JULY 2019 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC
23 Clifton Ranch aims for better beef, habitat
Care for habitat is integral to herd
management by TOM WALKER
KEREMEOS—The Clifton family was extremely pleased to receive the 2019 Ranch Sustainability Award from the BC Cattlemen’s Association, but the initiatives designed to improve habitat on the family’s ranch weren’t done for attention. “We didn’t start out to do this with the idea of winning an award,” says Wade Clifton, who undertook the projects with his brother Brad, who died in February. “We did it so that we could better manage the grass for our herd and grow more pounds of beef.” It’s a tough place to manage grass. Clifton Ranch sits by Olalla on Hwy. 3A at the north entrance to the Similkameen valley. Its range is east over White Lake into Okanagan Falls and west through to Princeton and takes in some of the hottest and driest grasslands in the province. “On the slopes next to White Lake, it can regularly reach 45 [degrees] Celsius,” says Clifton. Rainfall averages around 12 inches a year. A key part of the sustainability equation for the Cliftons is economics. “A project had to make economic sense before we developed it,” says Clifton. An investment in a water
system for example, will support the development of better grazing for the cattle and it will also enhance the restoration of a riparian area. But one objective doesn’t
outweigh the other. What’s good for the cattle is also good for the habitat. Range cattle will gather
where there’s water. “When we had them
drinking out of Horn Lake, the riparian area was heavily impacted by all the traffic, but the hillsides were quite scoured as well,” notes Clifton. Initially, the cattle would
overgraze the bottom grass closest to the lake. “They would eventually
move up the mountain for better grass, but then they would track back down to drink and they wore paths into the soil that would start to erode the hillsides,” he explains. Brad Clifton’s solution was to install a 1,700-foot, high- elevation spring-sourced water line connecting nine water troughs located across the hillside. This led to multiple benefits.
Wade and Sandra Clifton flank a sign recognizing the work the family has undertaken in collaboration with the Nature Trust of BC to restore and preserve sensitive grassland habitat where their cattle graze. [TOM WALKER PHOTO]
“The first thing it did was to
lure the cattle out of the bottom riparian area up to where there was better grass so that they ate better,” says Clifton.
The multiple troughs
spread the cattle over a broader area, leading to less impact on the grass. The cattle began grazing across the
slope rather than up and down the hillside, reducing impacts on the land. The riparian area saw less traffic, so it had a chance to recover, too. In the long run, the cattle eat better, gain weight and put more dollars into the Cliftons’ pockets. Overall, the Cliftons have 100 water developments.
Some are gravity-fed systems, others are as simple as a collection trough on a small spring. Any riparian fencing has a
wildlife-friendly design. The top and bottom strands are plain wire with the middle three stands barbed. “When deer go over it they are not going to catch a barb
on their coat causing an injury and possibly ripping the fence,” explains Clifton. “It’s easier on the animals and we spend less time fixing fences.” Clifton shows another
range area that is also supported by a trough system and points out the unfenced
See WATER on next page o
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