COLE CAMP, MO. ? Norman Murray held up a tennis ball for farmers, conservation officers and nature lovers to see and tossed it into the grass.

The ball bounced and disappeared into a tuft of foliage on Hi Lonesome Prairie, a 627-acre state conservation area northwest of Cole Camp in west-central Missouri.

“The tennis ball is a prairie chicken chicks-eye view of the prairie,” said Murray. “For this little prairie chicken, this is great escape cover from predators, but for moving around freely, they use a lot of energy.”

Conservationists are trying to re-create natural prairie habitat – home to prairie chickens, quail and other birds, insects and plant life – that once covered most of Missouri.

For years that meant burning flatlands on a rotating basis to destroy invasive trees and other foreign plants and then letting it grow back. Prairie chicken and quail populations in the park dropped, despite the work.

Hi Lonesome is home to the last flock of prairie chickens in Benton County, said Steve Clubine, grassland biologist for the state. A second flock lives near Green Ridge in Pettis County.

“There’s too much grass, conservation officers have decided. Getting around on a rainy day, the chicks are going to chill in all the shade and could die,” Murray said, pointing at his tennis ball. “It’s like a tornado shelter. It’s great when there’s a tornado, but you wouldn’t want to live in it.”

Conservationists now believe they’ve discovered the missing link.

“The cattle are our bison,” said Clubine, pointing to a herd of about 90 cattle. “We’re re-creating the epitome of patch grazing – the very thing we’ve been able to avoid for 100 years.”

The cattle, owned by a Cole Camp farmer, now roam most of Hi Lonesome Prairie. The new patch-burn and graze system creates more mixed habitat tall grasses and shrubs alongside grass chewed to ground level. The mix creates places for prairie chicks to freely chase insects and soak up the sun alongside areas to run for cover and nest.

“A good patch-burn grazing system looks a little unkempt for some folks,” said Max Alleger, who leads prairie chicken recovery efforts for the state. “Rural people want things to look nice. We want to see a little bit of patchiness. Patchiness is beautiful, from a wildlife standpoint, although your local implement provider might not like that.”

Instead of letting land recover after a fire, the cattle will roam over the burnt ground eating new shoots of growth. They imitate bison and elk that once wandered the land eating new shoots high in nutrition in the morning, and then heading for areas with taller growth in the afternoon.

Conservationists were happy to have farmers among the 40 people touring the park last month. They are hoping to prove the re-created natural habitat will nourish cattle just as well, if not better, than pasture grasses that have replaced prairies.

Tom Smith and his wife, Verna, whose cattle roam Hi Lonesome, said they are seeing the benefits. Their animals are growing as well as animals on farm pasture during the warm months.

Smith also cut hay from natural prairie and found his cattle grew more while eating less during winter months compared to fescue.

“The cows were getting fat just like they do grazing in the summertime,” Smith said. “That was a real shot in the arm. You can see the benefits all the way around. We want it to be profitable for our kids, and we want it to be good for wildlife.”