Why do we celebrate Arbor Day? It is marked by the planting of trees and emphasizes caring for them as a way to sustainably protect our planet’s natural resources. We may not be planting trees every day, but we are planting and tending to our grass and soil!
Arbor Day is an important day at Flying B Bar Ranch. In fact, we celebrate Arbor Day every day of the year. Everything Flying B Bar Ranch does in the process of putting beef and pork on your table helps to improve our air, water and soil. The regenerative principles and our stewardship of the land naturally improve animal welfare and the quality of protein you are feeding your family.
20 years ago, we started out with a focus on growing cattle, but we soon figured out it was more about growing grass than growing cattle. So, we became expert grazers, learning and mastering rotational grazing and mob grazing. We then learned all about the different grasses in our ranch landscape, along Kiowa Creek, and how they change in value to the animal throughout the different seasons of the year. As we evolved, we figured out that it wasn’t about growing grass as much as it was about growing soil. We’ve mastered turning “dirt” into “soil”. We’ve learned how to farm using regenerative farming practices that minimize soil disturbance, maintain living roots, support biodiversity and keep the soil covered.
We focus on the soil because that creates better grass and better grass creates better cattle and a better planet.
We couldn’t raise our cattle in Colorado without a strong natural ecosystem that protects our soil and gives the native prairies of Eastern Colorado the nutrients they need to thrive. We guard our soil and its nutrients by planting cover crops, encouraging wildlife and birds, and working with the land, rather than against it. That’s why we do what we do; to create a natural balance that nourishes the earth, the cattle, and the families that put our beef & pork on their dinner table.
The natural prairie grasses of Eastern Colorado have evolved over millions of years to be efficient at storing water and carbon in the soil. Therefore, we designed our entire operation around giving those grasses every opportunity to succeed to the fullest. As each year goes by, the prairie gets stronger, grows better, and supports more of our natural ecosystem. Conservation is a way of life at Flying B Bar Ranch, and it comes naturally.
Our pastures never get any fertilizers, herbicides, or chemicals. We work to move our cattle from pasture to pasture whenever the grass tells us to. The Kiowa creek bottom is “sub-irrigated” from alluvial water that flows 10 to 20 feet below the surface. Through our ranch this alluvial flow of water can be as much as a quarter of a mile wide.
We provide quality beef and pork raised in harmony with nature, to restore the natural ecosystem of the Eastern plains of Colorado, and to use innovative regenerative practices that reduce our carbon footprint while improving animal and soil health.
In 2006 and again in 2015, we put a conservation easement with the Colorado Opens Land Trust on a portion of the ranch that isn’t in the flood plain. The conservation easement prohibits any development on our land in perpetuity. The amount of development that is growing and threatening our natural landscapes and being replaced with concrete and pavement. We wanted to make sure we could conserve as much as we could of the precious amounts of native grasses that exist on the shortgrass prairies of Colorado’s Eastern plains.
Many told us we couldn’t do what we’ve done. While it took almost 20 years, we’ve figured out how to improve soil health, and that grows better grass, and that makes better beef. It turns out that doing the right thing for the planet, and in partnership with Mother Nature is also the best thing for the cattle, our family, the land and for you.
We will continue to do the work of stewards of the grass, soil and cattle so that you can continue to enjoy healthy sustainable meats!
Happy Arbor Day!