Stewardship Ranch
The Stewardship Ranch is 285 acres adjacent to the Kerr Center office,
located just south of Poteau in southeastern Oklahoma. It is a portion
of the 4000 acre Kerr Ranch, established by Senator Robert S. Kerr in
the 1950s.
The Stewardship Ranch demonstrates that farms and ranches can maintain
agricultural productivity and profitability, while providing for wildlife
habitat and conserving natural resources. Many of the center’s
educational programs are conducted on the ranch. Interns assist
center staff with livestock, horticulture, and organic production projects.
 For more than twenty years, beef cattle have been raised on the ranch
using management intensive
grazing methods that sustain the grass
and soil. A small herd of Pineywoods
Cattle, a heritage breed, graze near the office, while cattle particularly
suited to the region (Angus-Senepol cross) graze other areas of the ranch.
The Kerr Center Meat Goat Program began in 2007 with the establishment
of the Oklahoma Commercial Meat Goat Forage Performance Test, and expanded
to include a commercial doe herd later that year. The commercial
doe operation is used to educate and inform producers about sustainable
meat goat management.
Pastured poultry is another new project. The ranch
is the new home for a flock of Rhode Island Reds (rose comb), a heritage
breed raised at the Overstreet-Kerr Historical Farm.
This program allows any Oklahoma farmer, rancher, or homeowner to
dispose of up to 2,500 pounds of pesticides free of charge. There are
approximately three to four collections each year at different
locations around the state.
The Kerr Center uses one area of the Stewardship Ranch for horticulture projects. In
2008, Kerr Center entered a new era of horticultural work on the Stewardship
Ranch that includes more in-depth work with organic growing methods and
evaluations of heritage crop varieties.
Center staff are converting about five acres of pasture to certified organic status as our main demonstration and research site. The site features a long-term soil-building rotation based on cover crops, green manures, and modest inputs of compost. A hoop house, greenhouse, and compost area round out the facilities.
Throughout the Kerr Ranch, best management practices have been implemented
to protect riparian areas (streams and ponds). Also ongoing are agroforestry projects.
Riparian areas on the ranch also provide habitat for native pollinators. Livestock operations can benefit from native pollinators by improving the seed set on legumes in pastures. The ranch uses management intensive grazing practices with minimal insecticide use, mainly in ear tags for fly control in livestock and deworming medications. Use of insecticides directly affects native pollinators, but the widespread use of herbicides can also have a negative effect on pollinators by removing pollen and nectar food sources. The ranch uses minimal levels of herbicides, mainly for spot spraying to control brush and noxious weeds in pastures, which protect legumes and other forbs in pastures. The limited use of chemicals enhances the Kerr Center's working ranch as an example of how to include habitat for native pollinators in the landscape.
Billboards along the highway near the ranch explain projects. The staff
reaches out to farmers and ranchers through regular field days and workshops.
A number of publications explaining Stewardship Ranch projects are available.
The Eight
Areas of Sustainability guide
farm management decisions.
In 2000, the Kerr Center and the Stewardship Ranch won a Merit Award
from the Soil and Water Conservation Society for protection of riparian
areas on the Stewardship Ranch and for educating landowners about protecting
their water and soil.
Contact:
David Redhage
Natural Resources Economist
918.647.9123
Simon Billy
Horticulture Projects Manager
918.647.9123
George Kuepper
Interns/Organic Projects
918.647.9123
Kerr Center Programs
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