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Sweeting Farms, Christensen Ranch and Neill Cattle Company honored. Three states recently handed out their 1999 environmental stewardship awards. The Ohio Cattlemen's Association, Montana Stockgrowers Association and the Oklahoma Beef Industry Council all gave the award to ranches which showed an emphasis in conservation, environmental en-hancement and enhanced productivity and profitability. The Ohio Cattlemen's Association awarded Sweeting Farms for their contribution to conservation and resource stewardship practices which protect and enhance the environment and ensure productivity and profitability. Some of the key components of their management philosophy are soil conservation, water quality and waste management. Sweeting farms is also involved in an intensive grazing program, stream bank protection, no-till crop production, crop rotation and large filter strips- at least 100 feet wide- along stream banks to reduce sediments from entering the stream. Christensen Ranch received the Montana Stockgrowers Association's environmental stewardship award for 1999. They have worked with local, state and federal agencies to improve their ranch. The Christensen's have also implemented time control grazing, use solar power for electric fences and pumping water, have developed 12 springs with tanks to draw the cattle out of the riparian areas and disperse them, and have made six off-stream storage ponds and in-stream restrictions to improve water quality. These improvements have caused their outputs to decrease and their productivity to increase. The Oklahoma Beef Industry Council has awarded the 1999 environmental stewardship award to Neill Cattle Company. The company consists of a 14,000 head custom feedlot, large stocker herd, and a farming operation. Their environmental practices include feedlot pollution control system which cost more than $1 million. The natural resource stewardship practices of Neill Cattle Company have contributed to the environment and enhanced productivity and profitability. These entities now have the chance to compete for both the regional environmental stewardship awards and the national environmental stewardship award handed out by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. |
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