Welcome to our Online Newsletter! Here's, where we share our thoughts and some of the little things we learn about life and ranching along the way. In the end, we are hoping that all these "little things" add up in a really big way, and maybe make a difference to everyone.

For several years we have had a growing grasshopper problem. In the past, we have had "normal" grasshopper infestations, but lately they have gotten to be a yearly problem growing into a monstrosity of a problem.

We knew there had to be an answer to the problem. There had to be something wrong with the ecology we had created or tampered with on the ranch. With some research, we found the source of our problem. We had converted a small area of pasture into a trap, or a holding corral for cattle. Although we have since converted it back to a pasture, it is still a very barren piece of land. Grasshoppers prefer to lay eggs in open, sandy areas. This trap made a wonderful breeding ground for the hoppers.

Grasshoppers could mow down my new flowers, shrubs, and bushes in a day. From there they went on to gnaw on fence posts all summer long. It was as though they hung around to mock me. Several friends had recommended guinea hens to us. They claimed their parents or grandparents always had guineas around and never a grasshopper. We always dismissed the advice since we knew that no one really understood the great population of grasshoppers that resided with us daily. We imagined it would take thousands of guinea hens to even make a dent in our problem. Some friends inquired why we did not spray chemicals to kill the grasshoppers. We explained the cost to do aerial spraying to murder the hoppers would cost nearly $15,000.00, and it would not solve the problem of the hopper breeding grounds. Even after this great hopper massacre, we still would have a field full of grasshopper eggs waiting for next spring to attack us.

Last year we were determined to have a few flowers and maybe a few tomato plants. We even seeded the back yard to early spring grass. I had hoped that the early grass would be established before the hoppers appeared. The grass was quite lush by the time the hoppers came. The flowers were pretty. We began spraying. We did kill a lot of hoppers, however, their cousins, nephew, nieces, and long lost acquaintances came by the dozens day after day to infest the yard. The new grass disappeared. The flowers were gone. The few tomato plants we had considered were still just a dream.

We decided to yield to our friends' advice and purchased some guinea hens. The guinea salesman who wore bib overalls claimed a guinea would eat over a hundred hoppers a day. We smiled nicely in disbelief, took our makeshift cages stuffed with guineas home and released them two by two each day. To our utter amazement, these crazy animals did eat hundreds of hoppers. They cleared out all the hoppers near the chicken house and worked their way around the barnyard and the house. When they ran out of prey there, they began their lurking in the tree belts eating every hopper in site. In a month, we were virtually hopper free.

Every so often I see a guinea in a back yard or along a roadway. I never understood why anyone would want such a noisy, pesky, worthless bird around. Now I know. I would have known sooner if I had been open to some free advice. I always hate to admit ignorance and defeat, but once again, I must. It seems when you are hard headed you have to learn life's lessons the hard way.

Grasshoppers seem to have aided in another avenue of learning last year. I was intent on planting my back yard to grass to replace the carpet of weeds I had acquired. We have a wonderful lawn of buffalo grass in the front yard and I really wanted buffalo grass in the back since it requires little maintenance and can handle stress and very little water. Buffalo grass, however is planted in the summer when grasshoppers are numerous and waiting to devour little grass plants. I could picture the huge hoppers gnawing away at the grass as it peaked through the ground. I decided to beat the hoppers and plant some fescue early in the spring. By the time the hoppers came, they surely couldn't damage my new yard.

I planted the early grass. The hoppers came and feasted on the succulent blades of grass until it was all destroyed. I comforted myself that at least I had not spent extra money on the more expensive buffalo grass.

About a month later I began to notice a few things, and put two and two together. The grasshoppers had been around for several years and yet, my buffalo grass yard was in great condition. They never seemed to bother it. I also noticed a patch of new buffalo grass had seeded itself in a bare spot where some cement had been hauled off and native pasture soil hauled in. It continued to grow and thrive until fall and the massive amount of hoppers never bothered it.

Once again, I had calculated to beat nature. I was intent on getting a lawn despite the hoppers. It turns out, I could have planted the buffalo grass I preferred and now I would have had a nice lawn. My eyes should have been open and observant. I wonder how many other things I am still trying to conquer the hard way?

~ Nancy Moore