Time & Timing --- Pasture Rotation

Sassy Bog, Dead Cow, Antelope, Scobey, Moose, Murphy, Drain Ditch, Bachelor Mountain Bench, One Willow, Sullivan, Browns Canyon, Wellborn --- these are the names of a few of the more than 50 pastures, including U.S. Forest, Bureau of Land Management, State of Montana, and private or deeded pastures and fields on which the HPR grazes cattle. The total of all pastures is nearly 30,000 acres. We “rotate” and “rest” the pastures depending upon “time” (e.g. time spent in pastures) and “timing” (time of year pastures are used). Some pastures are best suited for fall grazing. There is never enough early spring grass (this season is really short). Grazing can occur more than once a year on some good pastures (e.g. early spring, then back in the fall). We try not to have any grazing after May 1 in our hay pastures and meadows. Aftermath grazing in hay pastures and fields is excellent when cattle are brought back from mountain pastures (mostly USFS pastures). Of course, on U.S. Forest lands we can never get on soon enough (pressure from those Sage Grouse who really use sagebrush…..their name should be a hint) in the spring and we always have to get off too early! We seldom are allowed, especially in draught years, to spend as much time on U.S.F.S. and BLM pastures as our allotment allows.

Urs does a wonderful job of efficiently grazing our pastures, always considering the health of the grasses, the health of the cattle, and the health of the surrounding habitat for fish and wildlife. What is difficult is when someone dictates when we can move cattle to, on or from public lands. Fortunately, we only have this condition on U.S.F.S. and BLM pastures. We had preliminarily qualified recently for shared government funding of new stock tanks and fencing to encourage cattle to more efficiently forage away from Painter Creek but then we got cold feet on the “Prescriptive Grazing Practice” of the Conservation Plan. The Plan, we learned, would allow (actually require) government oversight on deeded lands similar to what we have on federal lands…………we said no thanks. Imagine how many good conservation plans could be implemented if Congress, bowing to the pressure of extremists, had not required “prescriptive” (like what the doctor orders!) grazing plans. In the west we don’t mind being encouraged to do something but we sure don’t like being coerced into doing something. As General George Washington said of his Continental Army, they like to be lead rather than pushed. We like our freedom. Many of us are like our old Scottish Highlander ancestors ------we love and value family and freedom above all.

The rule of thumb in the west is that the U.S. Forest Service is steward of the forested mountains; the BLM is steward of the sagebrush covered hills and foothills; and the rancher is steward of the meadows, valleys, and riparian areas. You can see this wonderful and varied terrain on our web site in the “Landscape” photo album.

You can imagine how quickly our wranglers have to learn the location, fences, water supplies, grasses and forage of more than 50 pastures. When Urs says, Deven, go move the Second Calf Heifers in the Upper Watson pasture to the Sassy Bog field, Deven needs to know what route to drive the cattle, where the gates are, and generally the sizes (e.g. acreage) and what types of grasses the pastures have. Of course, mineral placement must follow the cattle into a particular field and the fences must be checked before the cattle are taken to a particular field. Moving cattle……that’s what we like to do at the HPR. It’s good for the livestock, it’s good for our forage, and its fun and rewarding for our guests and wranglers.