Home on the range

More than 115 students from 10 area high schools roamed the range two miles north of Dix on Wednesday, Sept. 14, to gain real world experience on the range.

These students were invited to judge rangeland, owned by Robert Lee, for the area FFA Range Judging competition, sponsored by the South Platte Natural Resources District, North Platte Natural Resources District, Upper Niobrara White Natural Resources District, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the University of Nebraska - Lincoln Extension.

Participating high schools include Banner County, Bridgeport, Chadron, Creek Valley, Gordon-Rushville, Kimball, Leyton, Perkins County, Scottsbluff and Sidney.

According to Kristin Dickinson with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, students were required to correctly identify 24 different plant species and evaluate each species pedigree including whether the plant is native or introduced, growth life, livestock feed value and determine if it is a cold or warm weather species.

Additionally, students were required to identify and score three ecological sites and determine the degree of use, according to Dickinson.

"They are given a ranch problem that they have to figure out the available forage, the forage that is needed for the given herd that they are given and then make some management decisions," Dickinson said. "There is about ten different management decisions. Then they have a set of ten questions to do at the end."

Rangeland is any natural land that is not used for farming, but is primarily used for grazing purposes, according to Kimball FFA sponsor Sally Wheeler.

"Especially in this area, land that can be used for farming often times is because it is more profitable," Wheeler said. "But if it is not possible to use it as farmland then most of the time it is range and it is used for livestock."

Learning to judge the quality of the range is important and gives these students an edge in future livestock production, according to Wheeler, providing them with experience determining how long particular livestock can graze in certain areas, what nutritional content the animals receive from the range, and to preserve the quality of pasture.

Much of this land is also judged for suitability for different species, such as cattle, sheep and horses.

This information is used daily by ranchers and also by researchers, according to Banner County FFA sponsor Bill Gifford, who said that ranchers study their rangeland closely to determine what plant species are prolific and why.

"As a rancher, you are always out here looking to see which species is taking over and determine if it is due to grazing, weather or other reasons," Gifford said. "This is very real world applicable."

Banner County's senior team finished fifth overall and Bailee Underhill finished 12th, followed by Sierra Flores in 16th place, Brandon Blickensderfer in 18th and Cole Blanke in 29th.

Kimball's team finished in sixth place with Heidi Clark finishing in 14th place, Joel Evertson in 26th and Braden Lukassen in 27th.