THE AREA

Bar CK Simmentals
and Mike & JD Alley
farms is located
just outside of
Culver in Central
Oregon near Lake
Billy Chinook.
 
 

Crooked River Gorge is an example of the
Sparse grass and steep terrain.
 

Central Oregon lays in the rain shadow area and receives less than 9 inches of rain annually. The Cascade Mountains are less than 50 miles to the west and receive more than 250 inches of rainfall annually, mostly in the form of snow. This is the steepest precipitation gradient in the world. Farm crops rely on stored irrigation water that is spring fed from the snow melt in the Cascade Mountains. Most commercial cattle run on non-irrigated pastures that are steep and rugged. It can require more than 300 acres to summer a cow/calf pair for 5 months. Cattle are moved to irrigated hay fields or meadows in the fall and then moved to winter feedgrounds where they can be fed hay for up to 5 months