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Lace up your hiking boots! This month we are headed out to Yanci Ranch with 1,100 acres of rolling hills, a riparian corridor, grazing cattle and their new baby calves. The visit to Yanci Ranch is in celebration of the “International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists”.
Yanci Ranch has a storied history that includes a 17 year period where the land was overrun by 500 feral horses that roamed and reproduced freely. When a drought occurred, there was not enough pasture grass to support the herd and the animals broke through the fences in search of food. At that point, the plight of the horses became evident and caring people stepped in to rescue the semi-feral herd.
You can read about the history of the property and horses in “A Land Filled With Horses: The Yanci Ranch,” by Robyn Rominger. Robyn will be joining us on Thursday morning at 8:30 to chat with everyone.
Bruce Rominger and John Anderson purchased the property (post horses). It has been used for grazing Sheep and Cattle ever since, between periods of rest to bring vegetation back to the land. They added a pond to the property in the late 90’s that is now home to geese and other waterfowl. In 2012 it was purchased by Yolo Land and Cattle with the intention of repairing the Riparian Corridor, and eventually seeding native grasses into the land (done in collaboration with UC Davis beginning in 2016).
I was toured through the property by Leslie Roche, UC Davis Specialist in Rangeland Watershed Science and Professor of Cooperative Extension in Rangeland Management, and Morgan Doran, who is the local UC Cooperative Extension Livestock Advisor for the Yolo County region. As we explored, Morgan shared a story of his sister visiting the property where she remarked, “Some people would call this “staring at grass” about her trip to Yanci Ranch. Which I think is exactly what we are looking for!
See you on the Ranch,
Jenna
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