Adding to the degradation of rangelands across Central Texas, many ranchers overgrazed their ranches, meaning they let livestock eat grass and forage without allowing it time to grow back. Overgrazing damages the plant and soil health, and it increases the land’s vulnerability to flash flooding and drought.
“You can look at some interesting pictures of where it went from waist-high grass everywhere to just beat up with exposed rock,” Thomas says. “If you have a bunch of bare ground, then when it rains the water runs down to the low spot. But when we have this grass that we’re growing back, when we get these quarter- or half-inch rains, the water settles and goes into the soil.”
To help improve the soil, Thomas is working with Dr. Nicole Wagner, associate professor of soil and crop science, to find the best mix of soil amendments to distribute across the land. He’s also studying how to optimize the Freeman herd’s grazing patterns. In the future, Thomas plans to employ a virtual fencing system with programmable shock collars that enable land managers to set specific boundaries for cattle. When managed correctly, cattle can help keep the oak savanna ecosystem in balance.
“With adaptive management grazing, when you’re moving the animals more to mimic wild herds and graze more aggressively in a smaller area, they stimulate the plants to grow roots more rapidly,” Wagner explains. “And then the roots feed the microbiome and develop the soil.”
Thomas’s ultimate goal is to bring back fire to the Freeman Center in the form of controlled burns. He predicts it will take another five years to prepare for controlled burning. To get ready, he and his crew are mechanically clearing brush, burning the brush piles, and creating fire breaks—similar to dirt roads—around the pastures to help keep fires in check. Another critical component, Thomas says, will be engaging with the surrounding community to educate people about the role of fire and the ranch’s commitment to using it safely.
“We have to really do our job of getting these spaces into the right condition for burning, so that when we burn, it’s safe,” he says.
