Drought Observations

[MurraysMutts]

Git a rope....

 

[tex452]

You know whats worse than having your neighbors cows on your place that they won't come get? Having your neighbors cows that they won't come get stuck in your pond.View attachment 20271

That's not good.

 

[tex452]

I had to pull cows off my Coleman county property because my tanks went dry and nothing but mud was left.
This is what I was afraid of.

 

[greybeard]

this one barely survived the night after hind qtr being stuck in cold mud most of the day. Belonged to a neighbor. Died a couple weeks later without ever regaining full use of his rear legs.
We pulled him out, wife and I covered him with blankets and built a fire in 1/2 steel drum as the temp that night was well below freezing.

 

[cowgirl8]

If you guys waited to dig these low ponds out, too bad, the rain is coming. We managed to dig out that one problem pond and enough time to drain another. Rented out a big backhoe. Ran 2 days straight.

 

[bird dog]

I let the neighbors know as soon as I found her but four hours later no one had showed up so I pulled her out myself. She was an old thin girl with not much teeth left and I didn't give her much of a chance but lo and behold she got up and walked off about 45 minutes later. The neighbors showed up a couple hours later and got her and the rest off the pasture. One of the young girls from the family told me one of them had drove past and decided the cow was a lost cause.
I ask her what happened to the ears knowing that the family raises hog dogs. She said it was a cougar. Now before we all start speculating, I am not a neighbor of cowgirl8.

 

[cowgirl8]

Why are your neighbors cows getting stuck in your ponds? What is going on here? Or are they really your cows?

 

[TexasRancher]

Gee-whiz, I wouldn't know what to do to get her out...hope her neck is strong enough....I'd make a loose collar with rope of leather and pull her out by the neck. I'm not even going to try to dig underneath her to get a rope or chain under her...she's coming out by the neck.
I'd make a deal with your neighbor...buy her for $100 to $200....before i pull her out.

 

[Texas G@l]

those pics are heart breaking.

 

[greybeard]

If the mud is soft under her, you can usually work a strap underneath using a thin stout stick or flat metal bar to push it thru, then another strap around behind her butt. Pull both at the same time if you can't get close enough with a FEL to lift her straight out.
(I used to deal with a LOT of mud)

Key is to get them out as soon as possible, cold weather or not to avoid nerve damage. Neuropathy can be permanent.

 

[bird dog]

Cowgirl-- I have had my share of cows getting stuck but this one is not mine. I never have this much luck with mine. Mine never get up. These particular neighbors are a family group. The parents have a couple hundred acres and their kids (four I think) now married all live on the place in trailers or small portable houses with their kids. I was told they each have some cows that all run together. The place is way overgrazed is good times. With the drought they have nothing. A couple of their animals have perfected the art of going through a fence and when they do, they beat it down and the rest follow. My place is in much better shape so its a continual problem with them on my land.

Their cows came over last week while I was out of town. When i got back I let one of the family members know and locked them in the pasture where they were at. I was out spraying some cattails a couple days later when I stumbled upon this cow.

I wasn't going to try getting straps under the animal so I used a wide strap and two long chains and gently pulled her out by the head with the tractor from on top the dam. The ground around the pond is dry on top but very soft and mushy a couple inches under the top. The tractor was already out because I had to pull out my four wheeler a couple hours earlier when I sank it.

Like greybeard said I know time is of the essence. I figured I was going to have to get her out sooner or later, dead or alive.
Watching this family is like a comedy show. When they finally get around to doing something, its all hands on deck. That evening about 10 of them finally came and pushed the cows out of the pasture through a gate and we all drove them back home.

Its funny when you see the great pictures that Dave puts up of their cattle drives and compare it to what we have in redneck Texas.

 

[bird dog]

Its not getting much better.

 

[Brute 23]

We had some good rain, grew a lot of grass, but it's dry again. Some places got a lot of run off... some didn't.

 

[TCRanch]

We started off the end of spring with a lot of rain then nothing. Haven't mowed the "yard" since June. Cows grubbing on whatever they can get. We've been putting out bales since early Sept and usually don't until November. Ponds are dangerously low and the lake is down a good 25+ft. It's all bad!

 

[greybeard]

Haven't mowed the "yard" since June.

Moved the cows into the yard?

 

[Hpacres440p]

Moved the cows into the yard?

We did. Fenced off the septic tanks and let them keep the little grass growing trimmed. They're better than a weed eater

 

[cowgirl8]

Got a herd up early in the morning... and thats not fog..

 

[TCRanch]

Moved the cows into the yard?

Hard NO!! They already know where we live. And that there's always a least a couple cannisters of cubes in each Polaris. I have a couple that will leave the herd, hide behind the cedars next to the fence and bellow for their own private buffet until I eventually come out of the house & reward their bad (but clever) behavior. If we let them in the yard, they'd be smearing their snotty noses on my windows and probably inside the garage (because we generally have at least 1 door open). Plus, they'd destroy the few surviving plants that didn't just freakin' die on me, in spite of watering every day.

That said, I did have to pull out the weed whacker a few times where the grass and mainly weeds grew in the shade.

 

[Brute 23]

Moved the cows into the yard?

Messed up story. We have a family place in Lavaca County. It's actually part of my, great, great grandfather's original land. When my great grandfather got married the family built them a house there and later that would be deeded to him along with his piece of land. The house is still there on a nice hill with two huge oak trees, carpet grass yard, in the front yard, big oak lined lane from CR to the house. It has one of those porches on the front toward the trees that was a staple of most of my child hood. The family always gathered there.

My uncle had the cattle lease for years and at some point during a dry year decided to turn his cows in on the yard and lane. This was just one thing in his long list of treating every one and every thing he gets near like $#!@. Needless to say we do not get along.

 

[Stocker Steve]

We started off the end of spring with a lot of rain then nothing. Haven't mowed the "yard" since June. Cows grubbing on whatever they can get. We've been putting out bales since early Sept and usually don't until November. Ponds are dangerously low and the lake is down a good 25+ft. It's all bad!

What percentage of the Kansas cow herd will be sold off in 2022?