By Donnie Lunsford, USDA NRCS public affairs specialist
While riding down a bumpy ranch road in Andrews County with Jimmy Sterling, a story unfolded about conservation, animal husbandry, family legacy, and stewardship. Sterling is not a man of many words, but if you start talking about quality beef and land management, you will receive an education from a lifetime of ranching.
Sterling is not your typical Texan rancher. He has ranches spread from Andrews County to central Texas. On the family’s home ranch in Coahoma by Big Spring, Sterling took over the reins from his father in 1991.
Sterling Cattle Company is a cow-calf operation started by Jimmy Sterling’s father, J.M. Sterling, in 1954. Sterling currently runs several thousand cows on more than 218,000 acres over 9 counties on 10 ranches. One ranch is the Fort Chadbourne Ranch in Coke County, where he has been leasing the grazing rights for more than 20 years.
Walking the walk
One of the many hats Sterling wears is that of a district director for the Howard Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD). He is serious about his position and works with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to help identify the needs of farmers, ranchers, and landowners in his area. He not only does this for the people of his district, but he walks the walk by working with the NRCS to have an active conservation plan on every ranch possible under his management.
In October 2017, Jimmy Sterling and his wife, Theresa, were honored by the Texas Section Society of Range Management (TSSRM) and Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) as the Outstanding Rangeland Stewardship Award winner for his exemplary efforts in rangeland stewardship. They were then nominated to the Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP), representing Region IV. The ESAP program is organized by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which announced that the Sterlings were 1 of 7 regional winners of this prestigious award.
“When I lease a ranch, I want it looking better than the way it was given to me,” Sterling said. “I try to exceed everyone’s expectations by improving the rangeland through better grasses and proper grazing.”
One way he does this is through NRCS programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Through these Farm Bill programs, Sterling can use his excavators to their full potential to remove undesirable brush to restore the plains back to a grassland. He continues to improve the grasses and plant diversity by seeding native grasses as well as some introduced species such as kleingrass that is well suited for this area and its cyclical drought and dry spells.
Sterling continues to guide his walk by improving his grazing through the installation of cross fences and water sources, so the cattle will utilize a pasture at optimum times while giving the other pastures rest. Frequent West Texas droughts have taught Sterling that a proper stocking rate and a drought management plan are vital for ensuring that rangelands are not overgrazed.
“A good drought management plan doesn’t start after the drought has begun, it is something that needs to be thought out in detail long before the rain stops falling,” explains Sterling. “I would rather bring in a few cattle for short durations during exceptionally rainy times than have to sell off a large part of my herd, so I don’t keep my ranch fully stocked.”
Sterling uses prescribed burning as one of his tools to help increase plant diversity, kill or set back invasive brush, while also helping to protect his land from devastating wildfires. He typically will burn tabosa grass pastures to increase the palatability of the tabosa since it would not otherwise be utilized by the cattle.
Sterling understands that a lot goes into that piece of beef sitting on a dinner plate. Over recent years, he has built miles of fence, converted 11 windmills to solar pumping plants, drilled 7 new wells with solar pumps, installed 7 large water storage facilities and constructed 9 miles of livestock water pipelines.
Tough decisions
In West Texas, drought seems to be more frequent than above average rainfall. From October of 2010 to September of 2011, a drought plagued much of Texas and less than 1 inch of rain fell on some of his ranches. To make matters worse, a large wildfire scorched 45,000 acres on his University Lands lease in Andrews County. He lost more than 150 cows and 45 miles of fence. It was one of the hardest and most emotional experiences of his ranching career.
“The wind was blowing 70 miles an hour and most of the cows never made it to the fence in a mile and a half wide pasture,” said Sterling. “Then I lost a third of the March Ranch right out of San Angelo due to a fire, but luckily my cows were spared on that one.”
Sterling and his family had to make tough decisions due to drought and fire to try to hold onto his already thinned herd. They took a gamble and shipped 2,000 cows on 49 trucks to Oregon and California, sending his daughter and son-in-law with the cattle. They stayed for a full 15 months until a drought hit Oregon and the herd came back to Texas.
“I would have liked to keep them up there a bit longer, but it began to get dry up there, plus I had some rain on the ranch and leased another University Lands ranch.”
Quality, the end game
While Sterling works towards improving his land, he knows he can be proud of the end product — a quality cow herd.
He sees his end game as a profitable operation with the best cow that he can produce in West Texas. For years, Sterling raised Angus and marketed them as natural beef. He began to create a quality herd through an extensive culling program. Always one to look for new opportunities in the beef industry, Sterling decided to try his hand at raising a Japanese breed called Akaushi. Akaushi beef is a richly marbled, very tender and flavorful product. He took Akaushi bulls and bred them to his Angus herd and carcass quality was greatly improved.
“We receive carcass results from HeartBrand Beef on our half-Akaushi, half-Angus calves. They are averaging 40 percent Prime, 55 percent Choice with yield grades averaging under 3,” said Sterling. “We raise our cattle all natural. If we have to doctor them, we give them a permanent earmark, so we can remove them from our natural herd to our commercial herd after weaning.”
By selecting traits for the best cattle breeding, he culls based on factors such as a missed breeding, temperament and birth weight. Sterling keeps his cattle tame while handling them on horseback. He has also increased his weaning weights through his many conservation efforts such as prescribed grazing, water distribution, and brush management. In the past, most of his calves would wean at 520 pounds and now they are closer to 700 pounds.
“One of the hardest things in ranching today is educating the public that we care about the animals we raise. We don’t give them antibiotics and growth hormones,” Sterling said. “We are environmentalists in the true sense of the word by taking care of the animals, land, and our natural resources.”
A family that ranches together
Sterling and his wife raised 3 daughters, and all have taken on a role in the ranching business. One daughter, Tara Renfro, and her husband, William, decided to stay on the ranch to learn how to manage multiple ranches. Karen Rechichar, Sterling’s middle daughter, and her husband, Ryan, also actively participate in many ranching activities. The youngest daughter, Laci Sterling, is closely involved with the operation as well. They have branding weekends with the family where even the grandkids get on horseback to keep the cowboy tradition alive. Someday, he will turn over the reins to his children and grandchildren. His legacy will carry on for generations to come. Sterling grew up as a cowboy but through hard work, determination and vision, he became a true cattleman and steward of West Texas.
When asked for his advice to young people getting started in the cattle business today, Sterling says, “Control your brush, have decent fences, improve your grasses, spread the water out, and your cows will gain more weight. Spend some money; it will pay you back in the long run. Lastly, you must think like a steward of the land.”
Steward of the Land is excerpted from the February 2018 issue of The Cattleman magazine.