DECEMBER 2018 • NEBRASKAland 45
corn. In the 1980s they applied more."
In areas of the Sandhills the aquifer
literally touches the land surface and
irrigation water easily seeps down
through the porous sands, carrying
nitrates into the groundwater.
Frank was also troubled by other
aspects of farming with center pivots.
"It takes a lot of electricity to run the
pivots, much of which comes from
burning coal," Frank said. "Also, to
grow crops on dry sand requires an
incredible amount of water. Most of
our pivots pump 900 gallons a minute
and take 48 hours to make a single lap
around a typical 132-acre field to apply
a little over one-half inch of water. You
can do the math."
In addition, the Frank ranch lies
within the headwaters of the spring-fed
Long Pine Creek, one of Nebraska's
most pristine cold water streams,
and unfortunately, the pivots' use of
groundwater can impact stream flows.
On a personal level, Frank also was
tired of spending days on a tractor
planting and harvesting crops and
cutting and baling alfalfa on the pivots.
He desired to be "more rancher and
less farmer."
Restoring Native
Grasslands
A few years ago, seeking change
on the ranch, Dan and his sisters
approached their parents about seeding
some of the pivots back to grassland.
"We had to do some pleading as it is
hard for any rancher or farmer to break
management tradition or change their
cash flow," Frank said. "My parents,
however, were never really passionate
about farming, their passion lies in
cattle. They also had come to realize
that farming the Sandhills was not
Canada milkvetch (above) and black-eyed Susan (bottom right) are among the first
wildflowers to establish in prairie restorations such as those on the Frank Ranch.
