Free field guide No. 03 7 chapters
The Texas rancher's land playbook
Take ground back from cedar and mesquite, keep it open, build roads that hold up and protect your ag valuation. A working plan for Texas ranch land, free.
- How brush steals grass, and how to plan clearing like a pasture
- Extent, pattern, selection, method: the four words behind good brush work
- Keeping cleared ground open with follow-up
- Fence lines, ranch roads and stock tanks
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- 7chapters
- 4tables
- 2checklists & worksheets
- 10glossary terms
- 16cited sources
What is inside
Grass, Fence & Road: The Texas rancher's land playbook
Take ground back from cedar and mesquite, keep it open, build roads that hold up and protect your ag valuation. A working plan for Texas ranch land.
- 01
Brush is eating your grass
Every acre of cedar and mesquite is an acre that is not growing grass.
- 02
Plan the clearing like a pasture, not a parking lot
Texas Parks and Wildlife sums up good brush work in four words: extent, pattern, selection, method.
- 03
Keep it open
Clearing wins the ground. Follow-up keeps it.
- 04
Fence lines, roads and water
The work that keeps cattle in, trucks moving and tanks full.
- 05
Protect your ag valuation
Clearing can support your agricultural use. Changing use can cost you. Know the rules.
- 06
The ranch calendar
When to clear, when to wait and what to watch.
- 07
Ranch-raised, ranch-ready
John Wheelock comes from Texas ranching roots. We work ranch land like it is our own.
| Method | Good for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Forestry mulching | Cedar, mesquite and brush cleared without soil disturbance or burn piles; selective work around trees you keep | Mesquite resprouts and needs follow-up |
| Dozing and root plowing | Heavy roots and full removal | Soil disturbance, brush piles and erosion on slopes |
| Prescribed fire | Keeping cleared ground open on a schedule | Needs a plan, crew, weather window and no burn ban |
| Herbicide | Targeted resprouts and seedlings | Label rates, timing and drift |
| Grazing management | Keeping grass healthy so brush has less room | Works with, not instead of, brush control |
Why we wrote it
From the crew that does the work.
John Wheelock comes from Texas ranching roots. We have watched good pasture disappear under cedar, one fence line at a time, and we have seen what a plan does to get it back.
This playbook is that plan, written for the rancher who has to make the land pay: where to clear first, how much cover to leave, and how to keep the ground open after the machines leave.
9 Arrow is an amazing company mostly because they are amazing people! Diligence, honesty, integrity through and through! Talented operators that listen and communicate well.
Questions about the guide
Is the Texas ranch land guide free?
Yes, the Texas ranch land guide is free. Enter your name, email and phone, and the download starts on the next page. The playbook is a single HTML file that opens in any browser, works without a signal once saved and prints cleanly for the truck or the barn office.
Does clearing brush help a Texas ag valuation?
Clearing brush can support a Texas agricultural valuation when it restores real grazing or wildlife use, but the appraisal district decides. Changing the land to a non-agricultural use can trigger a rollback tax for the previous three years. The playbook explains the rules. Confirm with your county appraisal district.
How much cedar should a rancher leave for wildlife?
How much cedar to leave depends on your goals. Texas Parks and Wildlife's Edwards Plateau guidelines say clearing all the brush may suit livestock, but where white-tailed deer matter, "you may only want to clear 50% or less." Keep travel corridors that link the brush you leave. The playbook shows how to plan it.
When is the best time to clear ranch land in Texas?
The best time to clear Texas ranch land is usually late fall through winter, when ground is firmer and oaks sit outside the February through June oak wilt window. Winter clearing leaves the ground open for spring rain, so grass gets a head start. The ranch calendar in the playbook lays out the whole year.
Get Grass, Fence & Road free.
Take ground back from cedar and mesquite, keep it open, build roads that hold up and protect your ag valuation. A working plan for Texas ranch land.
