Prime Time Summer 2018

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP Continued from page 21 escape ramps and artificial water troughs, rotational grazing, stuff that makes sense for us but, honestly, things we’d be doing wheth- er we were in the NRCS program or not.” That sentiment is re- flected by Tom’s cousin and neighbor, Tara Sterling, whose family runs Akaushi cattle on 11,550 deeded acres and nearly 200,000 leased acres in Coahoma, Texas. For the Sterlings, there is no difference in how the leased land and deeded land are cared for.

Sterling Cattle Co. was started by JM Sterling in 1954. Today, JM’s son, Jimmy, (right) runs the ranch with help from his three daughters and their families.

“That’s just the way we were raised – to be responsible and take care of the prop- erty that was handed to you,” Sterling says. “My granddad taught my dad and my dad taught me and now I’m teaching my kids.” Over the years, the Sterlings have grubbed mesquite on 4,000 deeded acres; grubbed and sprayed more than 21,000 acres of leased land; sprayed prickly pear

on 570 deeded acres and 2,000 leased acres; and re-seeded back to native grasses 3,300 acres of deeded land and 6,900 acres of leased land. That’s only the beginning of their list of improvements. They have put up more than 20 miles of fencing, drilled new wells and installed solar-powered pumps on 18 water troughs. Because water is sparse in Andrews County, the Sterlings have added new water lines and troughs that allow them to spread cattle farther out and better manage graz- ing, but with the current drought, they are forced to walk a fine line between manag- ing available forage and overgrazing. “We’ve had to move some cattle around and we’re having to sell yearlings before we normally would have done so,” Sterling says. “We also have limited grazing, so we had to keep cattle longer on grass than we normally would have, but we do try to move cattle away from areas where they could overgraze and avoid long-term issues we could have.” Sterling Cattle Company was selected as one of six regional honorees of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Environmen- tal Stewardship Award Program.  LEFT: Sterling Cattle Co. was one of six regional honorees for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Environmen- tal Stewardship Award Program. The award recognizes the operation’s outstanding stewardship and conservation efforts in Coahoma, Texas.

Akaushi Prime Time • Summer 2018

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