I'm wanting to do some pasture burning for the first time this coming Feb/March. Where is a good place to start for information so I can start soaking up some knowledge. TIA

Edit: I'm in the central Texas area.

Hire a burn contractor.
We are doing the same this year and no way I would personally attempt on my own.
No idea where you are located but the Noble Foundation in Ardmore OK can provide you with some guidance. That's who is helping us. They offer burn clinics you can attend and also have access to burn contractor info. I'm sure A&M has similar resources, I'm just not privy to that info.

I wouldn't think that would free you from the liability if something crazy happened and it got out of control.

Then again, it's fire science, not rocket science, so I'd think anyone willing to learn can be just as safe and effective at it as a contractor. But I could see doing that if you don't have the time or equipment needed to make it safe.

Check with your local USDA NRCS office. They can provide FREE assistance and write a burn plan.

Most prescribed fire and forestry vendors will have liability insurance. Many good Home insurance policies will extend general liability to you in addition to your prinary dwelling. Call and find out. I was surprised when I learned this.

There are tons of prescribe fire vendors in East Texas. Some might travel. Start calling now to find out about availability. Depending on location and acreage and burn conditions it can be tricky getting everything lined up. I'll be doing my fourth burn this spring

Any burn contractors willing or around the Shamrock Texas area?

Just watch Firestorm and go for it.

Sorry, I was doing two things at one time earlier and misread the op. Fire is not really something that you can go and soak up some info and expect a level of proficiency. There is little room for error, and if we expect to be able to continue to use it as a tool in this State we need to make sure we are doing it right. There is a list on TDA's website of certified commercial burn managers.

birddog7000 said:

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Sorry, I was doing two things at one time earlier and misread the op. Fire is not really something that you can go and soak up some info and expect a level of proficiency. There is little room for error, and if we expect to be able to continue to use it as a tool in this State we need to make sure we are doing it right. There is a list on TDA's website of certified commercial burn managers.

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That assumes that you certified guys would burn every property that's needs it. I'm in Brazos valley and many of the guys that need burning certified burners won't touch them because they're too small, too close houses etc.

I agree going to one workshop doesn't give you all you need to burn your property on your own. But maybe it gives you enough to part a small part so that landowner can learn how to burn on their own.

The tool we need state wide is PB associations in my opinion to give landowners the tools, support, and experience to burn in their own.

http://pbatexas.org/Associations.aspx

BQ_90 said:

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birddog7000 said:

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Sorry, I was doing two things at one time earlier and misread the op. Fire is not really something that you can go and soak up some info and expect a level of proficiency. There is little room for error, and if we expect to be able to continue to use it as a tool in this State we need to make sure we are doing it right. There is a list on TDA's website of certified commercial burn managers.

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That assumes that you certified guys would burn every property that's needs it. I'm in Brazos valley and many of the guys that need burning certified burners won't touch them because they're too small, too close houses etc.

I agree going to one workshop doesn't give you all you need to burn your property on your own. But maybe it gives you enough to part a small part so that landowner can learn how to burn on their own.

The tool we need state wide is PB associations in my opinion to give landowners the tools, support, and experience to burn in their own.

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There is nothing stopping you from starting a PBA in your area. I just answered the op's question with some words of experience. I'm not saying you have to hire a burn manager, but to think you can just watch some YouTube videos, or go to a field day or two and you are ready to go is not how it works with fire.

You are right, there are a lot of places that are increasingly difficult to burn. Being a professional burn manager is about mitigating risk, sometimes that means turning work down. We have a daily minimum price so that we can burn small properties and still cover our nut. Not saying it works for everyone, but it's how we are trying to adapt to the changing rural landownership picture.

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The tool we need state wide is PB associations in my opinion to give landowners the tools, support, and experience to burn in their own.

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I agree 100%.
That's the direction I'm headed

The problem is there are few of them in east Texas. The mindset is to tell landowners to leave it to the professionals. Well those guys won't take that risk and it's not worth their time, they won't make any money burning 20 acre tracts.

Part of the problem is lingering smokey bear effect, it's scared landowners that fire is bad.

And like I posted above, many counties activity work against anyone trying to prescribed burning.

I was in District 5 with TPWD for 6 years, I understand the challenges in the area. Even after sending us to Burn School, and later Burn Manager training, even TPWD made it extremely difficult for us to burn.

If you would like, shoot me a pm with your contact info. I'll come take a look at your situation next time I'm in College Station. This is still Texas and someone has the right to turn down your work if it is not in their best interest to do it. There are thousands of acres in the Brazos Valley that are unsuitable for fire. That doesn't mean you can't properly manage your property. Fire is a great tool, but there are other tools you can use. Let me know if you want me to take a look, I'll bring the coffee.

Are you a member of your Wildlife Management Association? Ours used to (haven't seen it in a couple of years) have PB workshops and as part of it, try to have landowners to team up and provide each other help. An organized group of smaller landowners might also be enough for a pro to be interested.

As others have described, find someone with experience. PB is a great management tool for brush management and weed control. I used to work on a south Texas ranch where we did up to 1000 acre burns at one time.

Here are some factors/equipment for a good PB:
Good weather (slight breeze/low humidity/high ceiling for the smoke to rise)
Good water protection equipment (example: tractor with spray rig)
Tractor with disc (pre-disc fence line for fire barrier and in case breaks across fire barrier)
Drip Torches (Forestry service) - Makes for clean continuous burn line/back burn.
Manpower - Have plenty of help on hand for each of the above.

Also, important that the local/volunteer fire department approves of the burn.

Here is a little example how a PB works. A back burn (against the wind) is started along a line of the downwind side. We did this on horseback or by walking with a drip torch. We allowed the back burn to burn about a 1/4 way back or less into the pasture. It will burn slowly so you have protection against the head fire. Now on the upwind side, a fire is lite by drip torch. The two fires will pull together rapidly making a good hot fire to kill brush.

Hope this helps in explaining the process/equipment. Follow the advice of the others on who you may contact to get to advise you or do the PB for you. Good luck.

Well I'm not sure from my post how you're getting that you should have to take every job in Texas.

The landowners I work with and need burning will not be worth your time or effort. Because the certified guys in this area have already turned them down.

Again landowners can do their own burning with the right training and support.

I'll chime in unsolicited here as someone that burns, helps burn, but has never been officially trained. We burn a lot in Eastern Kansas.

1) Prescribed burning is one of the best habitat tools there is. Not to mention it's just awesome as hell.

2) There is no substitution for proper planning/preparation. Firebreaks, tools/vehicles at your disposal in the event something goes wrong, Notifying neighbors, recruiting additional assistance, etc. Know the forecasted winds, have a plan in case something changes mid-burn, notify your local fire department, etc. I burn solo a lot in smaller burns, but cannot stress enough how great it is to have help. Lots of eyes, ears, and extra hands.

3) Even with every detail know that something WILL go wrong. And don't panic when it does. If you did #2 correctly you, and anyone helping you, will know exactly how to deal with the shift. I'm not certain there has ever been a fire I've set where at some point during the fire I didn't think, "oh s**t, that is not what was supposed to happen." So be ready for that and know how to react.

4) Not every fire has to be a head fire. In addition to you hard fire breaks, utilize back burns to create an even bigger fire break along your edges. They burn slow, are easier to control and provide good insurance for your head fire(s).

5) Spend at least as much time ensuring your fire is out as you do planning the fire. My completely unscientific guess is that of the fire "problems" we have here locally at least half of them are from flare ups 12 hours to 3 days after the fire. Post-fire is a big problem because if you have a standing dead tree and it catches fire internally it can burn a long time. ...AND it can throw fire out of the hollow top 60-80 feet above the ground. Large on the ground timber burns forever as well. ...as does heavy thatch. It burns right across the top leaving a lot of fuel underneath. With some hot ash and a little wind all that thatch underneath can reignite hours later. An issue I never anticipated but that almost bit me in the ass was the root system of a dead tree stump. I had sawed the tree and removed it. I allowed the stump to burn during a prescribed fire and it burned smooth to the ground. 2 days later I wake up in the morning and see a flicker of fire in the pre-dawn darkness. I scramble out to find that the large dead root system from this tree (which extended 50+ feet beyond the stump) had been burning underground and it reached a point where the root breached the surface. When it did and was exposed to the air it flared up and was burning 12-18" high. Lucky for me it was still inside my fire perimeter. ...but only by about 10 feet. Had that root surfaced 12 feet further out it would have ignited 3 foot tall native grass and WHOOSH, away we go.

There are about a million little points I could make, but it really all leads back to get additional volunteers, have them help you think through the various scenarios, have them on hand to help, and do plenty of work on the back end of the fire.

I have encouraged my neighbors to help me burn, and I in turn help them burn (or help them with something else if they don't burn). That also helps me identify potential fire hazards on neighboring properties that I might not be aware of in the even the fire should move in the wrong direction. ...it also helps me recruit additional equipment, particularly Tractor/ATV sprayers. Pressurized water is priceless in many of these situations, particularly on the very edges of a fire. ...that said, unless you have a fire truck it's doing nothing to stop a 30 foot tall native grass head fire. But 3-4 feet tall? You'd be surprised what even a 4 gallon backpack sprayer will do to sort of "hold the line" until a tractor can arrive.

One of the first guys I ever burned with would back fire dang near the whole thing. I love burning, but I will admit that was a SLOW day. But, when you slowly back a fire through yaupon, it is pretty cool when it finally ignites.

Now doing summer, HOT burns outside of Sinton was a blast. The week spent burning our black lines was awesome. Doing the main fires our main objective was trying to not drop smoke on Corpus.

I too have looked into this. I have an interesting property with pastures and dense native woods. The woods have a lot of fuel (leaves, downed trees). No way I'd consider a burn on my own

1. What is the estimated cost of an acre pasture burn?
2. Could a pro even try to burn the woods described above? This is Hopkins county

...it also helps me recruit additional equipment, particularly Tractor/ATV sprayers. Pressurized water is priceless in many of these situations, particularly on the very edges of a fire. ...that said, unless you have a fire truck it's doing nothing to stop a 30 foot tall native grass head fire. But 3-4 feet tall? You'd be surprised what even a 4 gallon backpack sprayer will do to sort of "hold the line" until a tractor can arrive.


All great info thanks Sean.
Do you recommend any sprayers, pressurized water systems, backpack sprayers etc? I'd like to look into some.

barnag said:

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...it also helps me recruit additional equipment, particularly Tractor/ATV sprayers. Pressurized water is priceless in many of these situations, particularly on the very edges of a fire. ...that said, unless you have a fire truck it's doing nothing to stop a 30 foot tall native grass head fire. But 3-4 feet tall? You'd be surprised what even a 4 gallon backpack sprayer will do to sort of "hold the line" until a tractor can arrive.

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All great info thanks Sean.

Do you recommend any sprayers, pressurized water systems, backpack sprayers etc? I'd like to look into some.

I don't have an endorsement deal if that is what you're asking.

I have a couple of 4 gallon backpack sprayers, and when we burn I try to make sure everyone has access to one. You basically spray with one hand, and pump the sprayer with the other. I think both of mine are Round-Up brand because I caught them on sale, but there's no magic in that brand.

I also have a 15 gallon ATV spray tank. It attaches to the ATV battery and has pretty good pressure. Pretty sure it's a Fimco, but I'm sure most will do the job. My neighbors have one for their tractors (I'm a lolpoorz with no tractor).

I will say helping a fellow Aggie burn this spring we ran into a problem I've never seen before. We were burning a big mature pecan bottom (<-- hickory family of trees don't like fire to begin with, so this is a sketchy idea - fyi) and it had not been taken care of for years. Lots of fuel, and lots of GIANT mature poison ivy vines on the trees. Man, those things burned like wicks. So you'd run a hot, fast fire through there (trying to move it fast to avoid fire sitting at the base of the tree) and those damn 4-6" thick ivy vines would catch fire and the next thing you know you had fire 40 feet up in the tree. Now THAT was an unexpected pain in the ass. I'm afraid we damaged a few of the trees pretty good...

Did you have the poison ivy vines with borderline pubes? If so, yeah those things are scary. Any area with lots of vines should be noted, but those damn things light up fast. And, if you are allergic are scary as he'll to begin with.

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1. What is the estimated cost of an acre pasture burn?
2. Could a pro even try to burn the woods described above? This is Hopkins county

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It depends on acreage. In general, $30-$40 per acre is a good budget number. It is getting more expensive though. The more acreage you have the less expensive per acre it could be.

Controlled burns work best when you have grassy fuels. It can get difficult to burn thick brush under controlled circumstances due to the lack of fine fuels on the ground. However, go ahead and burn it. It may take a few burns but eventually the thicker stuff gets knocked back and you will get more grasses.

I have very limited experience burning timber but from what I've seen it's very difficult to keep a fire moving in there. The leaf litter holds a lot of moisture and the timber blocks a lot of the wind that would otherwise move the fire through.

I need to burn my timber pretty bad (just 2 acres) and I think I'm going to have to choose a borderline red flag day to get it done. I tried 2x this past Spring and couldn't keep it lit.

Get an RH of about 12 and you will be golden.....and your neighbors.

https://today.agrilife.org/2017/12/17/prescribed-fire-practitioners-new-tools-fingertips/

Your county should have a local NRCS office as was posted earlier. They can help you. Also your county should have a Prescribed Burn Association. Join it if you want to do a burn. They will make you attend some other burns to help out that landowner who will also be a member. Then they in turn will help you. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO THIS ALONE. If it jumps your property you are negligent and will have tremendous liability.