Ranch adapts to years of drought

Operation branching out to agritourism

BUCKLIN, Kan. (AP)--Ranchers Joe and Nancy Moore are thinning out the herd of longhorn cattle that roams their 1,614-acre spread about 12 miles south of Bucklin, in Clark County.

Selling 200 of their 300 longhorns isn't by choice. It's a decision forced by nature.

"We're running out of grass," Nancy Moore said.

Since January, the south-central Kansas ground where they live and work has been pelted by only a few inches of rain. Snow was just as rare last winter in the area.

No moisture means a lack of grass, the mainstay of the longhorns' diet. And what grass is on the range is prematurely dry and brown.

"The last seven years have been dry," Nancy Moore said, adding that the family also leases 2,000 acres of pasture land south of their ranch. "The acreage south has been dry for the past five years. So even if we get moisture, it's not going to make up for it."

Compounding the lack of rain is the use of field irrigation systems, which tap into the Ogallala Aquifer and drains the water supply that fills ponds and creeks, she said. West Kiowa Creek, which runs through the ranch, has been depleted by about 50 percent.

But the Moores aren't whining. They know that natural and man-made obstacles are part of a rancher's life--always have been, always will be.

So they pull on their boots and jeans each day and do what they can, just like their ancestors and other local ranchers did before them.

Joe Moore grew up in Fairplay, Colo., near Breckenridge. When the town sold its water rights to Aurora, Colo., the Moore family moved in the late 1970s to a ranch near Mullinville.

"His father rodeoed and he was raised on roping cattle," his wife said. "It exploded from there."

While his parents eventually moved to Oklahoma, Joe Moore stayed in the Sunflower State.

He and Nancy, who grew up on a farm near Hoxie, have run their ranch for about 20 years. They have three sons--Trinity, 26, who occasionally helps at the ranch; Cody, 24, who runs his grandfather's ranch south of Oklahoma City; and 10-year-old Laramie, who loves ranch life as much as his parents.

Besides the 300 longhorn cattle, the Moores have 60 yearling longhorns and about 40 horses. Another 150 cattle and calves and 100 yearlings that belong to other farmers and ranchers are grazing on their land through the summer months.

About four dozen chicks keep warm under a brooding light in the chicken house, while a Charolais cow--expected to calve in about two months--nurses three orphan calves in an attached pen.

At one time, the Moores tried to be farmers, growing milo, Wheat and alfalfa. They returned to ranching after a few years because crop farming wasn't as economically rewarding and seemed to be a waste of their resources.

The Moores have one part-time helper, Benjamin Nech, a pilot for EagleMed air ambulance in Dodge City who likes to spend his spare time working at the ranch. And they have two cattle dogs, Popcorn and Molly, both heelers.

"When it comes to moving cattle, the dogs make up for any two men," Nech said.

Their ranch is an expanse of rugged range, dotted with sand hill plum trees, sumac, prickly pears, yucca plants, gourd vines and stands of walnut trees.

It is quiet, except for an occasional bobwhite whistle, guinea cackle or rooster crow. Their nearest neighbor is 2 1/2 miles away. They restock their pantry with purchases made at the small grocery stores in Bucklin to the north or Protection to the south.

A summer day finds Joe Moore and Nech on horseback in near-90-degree temperatures, driving 25 or so longhorns from a field to a corral a mile away so five can be culled to sell. Nancy Moore follows them in a GMC truck with a "Cowboy" license plate, opening and closing gates along the way.

Most of their cattle are sold as rodeo stock, for breeding purposes or sent to stockyards or traditional markets.

Later in the day, the men trained colts and tended to an abscess on a draft horse's hoof, while Nancy gathered eggs, bottle-fed a calf and did other chores.

"I enjoy the lifestyle," Joe Moore said.

Sun-bleached longhorn skulls are lined up against the side of a tin shed a few yards from the Moores' home. The couple sells the skulls on eBay for at least $50 each.

"We sent some to New Zealand," Joe Moore said. "Even the animals we lose, we get to benefit (from)."

Online sales are one way the couple has found to add dollars to their operation as the grass loses its green. A much-larger venture has taken them into the agritourism arena.

The family got its first taste of agritourism in the 1970s when they provided the longhorn cattle used in the 1978 television mini-series "Centennial." In 1985, an advertising crew came to the ranch to photograph a Marlboro cigarette ad that ran in at least 32 publications, including Playboy.

Today, the Moores offer everyday people a chance to experience life on a working ranch through tourist packages focusing on cattle drives, branding and other ranching skills. They also advertise deer, pheasant and quail hunting packages.

The couple recently purchased six cabins and a commons building that were part of a motel in Cunningham and moved them to their property to house guests. The small, furnished cabins have a kitchen area and window air conditioners.

To get the word out, the ranch has a website, www.longhorn-cattle.com, and has been featured in state tourism publications. In 10 years, Joe Moore expects agritourism to replace cattle as the main income source of his ranching operation.

"A lot of people want a taste of the way it used to be," he said. "There are lots of people 60 to 80 years old who played cowboy and Indians when they were kids and now they have the capital to play cowboys and Indians for real."

Date: 8/24/06

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