they’re more time consuming. “We’ll go in several weeks ahead of the fi re and mow in a couple of strips on the edge of where we’re going to burn,” he says. “We’ll skip out 5 to 6 feet between the strips, so we
have 2 6-foot wide areas cut down as short as we can cut it, about 2 to 3 inches. We’ll leave a 6- to 8-foot wide area in between that we can light.”
to make sure that you don’t have an encroachment across the fi re line.” Brite will also use wet lines; a technique Goodwin
Just because the fi re is out does
not mean you are fi nished with the prescribed burn.
To achieve the best control, Brite accomplishes these
burns under less than optimal conditions, with higher humidity and little wind. As a result, the stubble is left a little higher than it would be otherwise. “When you start your backfi re on the day of the fi re, you have to watch this stubble,” Brite says. “It still has the poten- tial to have a very low fi re move across it. Since you’re doing the backfi re, you have to have a follow-up truck
BRAZOS VALLEY Livestock
Commission Co. Inc.
Providing the Brazos Valley with service and experience. SALE DAY
Tuesday at 12 Noon
6097 East S.H. 21 Bryan, Texas
Phone 979-778-0904 Fax 979-778-7900
Scott Scarmardo, General Manager Pete Scarmardo, Owner Mobile 979-224-3764 Home 979-272-0667
says is used often and is not destructive to the environ- ment. It can be water, or water with retardant. “Once we’ve laid down a wet line, we light a back fi re off of that line into the wind to create a blackline, this process effectively creates a blackened area on the downwind sides to assist in stopping the prescribed head fi re,” he says. “The down side of a wet line is that it takes a lot
more time and a lot more people to accomplish, be- cause you don’t have that safety barrier of the 15 feet of bare ground. You are working off wet grass (fuel). Safety and attentiveness are critical when working with wet lines.” There also have to be crewmembers with suppres-
sion equipment putting out the back fi re as you go. But, Goodwin says, “There are producers who don’t want mineral fi reguards at all, and in those cases we can use a combination of wet lines and natural barriers to cre- ate a burn unit. It’s more diffi cult, but it can be done.” Another option, although it’s not used very often, is a
green fi reguard — nothing but growing plants. MORE FLOYDADA
Livestock Sales Floydada, Texas
Sale every Wednesday at 11 a.m. “Family owned and operated for 40 years” Special Sales in March and November
We specialize in fresh,
country cattle and serve the needs of all operators, big and small.
Barn: 806-983-2153
John Fortenberry, Owner 806-983-7394 Cell
tscra.org July 2016 The Cattleman 49
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