Walt Davis Ranch

08/20/2020

Lord's Prayer
By a 15-year-old school kid who got an A+ for this entry (TOTALLY AWESOME)!

The Lord's Prayer is not allowed in most U.S. Public schools any more.
A kid in Minnesota wrote the following NEW School Prayer:-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd
If scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the State.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'u***d daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong.
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.


It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!

Amen

If you aren't ashamed to do this, Please pass this on.
Jesus said, 'If you are ashamed of me,
I will be ashamed of you before my Father!

~~~~~~~~~AWESOME~~~~~~~~~~
Not ashamed. Passing it on!

08/03/2019

Cerebral Ranching is available on http://waltdavisranch.com and on Amazon.com Please share.

08/24/2017

By destroying soil organic matter we create local drought conditions

An illustration: a ranch in a twenty inch rainfall belt that has fifty percent bare ground will be lucky to capture, save and grow grass on one third of the precipitation that falls. As a water cycle improves, the vegetation changes from xeric adapted plants that thrive in dry soil conditions: cacti, quick maturing annual (especially cool season) plants, and xeric shrubs to plants adapted to higher levels of soil moisture. Perennial forage plants, both grasses and forbs, become a larger percentage of the vegetation sward. A pasture grown up in prickly pear doesn’t need a poison to kill the pear; it needs litter on the ground and life in the soil to improve the water cycle and change the growing conditions (poor water cycle, poor nutrient cycles) that are favoring the pear over grass.

08/11/2017

The condition of the soil surface is the single most important factor in determining the health of the water cycle in an area

The zone where surface litter meets mineral soil normally has oxygen, moisture, and energy (feed) present and so is an area of high biological activity. Microbes, from bacteria to fungi, and larger creatures from termites to earthworms to burrowing mammals are at work breaking down this surface litter and converting it to a more stable form of soil organic matter. This stabilized organic matter is capable of taking in many times its own weight in water and holding it against the forces of gravity and osmosis. As the organic content of a soil rises, the water cycle improves greatly; even small amounts of material make large improvements in the health of a local water cycle. Both porosity and permeability of a soil increase as organic content increases so that the ability of the soil to take in and hold water increases.

08/09/2017

Poor water cycles are caused by conditions that prevent water from getting into and/or remaining in the soil profile.

The most common cause of poor water cycles is bare soil; moisture falling on bare soil is much more likely to run off rather than to soak into the soil. Soil without cover will also have wide temperature swings which damage (or kill) soil life and will lose large amounts of moisture to evaporation. The first and normally the most difficult step in reversing desertification is to establish good ground cover. In arid or semi-arid areas, two of the most common agricultural practices, tillage and fire, must be stopped if ground cover is to be established. These two practices are the quintessential examples of practices that give short term gains at the expense of long term costs.

07/31/2017

For growing pasture
the conditions of the factors that determine the health of the local water cycle are more important than the amount of rainfall received

This statement is easily tested; just ride down the road and observe how widely grass production varies within a rainfall belt under different management schemes. The differences will be the most obvious in areas with erratic low to moderate precipitation. In these areas, it is easily seen that the loss of organic ground cover, living or dead, will greatly reduce the effectiveness of precipitation and start the slide into desertification.

07/21/2017

Sustainable management is not good enough

While there will be more than one way to measure success depending upon the goals of an operation, long term results will always be dependent on the condition of the local environment. In most cases, since the environment is already degraded, improving the stability and productivity of an environment will require management practices that not just conserve but that actively regenerate the local natural resources. Contrary to commonly accepted belief, it is possible and does not have to take forever to build new top soil. It takes a very long time for rocks to be broken down but not long at all to make top soil by adding organic matter and life to sand, silt, and clay. The main factor required to achieve this goal is a management protocol that treats healthy soil with the respect it deserves.

06/16/2017

The word "holistic" actually has an important and useful meaning that could pay you handsomely to understand.

06/14/2017

I will be speaking in Emporia KS August 17 & 18 at Gail Fullers' school. Dr Don Huber and Ray Archuleta will be on the program. You can contact Gail for more information at [email protected]

06/14/2017

06/14/2017

When we acquired the ability to hold animals on land that could no longer meet their needs for feed and water, we acquired the ability to destroy our grasslands

Prior to human intervention, when growing conditions deteriorated on an area, the grazing animals either left or died; they could not remain to pick at the struggling vegetation and permanently degrade the weakened local environment. Grazing lands are composed of four components, all essential: animals, vegetation, soil, and water. When drought, or other disaster, strikes permanent (life ending) damage occurs first to the grazing animals. They can exist for only short periods without feed and water. Vegetation has some ability to go dormant (or retreat into seeds) and can thus survive poor conditions for longer periods of time. The soil will be damaged (mainly loss of soil life) but if it is not physically washed or blown away, can survive periods of poor conditions.

06/02/2016

Tim Steffens and I will teach a five day grazing school at Ardmore OK starting June 20. If you or someone you know is interested, contact Tim at [email protected] or 806-651-2781. Short notice but it should be worthwhile