TExas Heritage for LIving (Winter 2019): A Commitment Made & Kept

Rooter Brite continues ranching in An Ever-Evolving INdustry.

BY DAVID HOPKINS

James Brite goes by the nickname “Rooter.” The name was something his mom and dad gave him when he was little, and it stuck. These playful appellations are common in the south. Informal and wrapped in familial warmth, such a nickname reminds us that a good life should be informal and friendly. Someone who doesn’t insist on “James” or “Mr. Brite” is the kind of person who prefers working on horseback in an open pasture, who sees special meaning in caring for the land.

“I’m third generation on this ranch. My grandfather purchased it in 1929,” Brite says. “When I was eight years old, my dad also had a private loan company — and he was thinking more about that than ranching. He seriously considered leasing the land out. And I just begged him to keep it because I wanted to be a rancher.”

At that moment, at only eight years old, Brite made a promise to the land he had begged his father to keep. He would care for it. He started running the ranch in 1971. In 1974, he purchased it outright from his parents.

“All my education, everything, has been centered around managing resources as well as I possibly could. It was a commitment I made and kept.”

Brite originally had seven pastures, but he expanded it to about 52. This expansion may surprise some; it was not to accommodate more heads of cattle, but rather to better manage the land. The grass does better when grazed intensely for brief periods with long rests in between. This ecology simulates what the buffalo did when they moved through the region many generations ago.

“Huge herds would wipe it out, and they wouldn’t come back to that land for a while,” Brite says. “So, we give our pastures extensive rest, and it has responded beautifully to that. This is still evolving science. It is science. It’s not fly-by-night stuff. And what I’m doing anybody can do.”

Brite sees his approach to caring for the land as having not only environmental benefits, but also economic ones.

“You have far fewer problems doing it the way we do it,” he says. “The herd health is better. Land health is better.”

Some aspects of maintaining and caring for the natural health of the land can be tricky. Brite consults with Noble Research Institute in Ardmore, Oklahoma, for the latest scientific data. He takes soil samples of his land for study, checking for fungal and microbial activity and even greenhouse gases sequestered through good range management. He’s also gained knowledge from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Texas Christian University’s Ranch Management Program.

Brite conducts controlled burns on his land by prescription, meaning that the burn is only done under specific weather and soil conditions in order to restore the ecosystem. Brite is a certified and insured prescribed burn manager for Texas — one of only about 80 in the state. That requires special liability coverage.

“Texas Farm Bureau Insurance is the only insurance company in the state of Texas, that I’m aware of, that will write a policy for prescribed fire. I could not do it during burn bans if it were not for that Texas Farm Bureau Insurance coverage. I had to increase my liability from $2 million to $3 million for it, and it didn’t cost me much. I’ve never used it —hope I never have to, but it helps me maintain my license.”

Ever since he was eight years old, Brite has been committed to cattle ranching. Texas Farm Bureau Insurance’s comprehensive farm and ranch coverage has helped him to continue his work into the future.

“As ranchers, a lot of what we talk about is stewardship of the land, stewardship of the animals,” Brite says. “Our work is still evolving. We’re still learning better techniques on how to care for the animals, how to care for the land, and deliver higher-quality product. This work means a lot to me.”