By John Howell Sr.

Durwood Gordon, while hosting a field day for the Panola County Cattlemen’s Association Saturday, again stressed the benefit of cattle producers working cooperatively.

It was the second field day Gordon had hosted in little over a year at his farm in the Tallahatchie River bottom near Red Hill. The farm has become a demonstration for application of intensive pasture management practices where cattle are allowed to graze for limited periods on grass acreage subdivided by an extensive but portable electric fencing.

Saturday’s field day had a new twist. The 60 or so acres formerly alternated for row crops during the summer and pasture in winter has been planted with a quail-friendly pasture grass, said John Gruchy, a conservation resource biologist with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP).

The tract, which lies at the corner of Curtis and Red Hill Roads, has been planted in a native, warm season grass. The big bluestem indiangrass is “not sod-forming,” Gruchy said. “There’s more space for the chicks to be able to run around and get bugs,” he added.

The grass just sprouting at Gordon’s farm is part of an MDWFP pilot project to encourage habitat favorable to native bobwhite quail.

Gruchy said that Gordon’s farm was selected because of his pasture management practices that include not allowing cattle to overgraze.

The quail-friendly grasses are susceptible to overgrazing and require longer to establish, Gruchy said. In return, the landowner gets a grass that requires no fertilizer, he said.

Gruchy said Gordon’s pasture management has allowed him to pasture about one cow per acre, compared to an average of about one cow per three acres.

The field day attracted about 50 members and guests of the county association who toured Gordon’s operation before eating hamburgers on the Gordons’s front lawn at their home atop Red Hill.

As during the 2008 field day, Gordon reiterated several times disdain for having to feed hay to his cattle. His goal is a winter during which his cows feed entirely on his winter pasture grasses.

Gordon continually promotes membership in the Panola County Cattlemen’s Association. “I’d like to see four or five ranchers get together, work their cows together, market their cows and sell them for five or six cents (per pound) higher,” he said.

Gordon and cattle producer Preston Lawrence cited competitive pressure from diverse sources, including the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) that pays landowners to plant trees on potential pasture land.

A cattle producer cannot afford to pay rent equal to the CRP payments, Gordon said.

The pressure for cheap beef for the nation’s hamburger franchise restaurants has increased imports from Argentina and Australia, Gordon added.

“We’ve got to get to where we can make money on 70 cents (per pound) cattle,” Lawrence said. He said the intensive grazing practices and better management can bring production costs down.

Following the hamburger dinner at Gordon’s home, Panola County Extension Service Agent Judd Gentry presented Gordon with a plaque recognizing him as Panola County’s Cattleman of the Year for 2009.