MENARD — A rare tour of five prominent area wildlife operations is in store for participants in the “Range Management 101: A Primer for Livestock and Wildlife Managers” field day Sept. 26. Registration is from 7:30 to 8:15 a.m. at the Menard Country Club.
The day-long field day is sponsored by the Texas Section-Society for Range Management and the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society in cooperation with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Ranches on the tour include: the Clark, Leggett, LLL, Schmidt and Comanche Springs Exotic Wildlife Ranch. All the properties feature progressive management systems for livestock and wildlife.
The day begins at 8:15 a.m. with a welcome and overview of tour objectives by Ellis Klett of the Leggett and LLL Ranches and Tamara Trail, Extension associate for conservation in San Angelo. Dr. Dale Rollins, San Angelo-based Extension wildlife specialist, will then present “In Search of Camouflaged Cowboy Hats. . .” prior to the tour’s 8:45 a.m. departure for the Clark Ranch.
At the ranch, owner Buddy Clark and son Lee will discuss their experiences with brush control, stocker cattle, and prescribed burning. Other speakers and topics at the site include: “Carrying Capacity for Livestock,” Bob Lyons, Extension range specialist, Uvalde; “Competition Among Wildlife and Livestock,” Blake Murden, wildlife and fisheries sciences department doctoral student, College Station; and “Introduction to Plants Important to Wildlife,” Ken Cearley, Extension associate for wildlife, San Angelo.
The Leggett Ranch is the next stop at 11 a.m. Klett will give an overview of the ranch’s grazing program followed by a discussion of range plants and their uses by Steve Nelle, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) wildlife biologist at San Angelo. Two other speakers scheduled at the site are Dr. Jake Landers, local rancher and Extension range specialist emeritus, and Charles Anderson, district conservationist, NRCS, Menard County. Landers will explain the role of fire in habitat management. Anderson will discuss the EQIP program.
The tour will then travel to the LLL Ranch at 12:30 p.m. for a catered lunch prepared by the Menard Library Club.
The program resumes at 2 p.m. with a stop at the Schmidt Ranch. Rancher Tim Schmidt will describe the operation’s white-tailed deer and quail management programs. Other speakers and topics at the stop include “Brush Busters Program,” Dr. Allan McGinty, Extension range specialist, San Angelo; “Brush Sculptors Program,” Rollins; and “Proposition 11,” Brian Hays, Extension rangeland ecology and management specialist, College Station.
The tour then moves on to the Comanche Springs Exotic Wildlife Ranch at 3:30 p.m. to hear ranch owners Joe and Nancy Green explain the ranch’s management program. McGinty and Kent Mills, with Ezell- Key Grain Company at Snyder, will also speak. Mills will discuss range nutrition and McGinty will offer ways to monitor and evaluate management decisions.
Participants will return to Menard Country Club at 6 p.m. for a catered meal and refreshments followed by the evening’s keynote presentation. Sonora Experiment Station Superintendent Dr. Charles “Butch” Taylor will make the presentation, “Stewardship, the Land Ethic and the Roles of Texas Ranchers.”
The field day concludes with a question and answer session.
Registration by Sept. 15 is $15 per person. After that date, the fee increases to $25 per person.
For further information, contact Trail at (915) 653-4576 or Klett at (915) 396-4353.
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