Nesikep
Well-known member
Enjoyed reading this, though it was difficult to, and I'm sure it was harder to write. Glad to have you back! Kinda makes me appreciate drought.
Me & Harvey..in retrospect
- Thread starter greybeard
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
msplmtneer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2015
- Messages
- 1,272
- Reaction score
- 9
Still Praying for you and yours and all the others in Harvey's aftermath. :tiphat:
Ky hills
Well-known member
Thank you for sharing that greybeard. Rest assured it was not arrogance, because arrogance doesn't allow for second guessing, there was no way to have imagined devastation of that scale. I am very saddened by the losses of livestock and damages to property, and it's heartbreaking when people are lost and especially those that we know. I very thankful that you weathered this storm. Thank you again this has reminded me that I need to remember to pray more and I need to be more thankful, and not take any moment for granted.
OP
OP
greybeard
Well-known member
wbvs58":iot2lyk7 said:
Almost all survived Ken. When daylight came that morning, I could only see a few of the chars on the hilltop where I had them and none of the beefmasters on a different hill closer to the house where I had put them.
Washed out roads and not having a vehicle of my own at my sister's prevented me from returning for 24 hours but when I got a ride back home Tuesday morning, the water had started receding and I found most had come back already thru breaks in the fence into the area where the chars were. I had some that weren't mine as well. Lost 2 BM and 2 chars and found out who the odd cattle belong to and they came and got them.
My missing cattle floated up in a downstream neighbor's pasture on Wed except one beefmaster. I presume she drowned and is in wooded area or washed down the river, as she's been here for years and would know how to get back if any of them did.
I've kind of been out of the loop.
I had no idea what y'all went through.
I'm glad y'all made it and your story put things in perspective for me and made realize how vulnerable we all are.
Little late but anything I can do let me know
I had no idea what y'all went through.
I'm glad y'all made it and your story put things in perspective for me and made realize how vulnerable we all are.
Little late but anything I can do let me know
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
GB you better hustle up some hay squirrels already cutting acorns and hickory nuts.
Winter is coming early this year everything is a month early.
Winter is coming early this year everything is a month early.
GB, I can't even imagine everything you and south TX has been through and it breaks my heart but thank you for sharing. Thankful you and your wife are okay and in the grand scheme of things, minimal loss. Continued prayers. Sending hugs may seem insignificant but I'm sending them anyway :heart:
wbvs58
Well-known member
It must have been very heartwarming to see most of those old girls turn up again GB.
Ken
Ken
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
GB were any of those Beefmaster the ones from over by me we went and looked at.
Those were some pretty girls.
Those were some pretty girls.
OP
OP
greybeard
Well-known member
Still have all 4 of those, but those they were among the cattle that swam/got washed over the fences. One of their calves was the one we found drowned at my neighbor's place, and the original part beefmaster cow I've had since 2011 is the black white faced cow that is still missing, presumed drowned. Wife went bicycle riding out the county road yesterday and said there is a horrible stench coming from the National Forest just NW of my place and it's probably from that cow. That area is soft after just a normal rain, that white sandy silt you sink down in and I don't go out there..pretty sure there's quicksand in there. I had a bad experience in there a few years ago looking for my missing blue heeler and didn't think I was going to get back out of it. (Dog, it turned out had just gone walkabout to one of the neighbor's places)Caustic Burno":cyz0iwif said:
In reality, there was no reason any of the more mature cows to leave the high ground where I had them. Water got up to their bellies/brisket but nothing but calves would have drowned.
If the water had come up in daylight, I don't think the big cows would have left. At night tho, stuff bumping against them as the water flowed, I think one of them probably panicked, went over a fence, or one ran off the hills into deeper water, and the rest followed. All it takes is one to break and go and you know how cows do..they just followed in the dark.
The chars, I can tell milled around on their high hill for a long time. I can see their hoof prints and the ground is bare of grass and the water washed the topsoil away. That hill is now a good 1' lower than it was and a lot of tree roots exposed where there wasn't before, as well as gravel where before was just red clay. I think they did the same thing. One or 2 broke away, went down into a low spot where there is just a wire gap between me and my sis's property and over they went.
I sure wish I had just closed the back perimeter gate and let them all come up into the yard. My Chevy 1500 got water in the floorboard, but that's only 2' deep. No guarantee they would have stayed in the yard and driveway, but maybe....
My dam washed badly too.. on the back side. I can still drive over it but going to need some fill brought in.
Chocolate Cow
Well-known member
Very happy you and your wife are okay. It's a reality check when nature turns against us. All of us make a living from the land, one way or another, and to have Mother Nature hurt us to this degree is so hard. GB, don't beat yourself up on the would'a, could'a, should'a stuff. It's done. Look ahead. :heart:
Kathie in Thorp
Well-known member
Greybeard, thanks for sharing your story -- I'm sure it wasn't easy to "take stock" and pass it along. Hope you are able to get everything back to normal quickly.
GB
I am so very sorry that you had losses, my heart breaks for those in Texas and now Florida that have had to or are dealing with these storms. So thankful that you and your wife were able to get to a safe place. Recovery will take time but as you know things can be replaced lives can't. I was in Texas last week and heard story after story of those that were caught in the floods, I don't think anyone could have known that the storm was going to bring the amount of rain and flooding that happened. I certainly don't think your were being arrogant. Being an x-marine I would imagine you took every step you could to keep yourself and your wife safe, but only God knew what was going to happen. Don't beat yourself up over not being able to see what was coming no one could have.
gizmom
I am so very sorry that you had losses, my heart breaks for those in Texas and now Florida that have had to or are dealing with these storms. So thankful that you and your wife were able to get to a safe place. Recovery will take time but as you know things can be replaced lives can't. I was in Texas last week and heard story after story of those that were caught in the floods, I don't think anyone could have known that the storm was going to bring the amount of rain and flooding that happened. I certainly don't think your were being arrogant. Being an x-marine I would imagine you took every step you could to keep yourself and your wife safe, but only God knew what was going to happen. Don't beat yourself up over not being able to see what was coming no one could have.
gizmom
wbvs58
Well-known member
GB, you may have mentioned elsewhere but how did your house fare?
Ken
Ken
OP
OP
greybeard
Well-known member
Going by the debris left behind, water only got up to 3 1/2 steps out of 7 steps on the front porch. I still had 2 1/2-3' of air between the water and the inside top of the floor. I do wish I had waded out and taken some pictures of the house or from the boat as we were leaving, but had other things on my mind. I was standing on the back porch which is the same height as the front porch when I took these pictures. Top one is the day before the highest water, bottom one is next morning about an hour before we evacuated. Had I known the river was going to crest where it did, we would have stayed, but I just didn't know how much higher the water was going to get.
The water continued to rise after we left. I can see the water line on the inside of the shop door.it's about 6-8" above the door knob. Unmistakable film of oil/gasoline/diesel all around the shop walls and doors.
Water got high enough to knock the bbq pit over, either by flow velocity or floated it up. Water was flowing at a high rate, left to right in these pictures.
I got everything running except the Leyland tractor which was apart and will now never run again, and my brother's 8n Ford tractor. Got it (8n) drained, rotating but the 70 year old starter gave up the ghost while I was trying to get it to fire. I put the starter in the shop in town to get rewound and am having it rewound for 12 volts instead of using that big resistor to drop 12 volts down to 8 volts.
I have lost some things, and acquired some things. Somewhere, someone's gas range, water heater and dryer doesn't work. I saw the propane tank come floating down the roadway that morning, bump against the green gate at the upper left, and later in the day, it moved to the right and floated over the fence. The fence is not broken, all wires are still intact and tight. I have no idea where it came from.
I'm going to try to get out today and take some pictures of the rest of the place.
The water continued to rise after we left. I can see the water line on the inside of the shop door.it's about 6-8" above the door knob. Unmistakable film of oil/gasoline/diesel all around the shop walls and doors.
Water got high enough to knock the bbq pit over, either by flow velocity or floated it up. Water was flowing at a high rate, left to right in these pictures.
I got everything running except the Leyland tractor which was apart and will now never run again, and my brother's 8n Ford tractor. Got it (8n) drained, rotating but the 70 year old starter gave up the ghost while I was trying to get it to fire. I put the starter in the shop in town to get rewound and am having it rewound for 12 volts instead of using that big resistor to drop 12 volts down to 8 volts.
I have lost some things, and acquired some things. Somewhere, someone's gas range, water heater and dryer doesn't work. I saw the propane tank come floating down the roadway that morning, bump against the green gate at the upper left, and later in the day, it moved to the right and floated over the fence. The fence is not broken, all wires are still intact and tight. I have no idea where it came from.
I'm going to try to get out today and take some pictures of the rest of the place.
D2Cat
Well-known member
Yep, I think seeing the change in water elevation would change anyone's priorities.
GB, when I looked at the 2nd pic I was trying to grasp that amount of water and then I noticed your flags proudly hanging by the shop - literally got goosebumps. D2Cat nailed it: priorities.
wbvs58
Well-known member
Pleased about your house GB but I bet still a lot of work to do.
Ken
Ken
OP
OP
greybeard
Well-known member
Oh, just picking up crap, and going thru my sister's 40 acres next to me looking for some of my 'stuff'.
Fences aren't as bad as i thought, but lots of crap hanging off them.
I drove around to take some pics today, but realized I had left the camera's SD card sticking in the slot of my laptop so could only take a few on camera's internal memory.
This is one of 2 high spots where I last saw the chars the night the water started up high. There were 27 of them there, cows, calves & bulls. It's one of two highest points on my place. The Beefmasters were in another smaller pasture on the other high hill near the National Forest line. Their fence was damage free except where a telephone pole had floated over then settled on the fence. Didn't break the wire, but pulled teepost clips out and a few staples on the big posts I have every 150'.
Going up from the pond dam to the hill where the Chars were:
You can tell (or maybe you can't in the photo) that they milled around there along time in water, hooves broke the grass loose and it flowed off with the water that was running left to right, as well as about a foot of the topsoil eroding away. Sometime in the early morning hours, most of them left that spot and tried to make it over to my pond dam about 100 yards away, but the dam's elevation is actually lower than the hill they left. They had to travel down hill to get there, and either got washed over a wire gap into my sister's place or swam over it. Closer view of the top of that hill--it used to be covered with red clay. You can see the tree roots are now exposed and weren't before. Pond dam is off to the right between the trees. My sister's place is beyond the fence..it's all wooded. The fence between her and I is the worst. Lots of big limbs and logs on it, but I got them all pulled off of it this afternoon and can start pulling and splicing wire back together tomorrow.
Opposite fence between my brother's place and mine. That fence is newer. Built it in 2007 from scratch and it has held up thru several floods, none as bad as this one. People can say what they want about that hi tensile barbed wire and how hard it is to work with, but that Bekaert wire don't give. Posts may lean over, but even with the wire covered in debris, the wire holds.
Same fence, just a little further down toward the river. About all I will have to do on this one is replace a few staples and tpost ties and walk around with a leaf rake and knock the little crap off it.
I am SOOO glad I went with barb wire and not fixed knot field fence like I originally was going to.
The fence that actually follows the river does have some major work needed, as some big logs settled down right on the wire, but I was out of cam memory by the time I got over there. Even that tho, won't be a terrible amount of work. Except...we are now inundated again. This time, with mosquitoes. They're terrible anytime you get near brush or the river.
Fences aren't as bad as i thought, but lots of crap hanging off them.
I drove around to take some pics today, but realized I had left the camera's SD card sticking in the slot of my laptop so could only take a few on camera's internal memory.
This is one of 2 high spots where I last saw the chars the night the water started up high. There were 27 of them there, cows, calves & bulls. It's one of two highest points on my place. The Beefmasters were in another smaller pasture on the other high hill near the National Forest line. Their fence was damage free except where a telephone pole had floated over then settled on the fence. Didn't break the wire, but pulled teepost clips out and a few staples on the big posts I have every 150'.
Going up from the pond dam to the hill where the Chars were:
You can tell (or maybe you can't in the photo) that they milled around there along time in water, hooves broke the grass loose and it flowed off with the water that was running left to right, as well as about a foot of the topsoil eroding away. Sometime in the early morning hours, most of them left that spot and tried to make it over to my pond dam about 100 yards away, but the dam's elevation is actually lower than the hill they left. They had to travel down hill to get there, and either got washed over a wire gap into my sister's place or swam over it. Closer view of the top of that hill--it used to be covered with red clay. You can see the tree roots are now exposed and weren't before. Pond dam is off to the right between the trees. My sister's place is beyond the fence..it's all wooded. The fence between her and I is the worst. Lots of big limbs and logs on it, but I got them all pulled off of it this afternoon and can start pulling and splicing wire back together tomorrow.
Opposite fence between my brother's place and mine. That fence is newer. Built it in 2007 from scratch and it has held up thru several floods, none as bad as this one. People can say what they want about that hi tensile barbed wire and how hard it is to work with, but that Bekaert wire don't give. Posts may lean over, but even with the wire covered in debris, the wire holds.
Same fence, just a little further down toward the river. About all I will have to do on this one is replace a few staples and tpost ties and walk around with a leaf rake and knock the little crap off it.
I am SOOO glad I went with barb wire and not fixed knot field fence like I originally was going to.
The fence that actually follows the river does have some major work needed, as some big logs settled down right on the wire, but I was out of cam memory by the time I got over there. Even that tho, won't be a terrible amount of work. Except...we are now inundated again. This time, with mosquitoes. They're terrible anytime you get near brush or the river.
