the ranch.

The ranch centerpiece is "Big Fish Lake," so named for producing the state's unofficial record-sized largemouth bass. Though the ranch had to restrict access as neighbors and liability issues increased, the family still hosts many educational tours, including recent visits by environmental activists.

Holcombe Farms – Jay, Oklahoma

Managing nutrient levels in municipal water sources earned recognition for Region IV winners David and Gayla Holcombe. Their farm is located in the watershed for the city of Tulsa. David's Cherokee ancestors established the farm around 1837, after traveling from Georgia to the Oklahoma Indian Territory on the Trail of Tears. Today, the operation includes 200 head of commercial Angus cows, as well as confinement poultry and swine production.

To prevent soil erosion and runoff, Holcombe installed geo-textile fiber carpets filled with aggregate rock around watering sources and in working pens. He fenced farm ponds, with cattle access limited to ramps. He converted cropland to permanent pasture and hay meadows and implemented rotational grazing.

A former vocational agriculture instructor and a chairman of the Beaty Creek EPA 319 Water Quality Program, Holcombe takes a leadership role in helping others learn to protect a precious local water source.

Milesnick Ranch – Belgrade, Montana

Bucking a trend in riparian management helped Region V winners Tom and Mary Kay Milesnick earn honors. A national sportsman's magazine once featured the 6,200-acre Milesnick Ranch, nestled in the Gallatin Valley, for its world-class fly-fishing streams.

In a break with conventional wisdom, the Milesnicks discovered that nonuse of riparian areas can be as detrimental as overuse. They actually enhanced fish populations by using a short-duration grazing system along the creeks. Development of pools and management of woody vegetation along stream banks also improved fishing.

Since allowing a limited use of stream banks in 1992, beef production has increased by 20 percent.

They designed their grazing systems to leave adequate feed and cover for fish, waterfowl, deer and other wildlife. On their upland pastures, gravity flow stock tanks led to better grazing distribution. Solar-powered fencing throughout the ranch reduces outside energy use.

The Milesnicks control weeds with grazing management, ground application of herbicides, spot-spraying with backpack sprayers, shovel-cutting and limited use of aerial application.

Dave Woods Ranches – Coalinga, California

Taming temperamental streams is a mark of Region VI winner Dave Wood, who owns, leases and operates several ranches in California and Oregon, and who also manages Harris Ranch Beef and Harris Ranch Feeding Companies.

They divided streams that empty into one of California's most popular trout and perch fisheries into segments and fenced off riparian pastures. Wood implemented a management system to promote and protect willow growth through natural seeding, encourage other grass and vegetative growth, stabilize stream banks, and trap stream silt deposits. The results include narrowing of streams, increased wetland areas, a raised water profile and enhanced riparian growth.

With 18 miles of new fence, Wood's system allows for changes in grazing time or density.

Wood also owns and leases other California ranches that are developing conservation easements with the California Rangeland Trust, the Packard Trust and the American Land Conservancy. Environmental practices on these lands will include fencing off major streams and implementing a seasonal rotational grazing program.

Nagel Cattle Co. – Avon, South Dakota

Keeping a check on cedar trees is a big chore for the Nagel Cattle Co., located two miles from the Missouri River. Region VII winners John and Delina Nagel implement prescribed burns, as well as other approaches. They're working with their local conservation district to develop a method of harvesting the cedars and recycling them into chips to be used for landscaping and erosion control.

The Nagels believe in exceeding all the environmental regulations they face as cattle feeders. They've installed an animal waste management system for storing all liquid and solid wastes from their 1,200-head feedlot. The system includes an evaporation pond to store the liquid waste and debris basins for solid waste materials. They apply manure to 634 acres of cropland, following a nutrient management plan. Grassy waterways and diversions prevent erosion and act as a runoff filtering system. They introduced larva-eating wasps to reduce fly populations.

Like the other winners, the Nagels believe conservation pays, for everyone. "Animals in a clean, healthy environment result in consumer-safe food, plus more profits for the producer," John Nagel says. "Being a good steward of our environment is a win-win situation."

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