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characteristics.html
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<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Ideal ranch characteristics</TITLE>
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="...characteristics of a sustainable ranch...">
<META NAME="Keywords" CONTENT="ranch, ranching, rangeland, ranchers, cowboys, horses, cattle, prairie, recreation, community">
<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Nol Ward">
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<TD style="width:60%" align="justify" valign="middle"><center><b><font face="Arial"><font color="C35617"><H3>Characteristics of a <br> sustainable ranch</H3></font></b><br>
<p>By Nol Ward</font></p>
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<p>"The Golden Rule for sustainable ranching is never taking more from the land than the land can sustain over time."</p>
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<p>-- Nol Ward</font><br></p>
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<p>Presented here is a list of operational characteristics that Nol has compiled over the years while working, managing, and consulting on different ranches and cattle operations. He believes that when all the characteristics are combined together, they form the basis of a sustainable ranch, or in other words, the basis of an ideal community.</p>
<p>The list is separated into three groups: 1) operational characteristics, 2) ecological characteristics, and 3) social characteristics.</p>
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<P><B>Operational characteristics</B></P>
<ol>
<li> Owned by conservation-minded individuals, communities, or countries.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Day to day management is left up to professionals who have years of experience and demonstrate exceptional management ability.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Operation is private or public owned, large-scale, well-managed, natural resource conserving, ecological responsible, vertically integrated, highly diversified, and optimum profit-motivated.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Operation utilizes large areas of rangeland with an optimum amount of labor and and a minimum amount of financial input and risk.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Management works with local and regional ranchers having common goals and objectives.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> In time, operation becomes largely self-supporting.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Managers take a very conservative, low-input, low-risk approach toward ranch management.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> The ranch is stocked at a very light stocking rate.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Livestock are grazed according to a proven, low-cost, rotational grazing plan.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> The day to day grazing of livestock is controlled by trained cowboys on horseback.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Management prepares in advance to survive times of drought and depressed market conditions.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Prescribed burns and spot applications of herbicide are used to control weeds and brush, enhance forage quality, and obtain optimum livestock distribution and grazing efficiency.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Operation does not incorporate the use of irrigation, fertilizer, pesticides, and farm machinery to grow forage for livestock.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Strives to maintain the herd in moderate to good body condition on a year-round basis.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Provides the herd with necessary supplementation when the forage in their diet does not meet minimum nutrition requirements.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Manages the health of the herd according to practices recommended by local and regional veterinarians.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Considers business, livestock, and climate cycles when making financial management decisions.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Dislikes government policies and programs that contribute to beef market oversupply, lower livestock prices, higher feed costs, overloading ranchers with debt, and rangeland degradation.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Ranch is operated with a MINIMUM amount of debt.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Emphasis in beef herd management is directed toward developing a closed-population of range-adapted, functionally superior, high-prepotent, general-purpose beef cattle.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Emphasis in livestock marketing is directed toward optimizing financial returns through the direct sale of top-quality range-adapted breeding stock and top-quality range-aged grassfed beef.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Enlists the use of a REGISTERED TRADE NAME when promoting the marketing of breeding stock and meat products.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Top-quality range-aged grassfed beef is recognized as tasty, juicy, healthy meat processed from cattle that have reached maturity and are no longer growing additional carcass, and have been born, grown-out, and fattened on native range.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Beef herd improvement is viewed as a PERPETUAL process of identifying and culling the influence of inferior cattle; and identifying and extending the influence of superior cattle.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Ranch's primary breeding objective is to produce better bulls than their sires were and better cows than their dams were, and do so within the boundaries of a closed population of cattle.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Rigid objective selection and closed-population breeding are used as tools for the eventual development of the type of cattle that will meet the ranch's breeding objective.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Ranching operation is vertically integrated all the way to the consumer and includes standardized operating procedures at each step of the process.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Diversification is used as a tool to improve ranch income.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Primary emphasis in diversification is directed toward contracting with a private or public organization to improve the ecological buffering capacity of the ranch's native grazing land for the benefit of society and wildlife.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Other methods of diversification include:<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<ul>
<li> breeding, training, and marketing horses for general ranch work as well as recreational riding<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> raising and marketing sheep and goats as breeding stock, meat, and other valuable products<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> providing suitable land sites for generating wind and solar energy<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> marketing arts and crafts products, such as landscape art, leather tooling, wood working, weaving, knitting, as well as rug- and blanket-making<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> providing public recreational opportunities, such as get-away lodging, ranch-style dining, chuck-wagon cookouts, wildlife viewing, managed hunting and fishing, working cowboy vacations, trail drives, and cowboy song and poetry concerts<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
</ul>
<li> Management is constantly seeking out new alternative sources of income that are compatible with current operations.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Includes sound financial management in every phase of the vertically integrated production and marketing process.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Owners and managers are prodigious readers and aggressively pursue useful information that will give them a competitive edge.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Ranching is viewed as a slow, steady, low-risk, long-term, generation to generation investment; not as a quick short-term speculative venture.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
</ol>
<P><B>Ecological characteristics</B></P>
<ol>
<li> The conservation of rangeland resources -- soil, water, vegetation, and wildlife -- play an important role in the ranch's ranching approach.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Ranch's ranching approach emphasizes the benefits of attaining and maintaining their native grazing lands in good to excellent ecological condition.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> The use of corporate by-laws, permanent trusts, conservation easements, or the sell of development rights permanently protect the ranch's native grazing land from man-made degradation and fragmentation.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Ranch people (i.e., owners, managers, cowboys, and other community members), livestock, vegetation, and wildlife coexist together in harmony within the rangeland ecosystem in which they are apart.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Whenever possible, operation minimizes the use of petroleum and other carbon based energy, and optimizes the use of solar and wind energy.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Owners and managers are constantly seeking out more environmentally efficient ways to reduce energy and water consumption, and dispose of waste materials.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
</ol>
<P><B>Social characteristics</B></P>
<ol>
<li> Ranching operation is viewed as a community where people live and work together for each others common benefit.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Employees of the ranch live in a way that is personally rewarding, socially acceptable, and in ways that does not negatively effect the agricultural and ecological condition of the ranch's grazing land.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Ranch employees are hard-working, peace-loving people that live life according to a strict code of moral, conduct, and land ethics.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Owners, managers, and employees have a common vision of purpose, and work hard to achieve their common goals.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Ranch provides basic needs of employees and their families -- functional housing, clean energy, clean water, healthy food, home schooling, health care, etc. -- from generation to generation, at the lowest feasible cost and financial risk.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Ranch employees are financially rewarded for working hard and doing exceptional work, and for safeguarding ranch's infrastructure investments and livestock from physical abuse.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> By participating in producing their own food, owners and employees develop close ties to the land, water, plants, and animals they depend on for their existence.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Ranch employees receive encouragement to improve themselves intellectually, artistically, culturally, morally, and spiritually throughout their life.<BR><IMG SRC="pitures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Owners and managers of the <a name="ranch">ranch</a> view natural resource conservation and environmental groups as consumers and concerned citizens, rather than adversaries.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Whenever possible, owners and managers attempt to educate and inform individuals or groups about the role properly managed rangeland ranching can play in<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<ul>
<li> providing healthy food, natural fiber, and valuable by-products for human consumption<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> conserving our country's native rangeland resources -- soil, water, vegetation, and wildlife -- for the common benefit of society<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> serving as an ecological buffer against man-made climate change and resulting increases in global warming.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
</ul>
<li> Under worst conditions, the ranch serves as a refuge from the poverty, hunger, and anarchy created by a devastating disaster -- either agricultural, economic, climatic, political, or religious.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=20 BORDER=0><BR>
<li> Ranch owners, managers, and personnel strive to preserve their simple, peaceful, tranquil culture for present and future generations.<BR><IMG SRC="pictures/dot_clear.gif" WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1 BORDER=0><BR>
</ul>
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<P><b><A HREF="founder.html#pairing">Back</a></b> to other information</p>
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<P>http://www.texasranchingconservancy.com/characteristics.html
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