How to Do a Controlled Burn

Learn how to do a controlled burn on your property to boost nutritious grass growth while curtailing troublesome weeds.

By Ashleigh Krispense
Updated on March 13, 2023
article image
by Flickr/USFWS Mountain-Prairie

Setting a pasture ablaze might sound like a wild idea, but learning how to do a controlled burn can help you safely rejuvenate grasses for livestock to feed on. Try these controlled burning techniques and tools in your pasture.

Feature image by Flickr/USFWS Mountain-Prairie (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Tall bluestem grass sways gently in the breeze against a brilliantly blue sky as I watch local Kansas ranchers discuss how to do a controlled burn on the prairie. Not a cloud is in sight as pickups and all-terrain vehicles loaded with water-filled spray tanks rumble down a dusty gravel road.

I overhear laughter and mild conversation as these graziers embrace the camaraderie and teamwork awaiting them over the next few hours, but their discussion quickly turns serious as the schedule is laid out. If everything goes according to plan, the ranchers will work together with another nearby crew to burn a large acreage of grassland in a single day.

Lighting a tallgrass prairie on fire might seem contrary to common sense, because it’s almost like starting a wildfire. But if carefully planned, controlled fires are quite beneficial.

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