West Texas Rangelands
West Texas RangelandsWe hope to provide a variety of information from current news stories, prescribed burning, wildfires, brush control, and cow-calf management!

Women in Ranching – Texas CattleWomen – April 15, 2023

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Written by Casey Matzke

Texas CattleWomen is a State Organization made of 21 chapters across the state of Texas. Our mission is the promotion of Beef in a healthy diet. Our local chapters are the boots on the ground of this organization. From Ag in the Classroom, to the promotion of Beef, to scholarships, to hands-on demonstrations and Ranch Tour, our CattleWomen do it all.

Our local chapters are spread out through different counties in the State. For more information on CattleWomen and what local chapter you may belong to, be sure to check out our website. It is our goal to have every county in Texas covered in the future. If your county currently does not have a local chapter, we are always looking to start new local chapters. We have two new chapters currently being started in the Bastrop County and Scurry County areas.

Our annual Women In Ranching event is coming up on April 15th. This program was started several years ago and participants across the State have really enjoyed it. We wanted a place where women could come for hands-on learning and not be afraid to ask questions. This year our event is taking place in Stephenville, Texas at Tarleton State University.

The morning will kick off with Cattle Handling Demonstrations with Dr. Ron Gill and a BQA certification. Already BQA certified? No worries, this certification needs to be renewed every three years and this would be a great time to refresh that certificate.

We will break for lunch and then start the afternoon session. This will be three sessions of hands-on activity. We will have chute-side manners and a fencing demonstration. The third session will be from our very own Dr. Morgan Treadwell with Plant and Forage Identification.

In the evening, a Grilling 101 demonstration will be given, where all participants will get to grill their own steaks! We will wrap up the event with our producer panel. Not only is this event very informational but you will meet fellow women who are passionate about the industry. Interested in this event, be sure to register here.

For any additional questions about CattleWomen, be sure to reach out to Casey Matzke at caslmatzke@gmail.com or 713-578-0863.

 

Why I Ranch…Ray Pfeuffer

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I dedicated a series on West Texas ranchers called “Why I Ranch.” Each month I will highlight a rancher in West Texas and ask them to share their story about the ranch life.

Ray Pfeuffer

Ray and Sandra Pfeuffer make Ranch Life look easy. They have raised a beautiful family. They work hard. They are active in 4H. And, oh yea, they ranch in West Texas. Here is the other half to Ms. Sandra’s answers 🙂

How did you get your start in ranching? My family has always ranched, going back to the 1800’s. It was never our sole source of income, but I have done it my entire life.

How important is agriculture to your family? It is very important to all of us. All of my kids have grown up around it and love working with livestock. I feel I am doing something worth while, helping raise food for our country and other countries as well.

What makes ranching in West Texas so unique? The weather probably, but then again the weather is not normal anywhere, anymore. I like that multiple species can still be raised in most places, barring coyote problems.

Do you feel like there is enough emphasis on agriculture in K-12 education? It seems as if there is not. I believe society as a whole has gotten so far away from the land, they have no clue how food is produced.

Who did you learn the most from along the way? My dad, Billy Pfeuffer, my uncle, Franklin Pfeuffer, my grandpa Raymond Wersterfer and a neighbor growing up in Comal county, George Lackey.

Why I Ranch…Sandra Pfeuffer

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Sandra Pfeuffer

Did you know that Texas female operators have increased approximately by 50% and the number of acres they manage by about 15% since 1997?  For August we are featuring Sandra Pfeuffer.  Sandra and her family ranch just outside of Christoval in Schleicher County.  Her family is extremely active in 4-H and there isn’t much that this woman doesn’t do.  As I am sure you could say about all women ranching and raising families in Texas – they do it all.  Here is Sandra’s story…

How did you get your start in ranching? I have always been exposed to ranching because my Mom’s side of the family has always ranched. My mom married a carpenter and she stayed at home and raised 7 children, took care of the homestead and made sure we stayed active in 4-H and/or FFA when we were growing up.  However, my actual start in ranching, was when I married my husband Ray in 1996.  I was working at Tyson Foods in Seguin, Texas and he worked for his dad, who had an earth moving business, and ranched on the side.  The Pfeuffer Family, like my mom’s family had been ranching since they immigrated to Texas.   In 1999, my husband encouraged me to quit my job at Tyson to be a stay at home mom, aka full time ” Ranch wife”, I remember my boss telling me I was making the “biggest mistake of my life, you will never be happy as a rancher’s wife, you  won’t be able to provide insurance for your family, you will never have enough, because every successful rancher had a wife who worked a “real job”, you will get bored.”  I am glad, I took his advice with a grain of salt, and still decided to retire from my”real job” and begin my life as a rancher’s wife.  Doing whatever my rancher husband, needed me to do.  For the record, I am happy, we do have insurance, we usually have enough, I still work, just don’t get a paycheck, and I am hardly ever bored.

How important is agriculture to your family? Agriculture is our life, our income is totally dependent on agriculture. Agriculture has provided our children with valuable lessons and values, that we hope they will pass on to the next generation.

What makes ranching in West Texas so unique? I have always said “That being a rancher is like being a quail.  Something is always after you.”  You have to be vigilant and keep watch on the water, the weather, the predators, the market, the cows, the sheep, the goats, the horses, the fences, the bills, the tax collector, the list goes on and on. When you ranch, something is always going to happen that causes you to take two steps back, and you need to be ready, so when it happens you can quickly step forward again. We try to be very proactive controlling brush, Ray spends most of his time improving the land, we want to have as much grass as possible to make it through the drought.  Being in West Texas is unique for many reasons.  The weather, you never know what the weather is going to be like. Most days your praying for a rain, and then there will be that day when a massive cold front blew in overnight, it’s freezing, and your out fixing water gaps that got knocked down in the rain over night, using every ounce of strength, to try to stand up a fence gap with shit and everything else frozen on it, while trying to be thankful for the rain you just received. Definitely, have to be careful what you ask for in West Texas.  Lightening, I have lived in four different areas of Texas, the lightening in West Texas is by far the most impressive, it can definitely have you gathering spray trailers and neighbors in a heart beat.   But the most unique thing about ranching in West Texas is water.  Most, West Texas ranches utilize well water, so water definitely determines what your day will be like.

Do you feel like there is enough emphasis on agriculture in K-12 education? NO!  I don’t think children today realize how important agriculture is to our society.  I am thankful for programs like the Extension Service and the Farm Bureau that are trying at the elementary levels. But, I would like to see more effort at the middle school and high school level when the kids are starting to actually think for themselves. We really need to impress on them the importance of agriculture and reinforce what we attempted to teach them in elementary school.

Who did you learn the most from along the way? My husband, he has been doing this his whole life. It is what he does and what he is good at.  He has trained the kids and I well.

Outside the Fire…Duff Hallman

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The Duff Ranch, located in Tom Green, Schleicher and Irion counties, received the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Family Land Heritage Award last fall for continuous operation by the same family for 100 years. The Duff Ranch was established in 1904 by Sam Houston Henderson 13 miles east of Eldorado. Sam accumulated more than 100,000 acres during his lifetime, where he ran 6,000 head of cattle. Today, Duff Hallman and Trip Hallman have operated the ranch since 1975.

Duff is a licensed and insured private prescribed burn manager through the Texas Department of Agriculture.

How did you get introduced to fire? Dr. Jake Landers at a field day at the San Angelo Research and Extension Ag Center

Do you make special plans for fire in your management plans well in advance, or take advantage of good fuel and weather conditions as they come? It is a combination of both; planning ahead for proper fire guards is ongoing whether it is a summer or winter burn and if fire is one of your methods of range improvement you seize opportunity when it knocks.

What’s the hook for you on fire? The hook for me is cost and results.Customary methods of conservation work are not cheap and cost share is fading. Burning must be a long term systematic approach.

In your opinion, what makes a successful fire? A successful fire is one that accomplishes the goals set out in the planning of the burn. I have never had a bad one. 

Who in your burn circle/crew would you never burn without?  My weather monitor and one of my sons who I am teaching this practice to. 

Meet a CEA…Lisa Brown

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Meet Lisa Brown – Menard County Extension Agent!  Lisa recently won the top Professional Category Award for Plant ID at the Texas Section Society for Range Management meeting in San Angelo earlier this month!

Why did you become a County Extension Agent? Growing up in a ranching family here in Menard the local ranchers are close to my heart so the opportunity to work with them was exciting. I also knew working with the youth here in Menard…bringing agriculture into the classrooms of the hallways in which I used to walk myself would be rewarding.   In addition I found great comfort in knowing I had 3 retired county agents and a retired range specialist living in Menard  to help show me the ropes. 

What are some concerns specific to agriculture in your county? Increased amounts of invasive brush and lack of water are the main concerns here in Menard County. 

What is the most rewarding part of your position? Working with the ranchers and landowners would by far be my favorite part of this job.  I have great respect for them as stewards of the land. 

What is the weirdest request you have ever received as a CEA and how did you solve it? I received a phone call that went something like this:  “My daughter just bought some goldfish.  Can you sex them for me?”  would definitely be my weirdest request.  While I scrambled to figure out which specialist I should call to find out the answer to this question, the caller finally identified himself as a fellow agent playing a joke on me….we still laugh about this.

If you could be anything else, what would you be? A FULLTIME rancher…no doubt. 

Why I Ranch…

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Frank and Sims Price Ranch

In 2012, Price Ranch was recognized for their range management when they were presented the Outstanding Rangeland Stewardship Award by the Texas Section, Society for Range Management and Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. And it was recognized as a 2013 regional Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP) winner during the 2013 Cattle Industry Summer Conference.

How did you get your start in ranching? The Price family began ranching in 1876. Frank Price has managed his family’s ranch for 40 years, first in partnership with his father, and then in partnership with his son Sims in 2011. Together, they run their cow-calf operation on 68,000 acres. Sims and his wife Krista are the fifth generations of Prices on the ranch, which they operate in four counties. The ranch operates with three primary income enterprises including sheep, cattle, and hunting. 

How important is agriculture to your family?  The Price family has two primary goals. First, the ranch is operated as a separate business, self-sustaining, and is expected to show an annual profit. Second, but equal, their goal is to leave their natural resources in the best possible condition for the next generations.The family is dedicated to these goals. They have recently started using Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) dollars to make continuous improvements to the ranch, and they also use controlled and prescribed burning to their benefit by adjusting their livestock grazing charts to include speed of moves, flash grazing, animal density and total deferment.

What makes ranching in West Texas so unique? In a normal year, they receive 18 inches of rainfall. These last two years have been abnormal, with exceptional drought and devastating wildfires, particularly in their area,” said Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association President Joe Parker, Jr. “Even though they had to reduce their herd to protect their land, they still found lessons in flexibility during the adversities. The Price family’s experiences with wildfire lead them to be a leading voice in Texas on inter-agency cooperation in fighting wildfires. We are glad to have his practical and sound leadership in such an important area.” The father-son partnership at Price Ranch represents the fourth and fifth generations of Prices to ranch in west Texas.

Jimmie Powell – Thee Man

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Mr. James L. Powell accepted the Foy Proctor Memorial Cowman’s Award of Honor in Midland last week and some of the greatest stories of West Texas were shared.

I first met Mr. Powell on a prescribed burn south of San Angelo and the man is just cool.  He is humble, gracious, hard-working, not to mention, a legend. He even has his own chapter in the Texas Cattle Barons book.  But in my book, he is right up there with John Wayne and other cowboy heroes. img_5557

The following is a story he told while at the 20th Fall Gatherin’.

“WWII was underway and all the cowboys who were in their 20s had been drafted if they hadn’t already enlisted.  We were rounding cattle in Reagan and Crockett County.  It encompassed about 64 sections.  The corrals where they loaded the cattle on the train were right in the city limits of Big Lake.  Back then we gathered the calves and weaned them as we worked a pasture.  We had all the calves grouped in a four-section pasture leading in to the corrals.  Now keep in mind it was just myself, my dad, and the foreman on that place and three boys that my dad got out of school that day.  We were handling about 400 head of fresh weaned calves, and we had started mov
ing those calves up the fenceline.  We had them grouped up on the north fenceline about a mile or so from the pens, and about the time they got those calves to the corrals, the train came by.  That engineer blew his whistle three or four times, and there was no way in the world we could hold those calves together.  They went between us and under us and before we knew it they were scattered all over that pasture again.  I know if my father could have caught that engineer, he would have talked to him about that.”