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Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award Application

Program Statement:

Prather Ranch is a vertically integrated, agribusiness that encourages economic innovation with environmental sustainability. The cattle and hay ranch, which is located in northern California, is a self-sustaining operation that promotes strong environmental philosophies, holistic management practices and the humane treatment of livestock.

Prather thrives on niche markets. The ranch provides pharmaceutical companies with bovine materials such as hides used for collagen, bovine bones and tendons used for human replacement parts, and pituitary glands used as an ingredient for an artificial human skin. With its "closed herd" status and own on-site USDA federally inspected harvest facility, the ranch is in an unparalleled position to produce great tasting beef with high consumer satisfaction. Prather harvests 1,000 animals a year for its premium quality, dry-aged certified organic and natural beef sales. The ranch produces 18,000 tons of hay annually and provides the majority of the feed for their cattle. Other income sources include a hydroelectric plant, hunting club, timber production, a genetic testing program, and an organic strawberry nursery-the first of its kind in California.

As one of the original ranches settled in Siskiyou County, Prather was a diversified operation as early as the 1870's. The ranch included a hotel, a dairy and creamery, a cow/calf operation, and a lumber mill. With the emergence of the railroad and the depletion of the timber, the mill closed and the ranch reverted to a strictly cow/calf operation. Walter Ralphs acquired the historic Prather Ranch in 1964 and, in 1979, Jim and Mary Rickert became partners. Today the ranch covers 15,560 private deeded acres and continues to be as diverse and innovative as the ranch's history.

Prather Ranch utilizes many self-sustaining farming and ranching practices that enhance wildlife and water quality. Prather has adopted numerous labor and energy saving improvements including laser land leveling, converting open irrigation ditches to PVC pipelines, and installing low-pressure sprinklers on pivots, which minimizes loss of water. Sump pumps have been installed to recycle water, making the irrigation system more efficient.

Prather participates in "time of use" pumping to minimize peak power loads and irrigation costs. A hydroelectric plant was constructed to take advantage of California's "avoided cost" program that encourages small hydroelectric plants to be built. Prather also utilizes solar powered and gravity flow livestock watering facilities. These "off-the-grid" qualities make Prather Ranch a leader in agricultural sustainability.

Several hundred acres are operated as a wildlife preserve. Prather has two wildlife ponds with over 100 surface acres, complete with nesting islands, which are stocked with fish. Nesting boxes and hawk perches are strategically placed on the ranch to enhance waterfowl habitat. Organic and biological controls are used to promote agricultural efficiency. Historically, ground squirrels have reduced hay production, but instead of poison, Prather has instituted a varmint hunter program, which successfully controls squirrel populations and attracts large numbers of bald eagles, which feast on deceased squirrels. Large fenced areas provide deer fawning habitat, while the alfalfa fields sustain large herds of antelope and deer.

Prather has developed wildlife friendly, exclusion fencing and limited access cattle watering ramps with filter fabric and cinder rock. Twenty-nine offsite-watering troughs have been installed to discourage the cattle from drinking from the Fall River and its tributaries, which also help protect valuable aquatic resources. The twenty-mile riparian buffer strips and tail water recovery systems ensure that manure doesn't make its way to the creeks and the Fall River. Willows have been planted to help improve water quality and provide vital habitat for the endangered Willow Flycatcher. Prather cooperates with the Fish and Wildlife Service in the recovery plan for the endangered Shasta Crayfish whose largest population is located in streams on ranch lands. Fenwood Ranch, Prather's organic range, became the first significant conservation easement in Shasta County, which protects 2 ½ miles of Sacramento River frontage, critical oak-woodland habitat, riparian areas, and vernal pools, which are home to deer, flocks of wild turkeys, and endangered bank swallows.

The overall objective of Prather Ranch is to utilize natural and human resources to maintain a long-term profitable operation by producing diversified products and marketing to satisfied customers, while protecting, conserving and enhancing the environment.