Do I Really Need a Lawson Aerator??

Do I really need a Lawson Aerator? That is the question I asked myself over and over in 2003. I had recently become the manager of a severely overgrazed ranch in Stephens Co. Texas. I had decided to pull all the cattle off the ranch and allow it to rest for two complete growing seasons. After those 2 years of rest I determined that the ranch was approximately 30% bare dirt and about 50% invasive plant species. Also we estimated that the ranch was still in a poor range condition class. So I asked myself how can I economically disturb the soil, reseed, and selectively manicure pastures? The Lawson Aerator is the only answer I found to that question. There are three main benefits a Lawson aerator that I have really noticed over the years. First, any time you aerate native pastures, the soil is loosed up and moisture retention increases is the soil. This action will “jump start” your native grasses and dormant seeds to speed up you plant succession rate. Silver bluestem is one of the grasses that really responds to aeration, it’s a good quality forage for our area and everywhere you aerate it will come up. I estimate that with proper stocking rates it will speed up you healing time 5-7 years. As a ranch manager it’s important to remember that everything we do today is for the next year and the future.  Second, we have had really great success reseeding when we aerate. You can do everything in on pass and unlike traditional reseeding efforts; you don’t have to plow the soil to plant. We are even able to seed a lot of areas that tradition seed practices wouldn’t allow for. Third, besides fire it’s one of the most cost effective range manipulation tools we have. We average approximately 4.5 acres an hour which cost approximately $24 per acre in dozer time, plus seed.  Aeration mixed with a chemical control program has been a cost effective way for us to manage our invasive brush species without harming our wildlife habitat. Over the last 6 years of aerating we have increase our forage production approximately 283% and increased our carrying capacity 40%.  We are beyond pleased with the results our Lawson Aerator has given us and I feel confident with proper management, anyone can reproduce the results we have seen.

 

 

Taylor Yeates
Breckenridge, Texas
Winner 2008 Outstanding Rangeland Management Award
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association