Drought and weaning

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dun

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Weaning weights are off by 50-75 pounds this year, in one case 105 off of last year from the same bull&cow.
 
This don't help you none but been dealing with it since 2011
I thought in 2010 it was as good as Id ever seen, but its been down hill ever since.
We get really dry then it rains and we think maybe we're getting back to normal then it turns off dry again

I'm thinking dry in the new normal
I cant figure where to move next, seems it's everywhere

Maybe more acres is the only solution
Durn if I know
 
I can't imagine having to resort to occult methods to irrigate my fields (dancing, praying, etc). With 90+ degrees possible from may through september, I'll tell you I'm a pretty busy guy.. We do have gravity irrigation, but I sure have to keep hopping to keep it all green
 
The problem here with irrigation is there isn;t any free water available. If we would gravity irrigate from ponds it wouldn;t work for 2 reasons. Ponds are located at low areas to capture the runoff being lower it would have to be pumped to the upper areas so that pretty much kills the gravity deal. The biggest reason is with no replenishment the ponds would be dry. At best it would buy maybe a couple of weeks of grass, hardly worth the expense of putting in the irrigation system.
 
It's has to fall from the sky before you can capture it for irrigation
When your taking out more than is coming in it ain't going work,
 
We've had droughts 1980, 1995, 2001, 2005-6, 2011-12.(i know i'm missing a year or two)..Between, plenty of rain. 05 and 11 were the worst years. But, if you prepare you can struggle though it. We now keep 2 years of hay on hand. This year, we have 3 years of hay. Going to build a hay barn this winter to keep reserves in. Right now we have hay for sale at 39 a 1200 pound roll.....in Jan, it will go up. .
In 2011, we weaned in August and didnt have anything over 500..Most were 400 and under. And, they sold for almost nothing because no one could feed them.
 
cowgirl8":2u9s7hsi said:
We've had droughts 1980, 1995, 2001, 2005-6, 2011-12.(i know i'm missing a year or two)..Between, plenty of rain. 05 and 11 were the worst years. But, if you prepare you can struggle though it. We now keep 2 years of hay on hand. This year, we have 3 years of hay. Going to build a hay barn this winter to keep reserves in. Right now we have hay for sale at 39 a 1200 pound roll.....in Jan, it will go up. .
In 2011, we weaned in August and didnt have anything over 500..Most were 400 and under. And, they sold for almost nothing because no one could feed them.
Got plenty of hay, been feeding it for over a month. Cows do ok on hay even feeding calves but the calves just don;t pack on the pounds like they do on fresh grass.
 
Last 5 months of 2006 was so wet here I didn't go a day without rubber boots on. A little dry the first 7 months but then one morning I woke up to rain, and it just never stopped--rained almost every day, including 18" in 14 hrs one day. Autumn 2008-spring 2009 was a repeat of '06. Lord was it ever muddy around here and I was trying to get a house built.
I have so much water impounded I don't think I could run dry, tho my ponds did get lower than I had ever seen them in 2011.
 
greybeard":lx9x3qr7 said:
Last 5 months of 2006 was so wet here I didn't go a day without rubber boots on. A little dry the first 7 months but then one morning I woke up to rain, and it just never stopped--rained almost every day, including 18" in 14 hrs one day. Autumn 2008-spring 2009 was a repeat of '06. Lord was it ever muddy around here and I was trying to get a house built.
I have so much water impounded I don't think I could run dry, tho my ponds did get lower than I had ever seen them in 2011.
A couple of years ago we had a horrible wet spring and summer. Weanings weight were off that year too. I think slow and steady growth of the grass is better for nutional value then the rapid growth washy stuff or the dried up so that it's dust when they walk through it. Just my opinion/uneducated thoughts.
 
Actual not adjusted the weaing weight percentage of cow weight averages around 47% with a high of 62% and a low of 42%. Not awful but not as good as it should have been.
 
dun":2cf2hd5s said:
greybeard":2cf2hd5s said:
Last 5 months of 2006 was so wet here I didn't go a day without rubber boots on. A little dry the first 7 months but then one morning I woke up to rain, and it just never stopped--rained almost every day, including 18" in 14 hrs one day. Autumn 2008-spring 2009 was a repeat of '06. Lord was it ever muddy around here and I was trying to get a house built.
I have so much water impounded I don't think I could run dry, tho my ponds did get lower than I had ever seen them in 2011.
A couple of years ago we had a horrible wet spring and summer. Weanings weight were off that year too. I think slow and steady growth of the grass is better for nutional value then the rapid growth washy stuff or the dried up so that it's dust when they walk through it. Just my opinion/uneducated thoughts.
You probably right--it was so wet then, that most of the content of the bahia and bermuda here was water. They didn't have scour or dehydrate but the poop sure was thin and almost green most of that fall.
 
Didn't realize you guys were dry there again. Droughty grass is really better than washy grass any day. More pop to the mouthful, if they can find a mouthful. Right now we have second growth of grass that looks so good, I think I could eat it.
I would think in your country, with 3" of dirt then rock, you would be a week from a drought in any given year!!!
gs
 
plumber_greg":3qmsi72z said:
I would think in your country, with 3" of dirt then rock, you would be a week from a drought in any given year!!!
gs
That's pretty close. Around here the saying is you're never more than 10 days from a drought.
 
Calculated the ADJ weaning weights low of 581 high of 714 average of 610
 

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