Thursday, February 11, 2016

MOB GRAZING SCHOOL with IAN MITCHELL INNES



May 11-13, we'll hold our first MOB grazing school at the ranch!!!  Ian Mitchell Innes will be teaching.   My dad invited me to my first "Ian" school and it completely changed my management.  Sure, we've been Holistic managing for several years and it involved intensive, planned grazing and definitely took us to the next level;  however, I never dreamed there was another level and what the results could be!
Schedule:
May 11th
8:00am -9:00am Registration(Falconhead Resort)
9:00am-noon Classroom
Noon-1:00pm lunch (provided)
1:00pm pasture walk on Addison Ranch

May 12th-13th
9:00am Morning class room studies
Noon-1:00pm lunch (provided)
1:00pm pasture walk

Directions:
From I-35 (coming from the North or South) take exit 15 for Marietta, OK.  Go West on Highway 32 approximately 10 miles to the Falconhead Resort gated entrance.  You will tell the gate attendant you are there for the Ian Mitchell Innes Grazing School. Follow the road through Falconhead for 0.9 miles and watch for the restaurant sign on your left.  Conference room will be inside the restaurant building.



Accommodations:
  • The largest selection of hotels and restaurants is in Ardmore, OK or Gainesville, TX.  Both are approximately 30-40 minutes from Falconhead Resort.
  • Marietta, OK has a small motel and several fast food restaurants which are approximately 10 minutes from Falconhead Resort.
  • For minimal (accommodations and meal options) Falconhead Resort has rooms available.
 

Managing with nature is soooooo much more fun!
These pictures are before or during grazing.

The feed below is put on the ground in an attempt to protect and feed the soil.  

 The good part about it is the cattle do it while they graze.

 See the Mot Faced Cow!  Is she feeling good?! 

  What are the benefits we have seen?  Remember this is all with no feed, hay or spray!

 Can you tell where the fence was the previous time?
 Both of these pictures are in timber areas that were not very productive.  Mob grazing made some changes!!!!!

How does all of this translate to the bottom line?  I think the cattle side is self explanatory, no feed, no hay.  What about the wildlife?  Wildlife are part of our income.  Simply put, the bigger the deer the more money.  Remember these deer are not manipulated in any way.  They are born and raised on 5000 acres with NO inputs other than the natural habitat on the ranch.  So, we improve the habitat, we improve the deer!!!!

  

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

PIGS

The last pig hunt for the season is complete.  Nice shot Paul!!!!

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

2014-2015 season

Well the deer season is over and the pig season has begun followed shortly by the turkey season.  

The deer season has been a record year for antler growth.  Only twice since we started 14 years ago have we killed a deer that grossed over 200.  Once in 2012.  He scored 208.  The second was this season and he scored 254 6/8 green.  People always ask if I had seen the deer before or did I recognize the deer.   Both times the answer was no.  Mature bucks are some of the most elusive, secretive animals ever created.  It should not be shocking that the only 2 deer we've killed over 200 we're "surprises"!  The really BIG ones usually are!!!!

Monday, November 17, 2014

Rut Hunt

We just finished our first couples doe hunt. This was our first time to conduct a doe hunt during the rut. It proved to be quite successful! Deer were constantly moving which lead to 50 kills in 3 sets, 39 deer and 11 hogs!

Monday, February 24, 2014

Hogs

We just finished our February hog hunt. We only killed 11. Our January and February were both extremely low! I'm somewhat concerned that they (the pigs) have patterned us!!!! Time will tell.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Ladies

The ladies have done it again! After two different hunts, they managed to harvest 42 deer, some lady pigs and a coyote or two. Most of them filled their freezer for 2014 and will enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Headhunter Chronicles TV

Jason Bruce was here this past week filming for the 2014 season of Headhunter Chronicles. You never know what you're going to get when you meet someone from "TV" but, after four days in camp the true colors will usually show.

With Jason, what you see (on TV) is what you get! In a world filled with "recreates" of fist pumping high fives and "give me a minutes", it's refreshing to see something "real".

We had a great week and Jason is always welcome in our camp!