Some Like It Hot

By Dee Ann Cameron, Public Affairs Specialist

When Allen Belk of Ballinger, Texas, bought a section of land in Runnels County in 2004, he knew he’d have his work cut out for him to get it ready for his Brangus heifers he wanted to put in there.

“With the drought we’ve had over the last five years, we have raised a lot of mesquite and prickly pear,” the life-long farmer and rancher says.

In fact, it got so thick, Belk says, the quail couldn’t even get through. And while the deer had good hiding cover in the mesquites, there wasn’t a lot of good browse available for them because it was choked out by the mesquite.

Belk, who served as Runnels County Extension Agent for three years, has been working with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for over 20 years. When he purchased the property, he sought the advice of Ronnie Vanicek, NRCS district conservationist in the Runnels County field office.

“I had heard a lot of people talk about prescribed burns and how they can help pastures and wildlife,” Belk says. “But I had never done one before, so I wanted to know if Ronnie thought it would be a good idea out on this place.”

Vanicek explained to him how a prescribed burn could be a good tool to damage the prickly pear enough to inhibit regrowth and make an aerial herbicide application more effective. Vanicek also told him a summer fire could be effective in helping to kill off some of the very smallest (less than 12 inches tall) mesquite. According to Vanicek, a combination of prescribed fire, coupled with proper grazing management should offer Belk the best-case scenario for managing the undesirable plants. He also said a fire helps return valuable nutrients to the soil.

Belk didn’t graze the pasture for the year and a half leading up to the prescribed burn. He wanted to have enough grass to carry the fire across the pasture.

On the day of the burn, Vanicek and Charles Anderson, NRCS zone rangeland management specialist, and other NRCS employees were on hand to help Belk implement the burn plan and manage the fire. Everything went off without a hitch, however, high humidity kept the fire from getting too hot, but the objectives were still met.

Within one week of Belk’s prescribed burn, new grass growth was evident as Belk, Vanicek and Anderson walked through the pasture.

“A hotter fire probably could have killed more of the prickly pear,” Anderson tells Belk, “But then you would have lost more ground cover, and with the rain you had right after the fire, that ground cover helped prevent erosion.”

Anderson and Vanicek are pleased with the sideoats grama, native bluestem, Texas wintergrass, buffalograss and curly mesquite grasses already recovering from the toasting they received a week earlier. Even more encouraging were the dozens of deer bounding through the blackened terrain, grazing on the fresh plant growth. Birds were also plentiful, as they captured bugs, seeds, and other tasty treats the fire rendered. All seem to have responded well to the fire.

Although only Belk’s family hunts on the property, he was glad to see an abundance of deer enjoying the fresh forage.

“I felt like the burn would really help kill off the prickly pear,” Belk says, “But I’m so glad to see it have such a positive impact on the wildlife. I’ve never seen this many quail and deer in here. It’s great.”

Belk will continue to defer the pasture until good grass re-growth is established. Next spring he will apply an aerial application of the herbicide, picloram, to eliminate any remaining prickly pear. In the mean time, the wildlife will continue to enjoy their refreshed habitat.

“I am very happy with the way things look right now, and I think a year from now it’s going to look even better,” Belk says. “That’s the great thing about a prescribed fire, you can make an immediate improvement, and then if you manage it right, it just gets better from there.”

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