2007 Cooperator of the Year
William Dowell
Our 2007 Cooperator of the year is William Dowell. Mr. Dowell owns and operates the 139-acre "Crooked Branch Farm" with his sons, Chris and Bryan. The farm includes hay and pasture for approximately 35 head of cattle, as well as 34 acres of cropland and 78 acres of forest. William Dowell has been a cooperator since 1986 and has implemented a wide variety of crop and livestock practices throughout the years with help from the district.
The Dowells have installed several practices on their farm that have decreased the environmental impact of their livestock on the surface and ground water on the farm. These practices include watering troughs, fencing the cattle out of a pond, and a planned stream crossing that will be used by the cattle, keeping them from walking through the stream. Mr. Dowell also installed a heavy use area in their confined feeding section that prevents nutrients leaching into ground water on the farm.
2006 Cooperator of the Year
Walt Wells and Susan Hance-Wells
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Walt Wells and Susan Hance-Wells own and operate Taney Place Farm on Prison Point, which is bordered by the Patuxent River and Battle Creek. They have a diversified farm, producing grain, hay, and beef cattle, and they also have a large horse-boarding operation. Walt and Susie have worked closely with Calvert CSD since becoming cooperators in 1997, and have continued the conservation efforts of Y.D. Hance on Taney Place. Walt and Susie have minimized the impact the farm operations has had on the water quality in the creek and river bordering the farm by effectively managing their manure, pastures, and cropland. Their most effective conservation effort has been fencing the livestock out of various bodies of water on the farm that were traditionally used as watering sources for livestock. Most of the stream-side fencing was installed without cost-share assistance. Walt and Susie are regular participants in conservation programs, including state cover crop and federal EQIP programs.
2005 Cooperator of the Year
Parran Briscoe
Parran Briscoe's family has been farming Calvert county for many decades. At least one member of his family has been a cooperator with Calvert Soil Conservation District over the past seventeen years. Throughout this time the District has worked closely with the Briscoe family on implementing soil and water conservation practices on their home farm, the Cage.
Parran Briscoe is currently the main operator of the Cage Farm, along with twelve other farms he works in the county. Over 1,200 acres are worked by Mr. Briscoe in row crops, hay and pasture for the Briscoe family's forty or so herd of beef. Both of Parran's parents, Cassandra and James, have been elected Cooperator of the Year for conservation efforts on the Cage Farm in the past. In recent years, parran has made his own contribution to the good stewardship on the Briscoe farm and also on the other farms he works in the county. Most notable, with CREP cost-share assistance, Parran has installed nearly 30,000 feet of fece on Cage Farm to keep the cattle out of the streams, and watering troughs were installed as an alternative watering source for cattle.
2004 Cooperator of the Year
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Donald(Timmy) Gott of Riverview Farm raises tobacco, corn, soybeans, small grain, and hay on his farm on Mackall Road in St. Leonard, as well as other properties in the county. In addition, he is in the process of increasing his herd of 20 beef cattle to 40 or 40 head on the home farm. The Gott family has been a Distrtict cooperator since 1956. Mr. Gott has also been involved in the local agricultural community,and has frequently participated in the annual Farm Tour sponsored by the Calvert County Agricultural Commission. Mr. Gott has worked closely with the District over many years to improve his operation and has taken advantage of many programs and cost-share opportunities available through our office. He is converting several cropped fields to pasture and is incorporating livestock best managment practices to accomodate his anticipated larger herd size. With state and federal assistance he has fenced the animals out of the stream, developed an Ag Wasta Management System Plan and is planning for a heavy use area and roof runoff system for his barn. He is currently working with NRCS's Grazing Land Conservation Initiative on incorporating the fall stockpiling of MaxQ Fescue into his grazing system,which will decrease his dependency on hay for feed. He is also considering installing a new feeding/waste management facility.
2003 Cooperator of the Year
James (Jim) E. Bourne III and his dad, James E. Bourne Jr., operate 150-acre family beef farm on Bourne Road in Owings. Jim is making innovative changes to the farm by converting the totally confined beef operation with manure pit to one that is an intensive rotational grazing operation using wood chips for bedding, a manure composter, and no chemical pesticides or fertilizers. Jim has also diversified the farm by adding pasture-fed broilers and layers and turkeys to the 40-or-so-head beef operation. Although Jim has been a cooperator for just over one year, he has been working closely with the district and the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative on improving his pastures and incorporating warm season grasses into his rotational grazing plan. Jim is a 2003 EQUIP applicant and has installed several best management practices on the farm, most of which were installed without cost-share assistance. The practices Jim has or will install include: prescribed grazing, pasture planting, fencing, field borders, ag waste structure, forage harvest management, and nutrient management. By using these practices and eliminating chemical pesticide and fertilizer use on the farm, Jim has significantly reduced the amount of erosion and nutrient runoff on the Bourne family farm.