T
HERE HAD TO BE A BETTER WAY TO winter feed a cow than har- vesting hay all summer just so
you could haul it out all winter. The old way was just too expensive, Bruce Berg reasoned. That was one his fi rst “aha” mo-
ments after he had operated an East Texas ranch for a few years. Hay was one of the biggest costs in the operation, so he started looking at alternatives. From his youth on a Missouri farm,
through earning a graduate degree in animal science and a stint in seed sales, Berg has been a probing student of the beef cattle business. When a career change brought him
to Dallas in a fi nancial services fi rm, he bought an East Texas ranch as soon as he could afford it. That was in 1993. That’s also when the education really
began. Eventually, he sold the East Texas ranch to buy and restore a misman-
aged ranch of nearly 6,000 acres near Meridian, Texas. Since then, Berg has been recog-
nized for innovative management of both land and livestock. In 2014, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Associa- tion (NCBA) named him and his wife, Barbara, regional winners of the 24th Environmental Stewardship Award. They were nominated by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and the Texas Section of the Society for Range Management. The award recognizes producers
whose management contributes to both environmental and economic sustain- ability. The program is funded by Dow AgroSciences, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Last summer, Berg talked to visitors
at his Rocosa Ridge Ranch about some of the tools that have helped him with the land, the cattle and the bottom line.
LEFT: In genetic selection, Berg wants a cow to wean at least 50 percent of her body weight. Cow size is moder- ating over time.
RIGHT: Bruce Berg (NCBA photo)
tscra.org April 2015 The Cattleman 85
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