Week 1:

 

During my first week as an intern at the Stiles Farm, I accompanied Dr. Tomecek and his graduate students to the San Antonio Viejo Ranch near Hebbronville, Texas. The goal of the trip was to conduct feral hog control and to see how the remains are used by wildlife, with an emphasis on coyote observation. Along with learning about feral hog management and coyote population dynamics, I also learned how to drive a Polaris, use an ax, build a fire, and how to mount a game camera using wire.

Upon returning to the farm, I spent the rest of the week exploring and getting to know the property as well as becoming familiar with driving a manual transmission. During my exploration of the farm, I observed a large diversity of wildlife including this common nighthawk and great horned owl. We also scouted a field of native, annual sunflower in order to determine future management needs in preparation of dove season 2018.

     

 

 

 

This week at the Stiles Farm, I learned how to drive one of the tractors to be able to feed the cows hay. On Wednesday, I helped put up a temporary gate, connected to the electric fence, to make sure the main herd would stay out of the hay field while grazing in the pasture we opened up for them. Thursday morning, I checked on the fence and made sure the cows were where they were supposed to be.

I was also able to learn how to load and unload the seeds from the planter, as well as change the plates for different seeds, from cotton to canola (same plate for both sesame and canola). And while planting the sesame, we had a small number of egrets following the planter to catch the bugs that would fly up.

We also started getting the farm ready for field day on the 19^th of this month!

Writer: Taylor Burrell, Intern