Chet Vogt’s Three Creeks (Briscoe, Mad and Clover) Ranch in Glenn County, California is a 500 cow/calf operation that successfully integrates environmental and economic sustainability on 5,300 acres of winter rangeland, supplemented by a summer grazing permit. The core of Vogt’s holistic approach is intensive managed grazing, which rotates the cattle among 32 fenced paddocks so that each area experiences only about 15 days a year of grazing and about 350 days of rest. This supports native perennial grasses, healthy cattle and increased water retention in the soil.
Chet bought the Elk Creek ranch in 1992 when it was “badly abused after seven years of drought, bank foreclosure and absentee management—a veritable desert.” He saw “the opportunity, the potential” of the property, and came out and just went to work.
At a recent California Farm Bureau Federation meeting Vogt was named the California winner of the $10,000 2008 Leopold Conservation Award. Today he lives on his Elk Creek ranch with his fiance Angela.
It’s a great example of the new approaches to ranching – which not surprisingly are based on the old ways we used to do things.
I’m a Chet Vogt buckle dealer and carry many of his buckles at my Beal’s Cowboy Buckles store. Click HERE to see them.