Mild and Muddy

So nice to have a mid January so far, after our stormy December...The weather has been mild and melting. There are still muddy spots on the roads, and the alley to the pasture, but the snow is finally gone.

Our landscape is now the browns of winter grass and bare trees again.The herd does not like mud, and avoid any spots they can on their way to the winter water tanks.

Since the snow is gone, Verne and our high school help have spend the last two Saturdays cleaning the little pasture of trees. This is a never ending job to keep trees, mostly cedar and Osage orange, from taking over the grasslands.

Prairie fires took care of this problem centuries ago, but now it’s a winter project. So many pastures in the state have not been kept clean, and it has changed our landscape over the last few decades. And many pastures are being bought for hunting, rather than grazing, so those landowners want the tree and brush cover instead.

Some calm day in early spring Verne will burn the dead grass and brush piles to renew the pasture again.This will make a clear landscape and tasty new grass for the yearling bulls that will move in for the summer months.

Here it is January, and we're working towards spring and summer already here on the Kansas prairie...