- Author: Robert M. Timm
Late spring rains in Northern California have had everyone talking about the weather in recent weeks — especially during the last week of June, when an unusually late storm brought a half inch or more of rain to many areas of the North Coast. Weather data from our Center (accumulated since the early 1950s) reveal that for our typical Mediterranean climate and location, normally we get little or no rainfall between late April and early October. Shown here is a graph of cumulative rainfall measured at our Headquarters weather station (800 ft. elevation) from July 2010 through June 2011. Over this 12-month period, we received 43.13 inches of precipitation, as compared to an annual average of 37.33 inches at this location over a 57-year period. At our highest-elevation weather station, in Orchard pasture (2,900 ft. elev.), we receive approximately 25% more precipitation than at Headquarters.
- Author: Robert J Keiffer
The Black-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) is the third largest North American hare. Being a true hare species, they have large ears, long powerfull hind feet, and their young (called leverets) are borne fully furred with eyes open and are mobile within minutes of birth. This species may actually have the largest ear-surface to body-size ratio of any animal on earth. These huge ears not only allow for acute hearing (helps to be aware of predators) but also allows the animal to regulate its body temperature by increasing or decreasing the blood flowing through them.
The most common hare of the western United States and Mexico, these rabbits host many ectoparasites including fleas, ticks, lice, and mites. A Western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus) collected from a Black-tailed jackrabbit at the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center in 1983, by UC Berkeley entomologist Dr. Robert Lane, carried the first-known Lyme Disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) west of the Mississippi River.
- Author: Robert J Keiffer
Most thistle species of the genus Crisium are considered weeds. However, there are some that are quite showy and even cultivated in gardens for their aesthetic value. UC-Hopland Research & Extension Center is blessed with one of these showy species. The Red Thistle, sometimes called Venus thistle, cobwebby thistle, or Coulter's thistle has the scientific name of Cirsium occidentale var. venustum (used to be C. proteanum).
The word "Cirsium" is derived from the Greek word "kirsos" meaning "swollen vein" as thistles were used medicinally as a remedy against swollen veins.
This plant is widespread throughout California where it blooms from April to August in a wide variety of vegetation types and elevations. It is a perennial herb in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to California alone. In addition to its aesthetic beauty, the blooms also attract a number of butterfly species and hummingbirds for the nectar, and goldfinches that feed on the seeds.
- Author: Robert J Keiffer
There are two types of Native American rock-art found at the UC-Hopland Research and Extension Center. The more recent work (<1800 years) was done by the Pomo tribes and examples are scattered around Mendocino County. However, there is a very ancient rock- art style that is from a pre-Pomo era, and probably was created between 2000 and 8000 years ago. The style of rock-art has been termed "Pecked Curvilinear Nucleated" (PCN) in the science of archeology. The term was originally proposed by Teresa Miller and Reed Haslam in 1976 to described this widespread type of rock carving in western North America.
It is characterized by a circular or oval groove (curvilinear) that has been hammered out with a tool (pecked) and usually results in a raised center area (nucleated), however occasionally the center area has also been removed (as the far right one in the photo shows).
This rock-art style is quite prevalent in California (about 84 sites in all) and Mendocino County has a few of them, with the majority of those (seven of them) found at HREC. Usually found on serpentinite rocks, one such rock at HREC has split in half at some point in time, and split a PCN also in half, allowing archeologist Donna Gillette to investigate the era of the split, thus hopefully revealing the most conservative age of the rock-art. Further information can be found if you google or bing "PCN + rockart".
- Author: Robert J Keiffer
The UC-Hopland Research & Extension Center owns the only range sheep flock of the University of California. Over the decades there have been numerous research projects addressing topic concerns such as sheep genetics, range forage enhancement, lambing procedures, increased lambing rates, and nutrient needs. Most of that past research was done by UC Davis Animal Science or Agronomy & Range Science researchers whereas now the sheep flock is utilized more by the UC Davis Veterinary Medicine.
It has been decades the sheep were moved by herders on horseback ... and now we rely on faster means of moving sheep. The photo shows the use of an ATV and a border collie herd dog to move part of HREC's sheep flock to the barn. The wooden box on the back of the ATV allows the dog to ride (and rest) when it is not actually "working" the sheep.
