Well, I am still trying to get my report on the YF&R conference finished, but it seems there is so much to tell that it is hard to get it all done in one sitting. So, here is the telling of one of the greatest parts of the conference--THE TOURS! Seeing agriculture up close and personal in a state so different from ours, is fascinating. There is so much that is different and yet, so much that is the same.
(Okay, here is the video of me holding an alligator--and no jokes about what a 'girl' I am. I can hold my own just about anywhere, but an alligator is a little to closely related to a snake for me to be very comfortable, but this was a chance I could not pass--soooooo AWESOME!)
I guess I have a bit more of an understanding about why some people are so excited to come to the west and see our wild horses, because, I have to say, I was pretty thrilled every time we got to see an alligator sunning itself on the bank of any old stream or pond. They see them more as a nuisance--hmmm, sound familiar? Kind of like our wild horses?
So, as I said before, there are huge differences--climate, moisture, what they grow, but there are still so many things that are the same--love of the land, the lifestyle, old cowboys with their horses and cowdogs, the ups and downs of the economy. Yes, no matter where we go in the agriculture industry, the ties that bind seem as strong as religion. So, Wayyyyy ahead of time, I had seen the tour choices and was pretty excited about getting in on the one that was going to Deseret Ranches. I will admit that this has to do with a few facts that aren't as much Ag related, but because the ranch is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Having been raised as a member of that church and also watching my Grandpa serve for years on the board that oversees the ranches owned and operated by the same church for welfare purposes, here in Nevada, I have heard much about it and wanted the chance to see it for myself. Actually, we even have friends here in Panaca who worked on that ranch in Florida for a time--Shane Mathews, brother of NVFB State VP, Paul Mathews. Of course, Deseret Ranches is not one of the welfare ranches of the church, it is owned and run by a separate entity that is a for-profit business owned by the church.
Anyway, a little bit about the ranch: It is home to about 44,000 cows, the most anywhere in the nation, with an additional 1,300 bulls. Brahman cattle have a big influence here because of their ability to handle the heat, humidity and insects. They use a Braford, Brangus, and Simbrah rotational cross to develop replacement heifers and use almost exclusively their own stock for all of the process.They are divided into 12 units of about 3,500 cows per one foreman and a couple of cowboys. All cattle work is still done on horseback, from their 120 head of working horses that they raise from their quarter horse brood mares.
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| This map of Central Florida show the outline of the Deseret Ranch in yellow. |
The ranch covers over 290,000 acres of central Florida land, most of which was purchased in the 1950's as very low quality cut-over timberland. It is now a combination of pastures, wetlands, woodlands, and citrus groves. From the comments of our Floridian Ag Teacher/Tour guide/YF&R member on the way to the ranch, it seems that the ranch is very well thought of by ranches throughout the state because of the good stewardship of the land by the ranch, and because it is the second largest ranch in the nation, land-wise, and the largest owner of so many 'mama cows' in the nation.
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| Lee Mathews hamming it up for the camera. This gator is in the visitor's center of the Deseret Ranches main office area. |
A Cyprus Grove in the middle of a Deseret Ranch pasture--yes, this is Florida in early February. The grass is green, a lot of the trees have leaves or are already blossoming. The greenest grass in these pictures is generally field-planted winter Rye. 
Another thing that I really thought was neat--probably because it is so different from what I am used to, or I read to many novels about the Civil War and the South and I have a romantic notion of trees dangling Spanish moss over grand plantations--is the Spanish moss. Even in the middle of the cities, trees have it hanging everywhere. Hey, I have bought this stuff from craft stores before and it is everywhere here, for free! 
This is the system that the ranch uses for each of it's 12 units. The foreman and a couple of cowboys manage their 3,500 head all in one day, separating through this chute system with one opening gates to the five pens around as the foreman calls out the number for the pen as the cow comes down the alley.
One thing that always surprised me was the sand--I think that our tour guide made some crack about what kind of soils they had there--spotty soils. The had a spot of soil here, and a spot of soil there. Ha ha. But, really, you would drive down the highway and see some torn up ground and it looked like someone had dumped a load of sand--only they hadn't, that's what us there naturally! This pen is a good illustration of what the bare ground looks like--the beach!
If you have followed any of my articles in the monthly journal you'll remember me talking about the billions of dollars in losses that Florida agriculture suffered last year do to unusual amounts of freezes--these oranges are part of that--they look great, but the freeze got to them and that means they will be dry and not good for much.I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed our time at Deseret Ranches. Our Tour guide (I believe it was David???) grew up on the ranch, and came back to work there himself. He was hilarious. I heard someone from a different bus say that there tour there seemed kind of dry, but I think everyone on our bus absolutely loved it. When we weren't laughing, we were learning. So, they took us to their own rodeo grounds, where they hold a rodeo each year with their employees participating and the public invited, and we had lunch before heading across the road to Kempfer Farms and Sawmill. 
Across the road at Kempfer we find American Agriculture at it's truest, a family that has been on this land for several generations, trying to raise their kids to come back and do the same--at the same time, trying to adapt to changes in the world and economy. They have always been cattle ranching cowboys, but they have also tried to integrate as many aspects of the ranch into production as possible to keep it profitable and running.
The Kempfer's run a (confusing to me) mix of Brahman cattle, but they seem to know what crosses they are going for, which ones are in which pastures and when they are coming and going. 
They also have normally been know for their Cyprus and pine sawmill, which burned to the ground a few years ago. They rebuilt in time for the economy to come crashing down and now the sawmill is almost unused because of the decreased demand for the product.
They do utilize waste from one of the county sewage plants that is brought in and spread on their fields, which then have to be kept untouched for 30 days, but it is free fertilizer and application for them and a great way of promoting to the city how agriculture takes their waste and turns it in to productive fields and pastures. Kempfer Farms has also had a pretty good turf business in the past that has also been greatly down-sized due to decreased demands in the economy. A lot of their laser-leveled fields are now being reverted back to pasture. But, they are always on the lookout for new ways to utilize what they have, and one of their cousins is a hunting outfitter. Certain parts of the ranch he can use all year round for hunting, but other parts are only seasonal. In fact, there was a 12-foot gator in a pond near the pasture that they had just moved a bunch of cows and calves into and so, the cousin was bringing someone in to hunt the gator the following week.
This gator was on the bank of one of their ditches. The gators are somewhat of a nuisance, though Kempfer's say the biggest problem is that they get their dogs. The dogs are a special breed started up by the matriarch's family years ago. Though the bigger the gators get, the scary they become. The kids go out shooting them like our kids go out after jackrabbits. They are also allowed to keep the eggs from half of the nests that they find on their ranch in a years time. Alligators don't reproduce well in captivity, so the eggs are bought by those wanting to raise for food and whatever else you do with them?
So, as we were touring through Kempfer Farms, a baby gator was just off the road in the field, and the brother giving our tour and the brother in the bus ahead of us decided to jump off and catch him for us and let us have a real live gator experience. Once again, I will say, SOOOOOOO AWESOME!
Lee Mathews, putting the moves on the little feller.
Grant Perkins putting the other moves on the little feller. (Actually, I have no idea if it was a male of a female, but Lee and Grant sure had fun goofing around with it)
Back at the Kempfer Offices, there are orange trees just growing here and there, not to mention the Spanish moss hanging from everything, so I had to get a few pic's of that to show what it is like around there. What a great day. We had such a wonderful time on the tours. 
And, before you know it, the alarm is going off at 3:30 am and it is time to head back to real life again! Over the storms of the Midwest, we sailed straight from Orlando in to SLC and it was time to drive down to get our kids and drive on home. So, after a full day of travel, we were finally back in dry, cold, home sweet Nevada. But, I did LOVE the shots of coming into SLC, crossing over the Rockies and back into the vast open west, Oh, how I missed those wide open spaces and glorious mountains of the west. Florida, was beautiful (though I am still sad that I never made it to the ocean), I really enjoyed my time there, but Oh, how I love the west.
And then we're home again.
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