Ranching helps connect these producers with native grassland conservation.
For Neil Block, ranching is about grass. Yes, the second-generation southern Saskatchewan rancher raises cattle, with plans to produce efficient and profitable pounds of beef. But the foundation of the operation relies on producing a healthy, renewable and sustainable forage resource.
It hasn't necessarily been easy over the past eight years as ongoing drought conditions along with grasshoppers have taken their toll on forage production. It has led to some difficult management decisions such as downsizing the cattle herd to find a proper balance in the number of animals the extensive native range and tame grass pastures can support.
But for Block, who graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in range ecology, it is the proper management of grasses — especially the native range — that has supported Block’s Ranching through many years of widely variable growing conditions.
"Native range is sometimes described as being fragile," says Block. "And in some respects it is. If it gets abused it can take a long time to recover. But if it is managed properly it is also extremely resilient and productive even under adverse growing conditions."
It is the Block family's commitment to proper management of native grasslands - which includes habitat for a wide range of wildlife species - that has earned Block’s Ranching recognition by the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association as recipients of The Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA) for 2024.
Located in the Sandhills of southwestern Saskatchewan, the ranch was originally purchased by Neil Block's parents, Carl and Pat Block, back in 1986, and since then they have been operating Block’s Ranching, a multigenerational family ranch that in many respects has set the standard of land stewardship on native prairies.
Their grazing operation covers more than 60,000 acres. That includes about 56,000 of native grassland pastures along with about 4,000 acres of tame grass pastures — most of it under a grazing lease although they do have deeded and rented pasture as well. Pasture on their deeded land is about half tame grass and half native rangeland, while on the lease land about six per cent is tame grass forages and 94 per cent native grass species.
The ranch runs a combination of cow-calf, feeder and grasser cattle. Keeping the health of the rangelands is forefront in their overall management. The health of their ranching lifestyle and business depends on the health of the pastures.
After graduating university, Block worked as a range management specialist with the B.C. Forest Service for a number of years before returning home in the early 2000s to take over the family ranch after his dad died suddenly. Neil and his wife, Denise are currently raising their three children, Arika, Lauren and Dane on the ranch who will be the third generation, all working alongside Neil’s mom, Pat and long-time hired hand Brian Mastel. Everyone plays a pivotal role in the ranch’s success.
Block’s Ranching ran a sizeable cow-calf operation for years, although with persistent drought conditions cattle numbers and class of animals have changed.
"The drought has presented a huge challenge, with an incremental decline in the size of the cow-calf herd since 2019," says Block. "It started out with just culling animals, followed the next year by selling off cow-calf pairs and then followed by selling bred heifers along with pairs. We downsized by about 95 per cent, just keeping a few cows."
Block found it more manageable to stock up with yearling heifers to be pastured for the summer. "The heifers provide flexibility," he says. "They travel more, so they actually provide better coverage of the range than cow-calf pairs. We can keep them moving as the grass dictates and then if the grass just isn't there you call the trucks and it is time to sell."
With somewhat improved moisture conditions heading into the 2024 growing season, Block says it may be a good year to begin rebuilding the cowherd.
The management approach of Block's Ranching has been to use the tame grass pastures — mostly crested wheat grass — at both ends of the grazing season, for grassers and bred heifers. It can be early pasture first thing in the growing season, with regrowth grazed again in the fall. When the cow-herd was at its peak, it would begin calving on pasture in May and then move out onto native grass pastures for the summer through to early fall.
With mostly large pastures, some as large as 10,000 to 12,000 acres, the cow-calf pairs would spend several weeks in each pasture before being moved to the next. "Our objective was to use these native grass pastures only once, and then ideally rest those pastures for up to 12 or 18 months," says Block.
"Depending on the growing season that wasn't always possible, but the goal was to graze about half of the pasture land each year. Ideally we'd use a pasture one year then rest it the next so the diverse native plant species could complete their growth cycle without grazing. And we'd make sure pastures weren't used at the same time in subsequent years."
Cow-calf pairs would be out on pasture until fall. Depending on the growing season some years the calves would remain with the cows right through to January and others years, if winter came early, calves would be weaned in November.
"Ideally we were hoping to keep cows on pasture and stockpiled forage right through winter, but in years with too much snow we would move them off the ranch to be custom fed," he says.
Blocks have developed additional water sources for the livestock so they are able to better manage their grazing and avoid damage to existing riparian areas. There are a number of dugouts across the range, they also over the years have installed about 25 miles of buried waterline to carry pumped water to troughs. And they also draw water from several wells using electric as well as wind powered pumping systems.
"We have a pretty good water distribution system across the pastures, but it is an ongoing project to keep the system maintained, and expand as needed to improve animal distribution," says Block.
Block’s Ranching is committed to proper management of the native grassland. "I grew up in this country and gained an appreciation for this native rangeland early in life," says Block. "I am passionate about the native range. I appreciate its value and the need for proper management. I often talk about the conservation of native grasslands and being a rancher is really my means to be involved in that."
Along with maintaining healthy rangeland, he is also working on a project to hopefully restore native grasses on some of the prairie that was broken and seeded to tame grasses. Working with the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation Reverse Auction for Grassland Restoration and South of the Divide Conservation Action Program Inc. he launched a pilot project in 2023 aimed at reseeding 100 acres of crested wheatgrass to native range.
Rather than use herbicide to spray out the crested wheat he is using grazing pressure to knock back the tame grass before seeding both warm and cool season native grass species. In 2023 they grazed more than 900 yearlings on the 100 acres of the project site for 12 days before the crested wheatgrass went to seed to depopulate the crested wheatgrass. The plan was to regraze any new growth later in the year with cow-calf pairs but ultimately due to the combination of drought and grasshoppers, it wasn’t necessary. If there was sufficient moisture and grasshopper numbers weren't too severe, he planned to seed the native grass species in 2024.
Block is always interested in sharing his knowledge of native grassland management with others, as well as learning more about the ecosystem. He has hosted field days for producers in cooperation with the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation, has welcomed rangeland assessment studies, is working with Living Labs - Central Prairies as that project studies soil health and plant and animal species, and is a participating landowner in the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation Multi-Taxa Project that studies the connection between rangeland health and species at risk. Following the death of his father in 2002, the family created the Carl Block Memorial Stewardship Education Fund to support projects related to increasing knowledge about proper land stewardship.
"By participating in rangeland assessments, it helps to expand our knowledge of grassland birds, their populations and how different types of stewardships affect their numbers," says Block. "The Sandhills provide a substantial continuous block of native grasslands for species such as pronghorn antelope, elk, mule deer, and grey wolves."
Block says aside from fine-tuning, he feels they have a sustainable management plan in place that uses yet protects native grass species. On more of a longer term basis he would like to see more of the crested wheat acres returned to native grasses, but it can be an expensive and slow process. He'd also like to find opportunities to share his knowledge of native rangeland management with other producers.
"I clearly remember as an 18 year old sitting on a tractor breaking up some of this native grassland so it could be seeded to tame grass," he says. "The consequence of doing that was not understood at the time, and in some respects it still haunts me today. So perhaps this is my penance, hopefully to use my knowledge to help conserve and restore those native grasslands not just in our own operation, but in other areas as well."
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