Recently, our agricultural research team has been asked to provide talks during tours of our Oswalt Road Ranch. The Oswalt Road Ranch is a 4,992-acre property in Love County, Okla., willed to us by D. Joyce Coffey. The Noble Foundation took full control of the property in 2000. The ranch is a valuable piece of property because of its unique natural beauty and potential to support livestock production and wildlife habitat. On the tours, we have been showing off our new state-of-the art livestock handling facilities and providing information about results from recent research on by-product feeds, the Noble Foundation stocker cattle receiving program, white-tailed deer movements and management of rangelands.
As a forage agronomist, I am involved in our current and future plans for the management of the range and forestland covering this property. Today, I\u27m going to tell you more about this property, explain why it has unique value as a native ecosystem, illustrate how it fits as a component of the natural heritage of Oklahoma, and discuss our plans for managing this property to enhance its value for wildlife and cattle, while hopefully providing some insight on how you might manage similar properties

Guretzky, John A.

English

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Agronomy & Horticulture -- Faculty Publications Agronomy and Horticulture Department 12-2008 Shaping the Cross Timbers with Fire and Grazing John A. Guretzky University of Nebraska-Lincoln, jguretzky2@unl.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/agronomyfacpub  Part of the Plant Sciences Commons Guretzky, John A., "Shaping the Cross Timbers with Fire and Grazing" (2008). Agronomy & Horticulture -- Faculty Publications. 574. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/agronomyfacpub/574 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Agronomy and Horticulture Department at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Agronomy & Horticulture -- Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Noble Foundation Ag News & Views. 26:12 (December 2008). Shaping the Cross Timbers with Fire and Grazing By John Guretzky  Recently, our agricultural research team has been asked to provide talks during tours of our Oswalt Road Ranch. The Oswalt Road Ranch is a 4,992-acre property in Love County, Okla., willed to us by D. Joyce Coffey. The Noble Foundation took full control of the property in 2000. The ranch is a valuable piece of property because of its unique natural beauty and potential to support livestock production and wildlife habitat. On the tours, we have been showing off our new state-of-the art livestock handling facilities and providing information about results from recent research on by-product feeds, the Noble Foundation stocker cattle receiving program, white-tailed deer movements and management of rangelands. As a forage agronomist, I am involved in our current and future plans for the management of the range and forestland covering this property. Today, I'm going to tell you more about this property, explain why it has unique value as a native ecosystem, illustrate how it fits as a component of the natural heritage of Oklahoma, and discuss our plans for managing this property to enhance its value for wildlife and cattle, while hopefully providing some insight on how you might manage similar properties. The Oswalt Road Ranch sits in the Cross Timbers, an ecological region stretching from southeastern Kansas to north-central Texas, and is comprised of two different vegetation types, tallgrass prairie and post oak-blackjack oak forest. Early westward-bound settlers and explorers aptly named this region Cross Timbers as they remarked on the bands of timber interspersed by bands of prairie. Native tallgrass prairie is comprised of a diversity of grasses, forbs, legumes and wildflowers. Major grasses include big bluestem, indiangrass, switchgrass and little bluestem. Indian blanket, wine-cup and indian paintbrush are wildflowers found at Oswalt. Legumes that are important for wildlife and cattle include tick-clover, purple prairie clover, partridge pea and Illinois bundleflower. In addition to post oak and blackjack oak, large trees in the forested areas include Shumard's oak, black oak and chinquapin oak. Common understory woody species include rough-leaf dogwood, sand plum, coralberry, greenbrier and sumacs. Our goal with the Oswalt Road Ranch is to enhance this property for both wildlife habitat and cattle production, and learn something during the process to help support our education and consultation efforts. To accomplish this, we have developed an innovative long-term applied research project to evaluate the effects of prescribed burning on the compositional changes to forest and grassland, wildlife habitat, stocker cattle gains and economics. This will build on previous research done in Oklahoma, Texas and other Great Plains states examining the effects of burning and grazing management on prairie and grassland systems. To get a baseline of our starting point and monitor where we are going with this property, our plan is to conduct an annual vegetation survey beginning in spring 2009. Survey points will be evaluated across the many ecological sites, soil types and plant communities of the property. The survey will be conducted twice a year, in spring and autumn, to document species that complete their annual growth during cool and warm periods, respectively. We will be tracking vegetation community and forage production changes for the 10 years following the implementation of the project. From initial observations of this property, previous research and seeing other properties of similar conditions in Oklahoma and Texas, we are aware of challenges lying ahead. Many of our tallgrass prairie sites are eroded from a history of farming and overgrazing, and are invaded by introduced species such as Old World Bluestem. Several of our upland areas have been overtaken by Old World Bluestem limiting diversity of native grasses and forbs. Other sites are dominated by forbs such as western ragweed and annual broomweed. These species are valuable from a diversity standpoint, but not when they blanket and dominate a field. One of our largest problems, however, is the domination and encroachment of eastern red cedar in our forested and grassland communities. Eastern red cedar is a native species and has always been part of the landscape, but the suppression of fire has allowed it to flourish. Restoration of functioning native rangelands is a priority to us in the Agricultural Division. Their value as low-input forage resources supportive of biodiversity and capable of holding and building soils is often neglected and unrecognized. By enhancing these systems for wildlife and cattle, we will find better ways to protect their natural value and educate others throughout the southern Great Plains on ways to do the same. An important component to restoration of this property is the introduction of fire. We are planning to rotate prescribed burns around this property annually while leaving some areas unburned to compare the effects of fire on the forest and range plant communities. Sites that are designated to be burned will be burned every three years in February or March. The burns will be safely conducted by a research support staff that is trained in the proper procedures of prescribed burning. Research in Oklahoma has shown that the season of burning affects the intensity of the fire and, consequently, can have some effects on vegetation compositional changes. It is my opinion that simply introducing fire to these sites, regardless of the season, is important to maintaining the integrity of these natural landscapes. Hopefully, burning of these landscapes will reduce the accumulation of brush and cedars, and enhance the quality of the grasslands for forage and wildlife habitat. Proper grazing management is also a crucial component of managing these landscapes, and having the correct stocking rate is the most important factor in grazing management. We generally stock conservatively, following the rule of "take halfhalf." We allow half of the yearly forage production to be consumed or lost through trampling by the combination of cattle, wildlife and insects. The other half of the forage is conserved to allow for the maintenance and vigor of the grasses, while sustainholding productive soils in place.Once a proper stocking rate is set, how one manages the distribution of livestock is the producer's preference. Rotational or continuous stocking can be used. Most research shows that both systems are sustainable plant communities if stocking rates are appropriate. On the Oswalt Road Ranch, we will be grazing stocker cattle from midnutritional needs of young lightweightspring and summer, and provide us data on how our vegetation management activities affect animal performance. One could also use a cowrangelands.  A long-term research project on the Oswalt Road ranch will evaluate the effects of prescribed burning on forest and grassland.    and do not have drastically different effects on -April to mid-July. This will allow us to match  animals to growth of high quality forage in early -calf production system on these -leave ing and  A final consideration when managing these Cross Timbers is what to do about all those cedar trees. We feel that under conservative stocking rates, wheto accumulate and plant litter to build up, we will be able to get effective burns to kill the young cedar trees that have sprouted and begin to beat back those at the margins of our forest and grasslands. Although burning has been smaintaining majestic prairies and savannas in the Great Plains, we realize that burning is not always popular and practical. Mechanical control, through use of heavy equipment on a large scale or a chainsaw on a small scale, Regardless of the method, cedars will continue to increase in number and diminish our native grasslands unless we take action to solve this land management challenge.I hope I have provided you some insight to our native grasslanOklahoma and north-central Texas and thoughts on how to manage similar properties you might be in charge of. In summary, I can't emphasize enough the importance of proper stocking rates and use of fire as a tool to shape these landscapes  This photo shows the positive effects on a grazing area after a prescribed burn. Please note the eastern red cedar trees killed by the fire at the back of the pasture.  © 2008 by The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Inc.re we allow vegetation hown to be a crucial aspect to is a possible alternative. ds and heritage in    .  

Shaping the Cross Timbers with Fire and Grazing

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Agronomy & Horticulture -- Faculty Publications Agronomy and Horticulture Department 
12-2008 
Shaping the Cross Timbers with Fire and Grazing 
John A. Guretzky 
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, jguretzky2@unl.edu 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/agronomyfacpub 
 Part of the Plant Sciences Commons 
Guretzky, John A., "Shaping the Cross Timbers with Fire and Grazing" (2008). Agronomy & Horticulture -- 
Faculty Publications. 574. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/agronomyfacpub/574 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Agronomy and Horticulture Department at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Agronomy & Horticulture -- 
Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
Noble Foundation Ag News & Views. 26:12 (December 2008). 
Shaping the Cross Timbers with Fire and 
Grazing 
By John Guretzky 
 
Recently, our agricultural research team has been asked to provide talks during tours of 
our Oswalt Road Ranch. The Oswalt Road Ranch is a 4,992-acre property in Love 
County, Okla., willed to us by D. Joyce Coffey. The Noble Foundation took full control of 
the property in 2000. The ranch is a valuable piece of property because of its unique 
natural beauty and potential to support livestock production and wildlife habitat. On the 
tours, we have been showing off our new state-of-the art livestock handling facilities and 
providing information about results from recent research on by-product feeds, the Noble 
Foundation stocker cattle receiving program, white-tailed deer movements and 
management of rangelands. 
As a forage agronomist, I am involved in our current and future plans for the 
management of the range and forestland covering this property. Today, I'm going to tell 
you more about this property, explain why it has unique value as a native ecosystem, 
illustrate how it fits as a component of the natural heritage of Oklahoma, and discuss 
our plans for managing this property to enhance its value for wildlife and cattle, while 
hopefully providing some insight on how you might manage similar properties. 
The Oswalt Road Ranch sits in the Cross Timbers, an ecological region stretching from 
southeastern Kansas to north-central Texas, and is comprised of two different 
vegetation types, tallgrass prairie and post oak-blackjack oak forest. Early westward-
bound settlers and explorers aptly named this region Cross Timbers as they remarked 
on the bands of timber interspersed by bands of prairie. Native tallgrass prairie is 
comprised of a diversity of grasses, forbs, legumes and wildflowers. Major grasses 
include big bluestem, indiangrass, switchgrass and little bluestem. Indian blanket, wine-
cup and indian paintbrush are wildflowers found at Oswalt. Legumes that are important 
for wildlife and cattle include tick-clover, purple prairie clover, partridge pea and Illinois 
bundleflower. In addition to post oak and blackjack oak, large trees in the forested areas 
include Shumard's oak, black oak and chinquapin oak. Common understory woody 
species include rough-leaf dogwood, sand plum, coralberry, greenbrier and sumacs. 
Our goal with the Oswalt Road Ranch is to enhance this property for both wildlife habitat 
and cattle production, and learn something during the process to help support our 
education and consultation efforts. To accomplish this, we have developed an 
innovative long-term applied research project to evaluate the effects of prescribed 
burning on the compositional changes to forest and grassland, wildlife habitat, stocker 
cattle gains and economics. This will build on previous research done in Oklahoma, 
Texas and other Great Plains states examining the effects of burning and grazing 
management on prairie and grassland systems. 
To get a baseline of our starting point and monitor where we are going with this 
property, our plan is to conduct an annual vegetation survey beginning in spring 2009. 
Survey points will be evaluated across the many ecological sites, soil types and plant 
communities of the property. The survey will be conducted twice a year, in spring and 
autumn, to document species that complete their annual growth during cool and warm 
periods, respectively. We will be tracking vegetation community and forage production 
changes for the 10 years following the implementation of the project. From initial 
observations of this property, previous research and seeing other properties of similar 
conditions in Oklahoma and Texas, we are aware of challenges lying ahead. 
Many of our tallgrass prairie sites are eroded from a history of farming and overgrazing, 
and are invaded by introduced species such as Old World Bluestem. Several of our 
upland areas have been overtaken by Old World Bluestem limiting diversity of native 
grasses and forbs. Other sites are dominated by forbs such as western ragweed and 
annual broomweed. These species are valuable from a diversity standpoint, but not 
when they blanket and dominate a field. 
One of our largest problems, however, is the domination and encroachment of eastern 
red cedar in our forested and grassland communities. Eastern red cedar is a native 
species and has always been part of the landscape, but the suppression of fire has 
allowed it to flourish. 
Restoration of functioning native rangelands is a priority to us in the Agricultural 
Division. Their value as low-input forage resources supportive of biodiversity and 
capable of holding and building soils is often neglected and unrecognized. By 
enhancing these systems for wildlife and cattle, we will find better ways to protect their 
natural value and educate others throughout the southern Great Plains on ways to do 
the same. 
An important component to restoration of this property is the introduction of fire. We are 
planning to rotate prescribed burns around this property annually while leaving some 
areas unburned to compare the effects of fire on the forest and range plant 
communities. Sites that are designated to be burned will be burned every three years in 
February or March. The burns will be safely conducted by a research support staff that 
is trained in the proper procedures of prescribed burning. Research in Oklahoma has 
shown that the season of burning affects the intensity of the fire and, consequently, can 
have some effects on vegetation compositional changes. It is my opinion that simply 
introducing fire to these sites, regardless of the season, is important to maintaining the 
integrity of these natural landscapes. Hopefully, burning of these landscapes will reduce 
the accumulation of brush and cedars, and enhance the quality of the grasslands for 
forage and wildlife habitat. 
Proper grazing management is also a crucial component of managing these 
landscapes, and having the correct stocking rate is the most important factor in grazing 
management. We generally stock conservatively, following the rule of "take half
half." We allow half of the yearly forage production to be consumed or lost through 
trampling by the combination of cattle, wildlife and insects. The other half of the forage 
is conserved to allow for the maintenance and vigor of the grasses, while sustain
holding productive soils in place.
Once a proper stocking rate is set, how one manages the distribution of livestock is the 
producer's preference. Rotational or continuous stocking can be used. Most research 
shows that both systems are sustainable 
plant communities if stocking rates are appropriate. On the Oswalt Road Ranch, we will 
be grazing stocker cattle from mid
nutritional needs of young lightweight
spring and summer, and provide us data on how our vegetation management activities 
affect animal performance. One could also use a cow
rangelands. 
 
A long-term research project on the Oswalt Road ranch will evaluate the effects of prescribed burning on 
forest and grassland.  
 
 
and do not have drastically different effects on 
-April to mid-July. This will allow us to match 
 animals to growth of high quality forage in early 
-calf production system on these 
-leave 
ing and 
 
A final consideration when managing these Cross Timbers is what to do about all those 
cedar trees. We feel that under conservative stocking rates, whe
to accumulate and plant litter to build up, we will be able to get effective burns to kill the 
young cedar trees that have sprouted and begin to beat back those at the margins of 
our forest and grasslands. Although burning has been s
maintaining majestic prairies and savannas in the Great Plains, we realize that burning 
is not always popular and practical. Mechanical control, through use of heavy 
equipment on a large scale or a chainsaw on a small scale, 
Regardless of the method, cedars will continue to increase in number and diminish our 
native grasslands unless we take action to solve this land management challenge.
I hope I have provided you some insight to our native grasslan
Oklahoma and north-central Texas and thoughts on how to manage similar properties 
you might be in charge of. In summary, I can't emphasize enough the importance of 
proper stocking rates and use of fire as a tool to shape these landscapes
 
 
This photo shows the positive effects on a grazing area after a prescribed burn. Please note the eastern 
red cedar trees killed by the fire at the back of the pasture.
 
 
© 2008 by The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Inc.
re we allow vegetation 
hown to be a crucial aspect to 
is a possible alternative. 
ds and heritage in 
 
 
 
. 
 


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Shaping the Cross Timbers with Fire and Grazing

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