Oklahoma Farmer and Ranchers Association News
Subscribe to the OFRA News RSS Feed
Wanted: A New Crop of Oklahoma Farmers and Ranchers!
If you’ve been farming or ranching for less than ten years, the Kerr Center has got a deal for you: a year-long course in sustainable farming and ranching, with tuition and materials covered by scholarship.
Read More...
Energy Flow
The Flow of Fuel that Animates All Life The majority of organisms receive their energy from the sun, whether directly as do plants and algae, or by consuming plants, or by consuming other animals or their remains. Energy flow is a one-way avenue, from the Sun to the earth. Therefore, the management of any ecosystem [...]
Read More...
Community Dynamics
The Ever Changing Pattern of Living Organisms Community dynamics describes the changes in the collection of living organisms in any given locality. Even when a community appears stable as a grassland, forest, coral reef, or lake, it is in fact constantly changing in species composition, numbers, age structure, and other characteristics. Individual plants and animals [...]
Read More...
Holistic Management® Framework – Water Cycle
The Water Cycle – Apparently there is only a finite amount of water on Earth which constantly cycles from the atmosphere to the surface and back. Of course, much of this water is seawater, too salty for most plant and animal use until it evaporates and returns as
Read More...
Fire, The Most Ancient Landscape Tool
Every year humans use fire to clear forests, brush, and pastures. Even before humans, lightning, volcanoes, and other causes burned landscapes as well. And everyone knows that the grass comes back greener after a fire.
Read More...
Grazing, The Most Abused Tool
Everyone “knows” that too many grazing animals destroy grasslands through overgrazing and over-trampling, don’t they? The evidence is everywhere, growing deserts, bare, capped ground around watering or feeding points.
Read More...
Producing Meat on Grazing Systems Part 5 of 5
Another issue to be considered is processing and marketing. Processing is a huge expense for persons who produce for a niche market. We pay $.60/lb (carcass weight) for harvesting, cutting, wrapping and storage.
Read More...
Producing Meat on Grazing Systems Part 4 of 5
Two specific items to evaluate in a grass-fed beef system is the nutritional composition of various forages and the effect of different forages on the flavor of beef, specifically are there forages that contribute more to the “grassy” flavor than others.
Read More...
Producing Meat on Grazing Systems Part 3 of 5
This is absolutely one of Ron’s favorite subjects (degrees in beef cattle genetics) because he does believe that there is the “best” type of animal for a grass-fed beef program; however,
Read More...
Producing Meat on Grazing Systems Part 2 of 5
Many of the recommendations of persons working with grass-fed beef are to have the animal gaining well for a reasonable time period to get some fat deposition (in excess of two pounds for 90 days
Read More...