Almost every day Lori and I reread our Hessel Family 3H Ranch Mission Statement, "Raising free range, hormone-free grass fed and finished beef for families and others while ecologically and economically restoring and sustaining the soil and grasses in our pastures.”
In the past few months, we have hosted two field trips of like-minded folks from the Texas Native Prairie Association of Texas (Fayette Prairie Chapter) as well as the Xerces Society. Through the learnings from these field trips and other research, we are seriously considering adding the word “NATIVE” before the word “grasses” in our Hessel Family 3H Ranch Mission Statement.
Our ranch has some of the Big Four Texas Native Grasses: Sideoats, Grama, Little Blue Stem and Indian Grass. We are learning these native prairie grasses are very drought resistant, need no chemical fertilizers, and create a deep web of roots which can capture atmospheric carbon below ground which helps our planet. We have also further learned that these native prairie grasses are thoroughly enjoyed by our cattle herd and our cattle herd performance on our grasses is exceptionally good. We will continue taking active steps to re-establish these Texas native prairie grasses on 3H Ranch.
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