South
Florida
Beef -
Forage
Program
FEATURED RANCH
Buck Island Ranch
The Buck Island Ranch covers 10,300 acres 15 miles southeast of Lake Placid in Highlands
County. The main ditches surrounding the Ranch (from which it derives 'the island' connotation)
drain directly into the Harney Pond Canal, a major drainage way for central and south Florida.
The Harney Pond Canal connects the region to the larger regional
Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades watershed which ties us to the major water quality
concerns of the entire region.
Buck Island Ranch is on a 30-year lease from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation to the Archbold Biological Station with the primary mission to conduct long-term
studies on relationship between cattle ranching, citrus production and changes in wildlife species
and ecosystems similar to the vast prairies that support most of Florida cattle. Hence, the Buck
Island Ranch has become synonymous with MacArthur Agro-ecology Research Center or
MAERC.
Operationally, Buck Island is maintained as a full-scale working ranch and grove, with a
research design. It offers the opportunity to measure how agriculture and the environment
interact over the long term. The ranch was the venue for a visit and tour by Florida's Grazing
Issues Working Group on June 6, 2001.
According to a report by Hillary M. Swain, Executive Director, predominant physical features
of MAERC are its climate, soil, hydrology and flatland. Climatic conditions at the Ranch are
monitored by four weather stations that collect continuous data on temperature, rainfall, wind
speed and direction, and solar radiation. Soils are poorly drained sands or very poorly drained
organic soils with low to moderate fertility.
Adequate moisture, high temperatures, and long
growing season have allowed for production of improved grasses, such as bahiagrass, on
better-drained areas for summer pastures. Currently, there are 4,500 acres of bahiagrass
pastures. Native grasses and marsh plants dominate the more poorly drained 5,640 acres of
native range used for winter pastures.
These dominant landscape types provide the basis for an
extensive seasonal rotation in which cattle are stocked more heavily on the bahiagrass pastures
in the summer and are moved to the semi-native marshes in the winter. Ranch Manager, Gene
Lollis indicated that total cow herd size on the Ranch has fluctuated between 2,000 and 3,500
as management evaluates the carrying capacity of the system. The ranch has a 160-acre citrus
grove.
Minor variations in topography control variation in plant communities. Wetlands and marshes
occupy poorly-drained, low-lying areas and cabbage palm or live oak hammocks occupy
higher, well-drained areas. Landscape depressions due to cavities in deep limestone formations
have resulted in the development of more than 500 isolated wetlands which are critical
resources for wildlife. In addition to natural wetland, there is an extensive network of more than
400 miles of drainage ditches to facilitate draining of surface water and prevent flooding during
the rainy season. The mosaic of habitats - improved pastures, semi-native range, forests, and
wetlands - supports distinctive wildlife species such as sandhill crane, burrowing owl, river
otters, crested caracara and wading birds, as well as the common white tailed deer, alligators,
wild turkeys and meadowlarks.
In 1994, three organizations (MAERC, IFAS, and SFWMD) came together with an outline of
new research programs designed to examine the relationship between management practices of
the Ranch and environmental issues and economic sustainability of beef cow/calf operation in
central Florida. In 1966, the Florida Cattlemen Association and the U.S. Natural Resource
Conservation Service (NRCS) joined the Advisory Committee to oversee and coordinate
research at MAERC. This multi-disciplinary group meets several times a year to review the
status of projects, develop new projects and seek new research funding.
The water quality concerns of south-central Florida motivated MAERC and their partners to
establish in 1966, a 1,225-acre array of 16 experimental pastures, each as a separate
hydrologic unit. In 1988, four cow/calf pair stocking rates of 0, 15, 20 and 35 were randomly
assigned to a set of 8 summer improved pastures (each 50 acres in size) and a set of 8 winter
native pastures (each 80 acres in size). Each test herd occupied summer pastures during
May-November and winter pastures during November-April/May.
The stocking rate influence on growth and consumption of grasses in each pasture is monitored
by IFAS personnel. The quantity and quality of forage available to cattle has economic bearing
on cow calf production at the Ranch. Cattle conception rates, weaning percentage and weaning
weights are determined by MAERC personnel and used to evaluate economic consequences of
alternative management practices. Surveys conducted by IFAS personnel of birds, frogs, toads,
and snakes in pastures provide an index of wildlife use relative to cow stocking rates.
The 16 experimental flumes and automatic water samples continuously measure the amount and
quality of water draining from pastures, separately, during periods of flow. Water quality
samples are analyzed are analyzed at the Habor Branch Oceanographic Institute Environmental
Lab for total nitrogen and phosphorus, ortho-phosphate, ammonium and nitrate. Initial findings
show that phosphorus loads in drainage waters are greater in summer than in winter pastures,
but very little variation among stocking rate treatments. The nutrient information, combined with
flow volumes, will help determine loading rates for P and N relative to stocking rates and will
provide an understanding of nutrient loading from beef cow/calf operation, which are essential
for calibration and verification of computer models. Weather data from the summer/winter
pastures do provide information to estimate evapotranspiration and to calculate water budget.
Finally, the stocking rate study provides a means to monitor the health of a wide variety of
wildlife populations in a pasture landscape. MAERC earnestly hope this research will help
develop management practices for cattle industry that are both economically sound and
environmentally sustainable. (Excerpts from
Archbold Biological Station Webpage)
For questions or comments
contact:
Martin B. Adjei, Editor
Extension Forage Specialist
Agronomy Assistant Professor
Range Cattle Research and Education Center, Ona, Florida
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Last Revised August 3, 2001