Burning Down the Farm

 

A couple weeks ago, the conditions finally came together to where we could safely do prescribed burns on our farm. Every spring, we burn portions of our farm that are enrolled in CRP or Conservation Reserve Program. Land in CRP is land that is marginal to farm, usually due to being highly erodible using conventional tillage technics. So instead of tilling it and planting crops, the government pays you to not do so. Of course it comes with a catch. One must grow native grasses on it for wildlife and that requires periodic maintenance such as biennial burning to promote native plant propagation. To safely due this burning, we need dead fuel on top, i.e. dead grasses, to allow the fire to burn hot enough to kill undesirable weeds and other plants, low humidity so it will burn hot but not too low that it burns too quickly, a light wind to carry the flames across the field but not too windy that it gets out of control. 

We use drip torches as seen above, to do the burns in a controlled manner. Earlier in the year, preparations begin by disking firebreaks around the perimeter of the field to reduce combustible materials. Then starting on the downwind side, using the drip torch to intentionally start a fire. Being on the downwind side and next to the disked firebreak, the fire consumes all the material and leaves blackened remains that won't catch fire. The fire will gradually work back into the wind widening the black spot which helps keep things contained. When you read about fires out west being so many percent contained, they are referring to the percentage of the fire that is surrounded by these "back burns" that create a boundary the fire can't cross.

With the downwind side of the field burned and assurances made that the leading edge of the fire went out along the disked firebreak, we begin to go along the sides of the fields and eventually across the upwind side of the field. This is called lighting the head fire. Once you light the grasses on the upwind side of the field, the wind takes over and blows the flames across the field in a matter of minutes, consuming all the dead vegetation nearly instantly. It is quite impressive to see.

Within minutes of setting the head fire, the fire races across the field and meets with the upwind side of the back burn and the two fire lines draw themselves quickly together and then die out once all the fuel between them has been consumed. What remains is a few pockets here and there that are smoking like seen above. At this point, we will keep an eye on things, especially on the downwind side to make sure nothing escaped. Usually with a few minutes, all the smoke is dissipated and we can move onto the next patch of CRP ground needing burned.

The burning leaves the fields clean of debris and by removing competition, allows the native prairie grasses to thrive which help create healthy soil and provide habitat for all kinds of wildlife. By summer, this field will be filled with native bluestem grass as tall as I am and dotted with wildflowers. 

Comments

  1. Excellent post. Good explanation. I wish we could do something similar here, especially since fire destroys ruminant parasites and their eggs.

    I think the ash and burnt residue also help to feed the soil. The ash is mostly minerals and carbon, both of which are vital to soil microbes and therefore soil health.

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    1. It is definitely beneficial for the health of native grasses plus keeps things like weeds and trees at bay.

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  2. Your tale reminds me of a "prescribed" burn I did up here a few years ago when they asked me to go burn a fence line. Well, it jumped to the residue on the field and started burning faster than I could run. I made a frantic call to Bob who was nearby with the landoll. He was over there within minutes and disced up an break for me and we soon had things under control again.

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    1. We've had a couple escapes over the many years of doing this but all have been into wooded draws on our own property where they eventually burn themselves out. We try to be very judicious about timing, fire breaks and back burning so usually don't have any issues.

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  3. Ed, it is in my living memory that this used to be done in the larger fields an hour or so when I grew up, before it was determined that chemicals were a better solution than fire.

    Also when I was growing up, my Great Uncle B would use the above mentioned drip torches to manage ground cover at The Ranch. Seeing that certainly brings back memories.

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    1. Chemicals certainly would work on the weed aspect but at least for us, fire is necessary to propagate the native prairie grasses, one of the major reasons we do such burns.

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  4. It's interesting that for so long people fought every type of wildfire, and only recently have we come to understand that fire is an essential part of nature's cycle.

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    1. Yes, I've read a lot about this subject and in recent years, have started seeing more and more prescribed burns being done on government lands.

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  5. Taking care of the land... We have had such wind this winter/spring that I have been very careful of fire!

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    1. I've read about the fires out your way! Fortunately in our climate zone, it hasn't been much of an issue though there was a couple weeks of burn bans in place mostly due to the low humidity and high winds in the forecast, and not so much due to a threat of thousands of acres going up in flames. Still, every year I read of a unattended fire escaping and burning up some hay bales or maybe a few outbuildings though it is almost always limited to the property of the owner who started the fire so more of a karma thing.

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  6. I know all about drip torches and prescribed burning! Bravo on safely getting that done.

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    1. They certainly come in handy. Many many years ago in our early years, we would just use zippo lighters to ignite bundles of dried grass in our hand and walk quickly through the field letting the embers fall and ignite. Drip torches are so much more efficient and safe to use.

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  7. Very cool that this is done and how it is done. I say this as a guy who can’t get a campfire going.

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    1. I've been in that elite group too AC! I usually don't pack a drip torch with me when camping!

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  8. I've never heard of this and it sounds like a complicated process. (to me who is completely ignorant of controlled burns)

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    1. The use of controlled burns has been gaining momentum for years out here in the Midwest and south and is starting to be talked about even out west. The problem out there is that there are just too many houses now out in the woods and forests that even controlled burns are nearly impossible and so we continue to get devastating fires.

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    1. Now onto other things for a year while the native grasses grow and multiply.

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  10. So you don't have to replant anything? That native grasses will overtake the burned area on their own?

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