Fall Senescence
We are now on the cusp of one of the great transitions to occur each year on the shortgrass prairie: the shift from the growing season to the dormant season, when life becomes subdued by the threat of winter.
Water is King
Water is the most crucial tool in establishing a regenerative, rotational grazing operation on a large scale.
Ranchlands Quarantunes
Here’s a selection of favorite Western songs from our apprentice Brandon, many of which he’ll play out loud on his phone during a long cattle trail.
Little Bulls with a Large Impact
Lessons from a small-scale prescriptive grazing project.
Ethical Eating at the Zapata Lodge
The dining room at the Zapata Lodge is a place to learn about how to eat intentionally, responsibly, and ethically.
Monitoring our Impact on the Land
There is more than one way to know a place. There is more than one way to see a landscape. There is more than one way to understand land health. And there is more than one way to sense if a landscape is healthy.
Where the Gate is Always Open
The Chico belongs to the people of Colorado, to the thousands of children who visit the ranch in school groups each year, to future generations of humans who might still have the opportunity to harvest meat from that same land, to the birders and the dragonfly-hunters, and to all of us who are willing to step outside of our comfort zone and come see for ourselves where the food we eat comes from.
Beefmasters: The Fertile Cow
Of all the diverse classes of cattle we have on the Chico, our mother cows work the hardest.
Beefmasters: The Bull
The Beefmaster bull is a symbol of strength and resilience in a herd that is built for production, endurance, and efficiency.
Beefmasters: A Philosophy Embodied
A Beefmaster cow is more that an animal; she is a management philosophy embodied – a flesh-and-blood way of living with the land that represents how humans and their animals might do better to live in harmony with the indigenous patterns of the natural world than to try to fight them.