2006

The plan for this year was to shear the 67 acre pasture, burn and plant. Several problems occurred to change the plan.

The first difficulty was in finding someone to do the mesquite shearing. With a limited amount of dollars allocated for this; first finding someone to meet the price was difficult. One company was lined up but they did a "no show".

The next option was to rent a skid steer with a shear attachment. But a comparison of the total cost of rental plus delivery charges versus purchasing a shear attachment for the tractor; the decision was made to purchase the tree shear attachment. The cost plus the ability to shear as needed (without having to rent) made the decision a better choice.

The shear was ordered, purchased, picked up and finally began work during the middle of March.

After seeing the after effects of dozing mesquite, shearing and spraying (while more time consuming) will provide a better management technique than bulldozing the mesquite. And it also gives the option of more selective cutting. This will be extremely beneficial when the oak woods are thinned.

2005

This year we were only able to complete one prescribed burn. And while it burned more than originally thought, it did not burn the entire pasture.

The moisture under the thatch at the southern end was too great and only about the top 1/2 inch of thatch burned. The northern part of the pasture had a better burn and burned to soil.

Plant growth was seen within a week of the burn and will be monitored in hopes of seeing native grasses.

The total pasture consists of 67+/- acres with a variety of introduced grasses, mature and multi-stem mesquite. It was broken into 3 sections to protect the existing utility line and a proposed ROW. These areas were dozed as well as the entire pasture perimeter.

Initially there was a 12 mph wind from the north. A backfire was set at the southeast corner of area 1. However, the wind almost immediately died to less than 10 mph. The backfire continued northward at a creep. It was decided to let it continue. It burned approximately a 1/4 of the southeast corner.

By the time the backfire had extinguished the wind had risen and a head fire was set at the northern end of area 1. The wind stayed steady and the fire continued to burn to the south. Due to areas of heavy green grass the fire was extremely patchy and not all of area 1 burned.

By the time it had burned out it was too late to attempt burning the other 2 areas. And subsequent weather conditions and rain did not allow for further burning.

It was a fascinating experience and hopefully on the next burn we can have a dedicated photographer. Until then, below is a slide show of photos taken. The hawk pictured had a great time staying at the edge and above the burn.

To begin slideshow click on Auto.