Kendall SWCD Hosts Land Stewardship Tour at Hillingdon Ranch

Comfort, Texas – May 28, 2008.  The Kendall Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) will be hosting their Land Stewardship Tour of the Hillingdon Ranch, 346 Giles Ranch Road, near Comfort, on Fri., June 27 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Hillingdon Ranch is being honored as the recipient of the 2007 Outstanding Rangeland Management Award from the Texas Section Society for Range Management.

The tour of the Hillingdon Ranch will include speakers on a variety of topics including land management of livestock, grazing, plant identification, wildlife management, prescribed burning and brush management. Robin Giles, will also speak about land management in today’s world.

The Hillingdon Ranch is operated by Robin and his wife, Carol, and their son, Grant Giles. Robin and his family own 800 acres of the 20,000-acre family ranch while the remaining acreage is leased from more than 200 relatives and heirs of the original ranch owners.

The Hillingdon Ranch was established in 1887 by Alfred Giles, Robin’s grandfather. Robin and his family have operated the ranch since 1959. They raise Angus cattle, Angora goats, and Rambouillet sheep. The ranch is stocked at about 25 acres/animal unit/year. Eleven herds, with various mixes of cattle, sheep, and goats are rotated based on a decision deferment. Each herd has two to four pastures available at any one time. Brush and weed control is achieved biologically with goats and sheep.

Range condition and trend have shown vast improvements over the years due to planning, good decisions and grazing management techniques employed. When Robin began operating the ranch, there were many areas within each pasture that were in poor condition due to spot grazing. Presently, good condition rangeland is more uniform across the ranch.

Big bluestem, Indiangrass, and little bluestem are prevalent over much of the ranch. Robin has learned how to graze and manage these species to get the most out of them and keep them increasing in the ecosystem.

The ranch realizes the value of their wildlife resources. A deer census is conducted annually on the ranch and the data is used to determine harvest numbers and to balance the buck:doe ratio to insure higher quality and appropriate numbers of deer to maintain on the ranch.

Improvements in range hydrology have mirrored the increase in overall range condition. Infiltration is high resulting in an increasing number of springs and increased spring flow of existing springs. Some springs that once dried up during the summer now flow year long.

Robin, Carol and Grant take pride in their range management on the Hillingdon Ranch.  Robin has been a featured speaker promoting range management at numerous state and national meetings and the ranch has been the site of several state tours for various groups as well as a classroom for various university groups.

The workshop is $15 for one person or $25 for two people and covers lunch and materials. Register by calling Lissie Schneider with the Kendall SWCD by June 17 at (830) 249-2821 between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The tour is limited seating so pre-registration and payment are required in advanced.

Registration/coffee begins at 8 a.m. and the tour runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. In addition to Kendall SWCD, the Land Stewardship Tour is being hosted by the USDA-NRCS, Association of Texas Soil & Water Conservation Districts, the Texas Society for Range Management and the Alamo Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D).

Contact

Melissa Blair, Public Affairs Specialist
Phone:  361-241-0609

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