“That lane. That’s what I’m most proud of lately.” Larry and Deloris Wells of Drasco, Ark., began their herd building journey just a little over 43 years ago when they purchased the ground that lane divides, “We bought the place in November of 1971 from my uncle. He was in the broiler business and his health was forcing him to retire.” The Wells began with 55 cows and bulls and a modest 237 acres, with only 22 acres of that cleared for producing hay. It was an uphill battle from there, “There were no cross fences. We just started clearing and used the wood for the broiler houses at the time. We began with some commercial cattle and fescue grass.”
Ozarks Farm & Neighbor journeyed down to Cleburne County to visit with the Wells about the programs they have been involved in over the last 40 years, “Our first cooperative program was with Soil Conservation. We started building ponds around here for more water. In the late 1990’s as the broiler operation went out, we started working again with Soil Conservation, now NRCS, to test our soils and plant more forages to improve our place.” The Wells’ started looking into how better management and seed mixtures could help improve the grazing capabilities of their place for long term success in the cattle business, “We started looking at endophyte-free fescue and clover mixtures for our pastures. The cattle really love that mixture.”
The Wells family has worked with many different groups and organizations to find improvements in their operation, “Another program we worked on was with Extension (University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service) for a clover seeding demonstration. We planted some strips of pure clover in our pasture and compared that to another area with just a standard seeding rate of clover to see if the grazing and gains were improved.” The clover planting helped Larry and Deloris see the grazing and growing patterns of the clover and just how they could use it to improve their forage plan across the operation.
With over 500 acres in their current operation, Larry and Deloris have seen changes made in their field grazing, “We’ve worked with NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) to add some water tanks and fences. The cross fencing has allowed us to graze better and the water tanks help us get water where we needed it.” Larry has definitely made use of electric fencing on his operation. From the bottom of the draw to the top of the hill his house resides on is quite a climb, “That lane really helped us move cattle from pasture to pasture. We really like the high tensile wire fence. We are able to use two electric wires to create the lane and can move cattle from over there to right up here by the house. We used to have to move from one field to the next and spend time pushing the cattle through the fields to get where we needed them. Now they move a lot easier.
“We sent a few steers through the Extension Steer Feedout program a few years ago. That really helped us in determining our genetics and what we had to breed for.” Larry and Deloris utilized the U of A Cooperative Extension Service and their Steer Feedout program to feed and process the data from their calf crop, “We collected the data from the processed calves and made changes that have helped guide us in heifer development and bull selection.” Deloris added, “Plus, Larry would always find a reason to run out there and check the calves. We were back and forth quite a bit.” They found the Steer Feedout program very useful in improving their bottom line and their genetics.
The latest project Larry and Deloris have been involved in is an ongoing demonstration of native warm-season grasses, “Our latest project is a cooperation with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, University of Tennessee, Arkansas Grazing Lands Coalition and the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. We planted 10 acres of warm-season native grass to determine the establishment rates and costs and see how the grazing is.” The mixture of grasses contained Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Indiangrass and Eastern Gamagrass. Larry hopes that the combination can help extend grazing when the weather gets drier, “The drought of 2012 really made me think about native grasses. We just hope we don’t have anything that excessive again.”
Larry and Deloris offered some final thoughts on working with agencies and Universities, “It’s a changing world out there. We’ve taken bus tours with Extension and Arkansas Cattlemen’s all over. You have to stay current. Learn from your fellow producer. He’s made mistakes and can tell you about them. Never stop learning.”
