When Ann Law Harwood called Ryan Walser for help with a controlled burn on her North-Central West Texas ranch in 2023, she was used to feeling discouraged.
Established by her family in 1938, much of the 2,500-acre Law Ranch was farmed as marginal cropland before Ann leased it for cattle grazing from 2014 to 2020. When the lease ended, Ann saw how the cattle operation had degraded the land and decided to give it a break. She hoped it could be restored to something productive and healthy.
On his first visit, Walser remembers driving through mesquite forest with cactus underneath, little forage and not much plant diversity. He asked Ann what she wanted to accomplish.
“I want to do what’s best for the soil,” she told him.
They started with a prescribed burn on roughly 700 acres of the ranch’s southern section. The fire scorched mesquite and cactus, but dry conditions meant the herbicide treatment they had considered wasn’t advisable. They held off.
Then Walser suggested something Ann hadn’t expected: bring cattle back.
Grazing With a Different Purpose
Bringing cattle back to Law Ranch wasn’t about returning to the grazing system that had contributed to its decline. This time, Walser wanted to use cattle strategically, moving them through the property in short grazing periods and giving the grasses time to recover.
“What we were wanting to do is just pulse the system,” Walser explained to participants at Trust In Food™ ‘s October 20 Sustainable Ranchers Tour, which visited Law Ranch and nearby Lazy 3 Ranch.
Walser, a land management consultant who also works with the Texas Grazing Lands Coalition, brought in about 400 yearling heifers and used temporary electric fencing to divide the property into seven pastures. Starting in late January, the cattle moved roughly once a week. By June, they had grazed the property once and were moved off to give the land time to recover.
In subsequent grazing seasons, he adjusted the herd and repeated the approach. As forage changed, so did the plan. Walser has since transitioned to a cow-calf herd, but says the guiding principle remains the same: watch how the land responds and adapt.
“You can have a plan year one, and year three that plan changes because the land responds completely different,” he said. “So you’re constantly adjusting to what’s happening.”
Will Moseley of Noble Research Institute said that kind of management connects the health of a ranch’s pasture to the health of its soil.
“Healthy pastures bring healthy soils and they build each other,” he said. Grazing that improves soil health, he added, can help the land hold more water, grow more forage and rely less on inputs.
Tools for Making the Changes Work
During the tour, participants also explored technologies that could make adaptable grazing easier to manage. Collin Carrell, Texas sales representative for Nofence, described how virtual fencing lets ranchers change grazing boundaries using collars rather than building new physical fences, potentially opening opportunities on leased land.
“It gives you the tools and flexibility to be able to pivot based on whatever cards you’re dealt,” Carrell said.
Water monitoring is another piece of the equation. Bain Wilson of Ranchbot Monitoring Solutions explained how remote sensors can alert ranchers to low trough levels and help them anticipate when a pasture’s water supply might limit grazing, without making repeated trips just to check tanks.
Seeing the Change Up Close
Making changes to a ranching operation can be a hard sell when there’s no guarantee those changes will pay off. It’s a hesitation Emma Coffman, founder of Double E Ranch Advocacy, understands firsthand. She once doubted whether conservation practices could make economic sense herself.
“It took me three to four ranches across the nation for me to figure out that there’s actually something here,” she said.
That’s what makes a working ranch tour different from hearing about a practice in a meeting room. Attendees could see the land and cattle, ask questions and consider what might work on their own operations.
“We bring people out into the field and we show you, hey, we started here, this is our progression,” Coffman said. “That’s incredible. You can’t make that up.”
At Law Ranch, the work is still underway. Walser continues to use grazing and prescribed fire to control brush and encourage more grass cover, adjusting the approach as the land responds.
When Ann first took cattle off Law Ranch, she hoped giving the property a break would help the soil recover. Today, cattle are grazing those pastures again, moving through the property as part of a carefully managed effort to bring its native grasslands back.
