High and Low Country

#bfrdpwy #aginternship #RightRisk

My last week during the internship was spent up on the mountain building fence and riding through pairs and yearlings. The fence we tore out was about one hundred years old, so it was time to replace it. One thing that really stuck to me was how well the mountain pastures were doing. The grass was abundant up there and perfect for grazing. I learned that in the mountain west states having pasture in both the low and high country is great for pasture rotations and in helping deal with the hard Wyoming winters.

Concepts from this week that I would challenge would be to take the time to build new fence instead of trying to repair the old. Utilizing the NRCS, the ranch was able to get all the supplies bought to build the new fence. Having a good fence is imperative as it will save a lot of hassle in the long run.

Questions that remain after this week are the benefits that beginning farmers and ranchers may have through the NRCS, and how to properly manage pasture during a dry year to prevent overgrazing. This year we were fortunate enough to have a wet, cool summer, so the grass grew pretty well. Other questions that came up from this week revolved around weed management practices for weeds that could kill cows, such as larkspur.

How I plan to use what I learned this week in my future practices is trying to get a hold of a pasture that is on the mountain first before in the low country. The rancher I was with this summer has been a rancher for 48 years and we had the opportunity to have some great conversations regarding feedlots and pasture rotations on the mountains.

Submitted by: Chloe Henderson
Edits by: GrowinG Internship Team