Family collaborates with nature

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10316309

Published Tuesday | April 22, 2008
Family collaborates with nature
BY BILL HORD
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

STEINAUER, Neb. — When Rod and Amy Christen got married 13 years ago today, they gave little potted plants — reception centerpieces — to friends and relatives to acknowledge that their wedding was on Earth Day.

Even today, honoring Earth Day comes naturally to the Christens on their ranch northwest of Steinauer.

"I guess every day is Earth Day to me," said Rod Christen, 37, who treats pasture grass like precious gold.

The Christens are this year's winners of a $10,000 prize and crystal trophy given by Sand County Foundation and the Nebraska Cattlemen to Nebraska ranchers whose conservation practices are exemplary.

The family — Amy, Rod, Rod's sister Kay and their parents, Richard and Sharon — raises calves from a 275-head cow herd. The family owns 1,354 acres and rents 1,080 acres, using only 250 acres for crops to feed to their cattle.


Rod Christen uses controlled burns to help maximize the feed value of grass on his family's farm northwest of Steinauer, Neb. Sand County Foundation and Nebraska Cattlemen have bestowed the Leopold Conservation Award on the Christen family for its conservation efforts.

"I consider ourselves to be grass farmers," Rod Christen said. "Grass is a superior means of conservation. It's what holds the ground in place."

FULL story at link.

[Kali]

1. lots of ranchers doing these things

thanks!