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POLL Cow/calf on small acreage in Texas and deep south?
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<blockquote data-quote="greybeard" data-source="post: 1647180" data-attributes="member: 18945"><p>The reason I posted this poll was I needed to get some honest answers from real people, doing real world cow/calf operations.</p><p>It's part of my effort to ensure agriculture and especially cattle production remains a viable part of my county, in spite of what the appraisal district is and has been trying to do. The article was one of several the Chief Appraiser handed me at a 1 on 1 meeting I had with her 2 weeks ago. To me, it's a cherry picked article chosen to try to convince me and others that cow/calf ops shouldn't be pursued in this county. (Their premise is that cow/calf requires too much acreage that ends up with ag exemption and they are doing everything they can to curtail how much is already in cow/calf and certainly to prevent new operations from starting up.</p><p></p><p>The writers of that article are Richard Machen and Robert E. Lyons, both with Texas Agrilife.</p><p></p><p>I wondered from the start how or why they would spend so much effort extolling the virtues of goat and sheep on small acreage, while basically throwing cow/calf enterprises on the same acreage right out the window.</p><p>I don't dispute their credentials in regards to forage production vs land capacity but IMO, their bias toward sheep/goat shows thru. Both have worked extensively in West and Southwest Texas, one currently is assigned to the Texas Agrilife station in Uvalde, and the other down at the same in Beeville.</p><p>Richard Machen:</p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.angelo.edu/dept/agriculture/alumni/dr_rick_machen.php[/URL]</p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.tamuk.edu/agriculture/departments/asvt/faculty-staff-asvt/machen.html[/URL]</p><p></p><p>Robert Lyons:</p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://essm.tamu.edu/people/faculty/lyons-robert/[/URL]</p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://texassrm.org/ask-the-expert/[/URL]</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Dr. Robert K. Lyons</em></strong></p><p><em>Assoc. Department Head/Prof. and Extension Range Spec</em></p><h4><em>Primary Area Served</em></h4><p><em>Statewide <u>with primary responsibilities in Districts 10, 7, & 12 First point of contact for District 6</u></em></p><h4><em>Area of Expertise</em></h4><p><em>Brush management, grazing distribution, grazing behavior, stocking rate/carrying capacity</em></p><p></p><p>I called Dr Lyons and talked to him a bit to see if he thought his article held true for East Texas and farther East, considering the big differences in annual average rainfall and after a bit, he did conclude that there was a big difference in the possibility of running cow/calf operation in Eastern part of the state compared to the arid areas farther West and SW. Annual rainfall is a big part of whether the land is capable of forage production and areas to the East get a LOT more than areas to the south, southwest and west.</p><p></p><p>The following map shows the average rainfall amounts (the other numbers are the Texas Agrilife Extension Service Districts.)</p><p></p><p>I appreciate all who responded to the poll, no matter how you voted. I just wanted (and got) honest answers. I omitted much of this in the opening post because I didn't want anything to influence the voting in any way.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="greybeard, post: 1647180, member: 18945"] The reason I posted this poll was I needed to get some honest answers from real people, doing real world cow/calf operations. It's part of my effort to ensure agriculture and especially cattle production remains a viable part of my county, in spite of what the appraisal district is and has been trying to do. The article was one of several the Chief Appraiser handed me at a 1 on 1 meeting I had with her 2 weeks ago. To me, it's a cherry picked article chosen to try to convince me and others that cow/calf ops shouldn't be pursued in this county. (Their premise is that cow/calf requires too much acreage that ends up with ag exemption and they are doing everything they can to curtail how much is already in cow/calf and certainly to prevent new operations from starting up. The writers of that article are Richard Machen and Robert E. Lyons, both with Texas Agrilife. I wondered from the start how or why they would spend so much effort extolling the virtues of goat and sheep on small acreage, while basically throwing cow/calf enterprises on the same acreage right out the window. I don't dispute their credentials in regards to forage production vs land capacity but IMO, their bias toward sheep/goat shows thru. Both have worked extensively in West and Southwest Texas, one currently is assigned to the Texas Agrilife station in Uvalde, and the other down at the same in Beeville. Richard Machen: [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.angelo.edu/dept/agriculture/alumni/dr_rick_machen.php[/URL] [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.tamuk.edu/agriculture/departments/asvt/faculty-staff-asvt/machen.html[/URL] Robert Lyons: [URL unfurl="true"]https://essm.tamu.edu/people/faculty/lyons-robert/[/URL] [URL unfurl="true"]https://texassrm.org/ask-the-expert/[/URL] [B][I]Dr. Robert K. Lyons[/I][/B] [I]Assoc. Department Head/Prof. and Extension Range Spec[/I] [HEADING=3][I]Primary Area Served[/I][/HEADING] [I]Statewide [U]with primary responsibilities in Districts 10, 7, & 12 First point of contact for District 6[/U][/I] [HEADING=3][I]Area of Expertise[/I][/HEADING] [I]Brush management, grazing distribution, grazing behavior, stocking rate/carrying capacity[/I] I called Dr Lyons and talked to him a bit to see if he thought his article held true for East Texas and farther East, considering the big differences in annual average rainfall and after a bit, he did conclude that there was a big difference in the possibility of running cow/calf operation in Eastern part of the state compared to the arid areas farther West and SW. Annual rainfall is a big part of whether the land is capable of forage production and areas to the East get a LOT more than areas to the south, southwest and west. The following map shows the average rainfall amounts (the other numbers are the Texas Agrilife Extension Service Districts.) I appreciate all who responded to the poll, no matter how you voted. I just wanted (and got) honest answers. I omitted much of this in the opening post because I didn't want anything to influence the voting in any way. [/QUOTE]
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POLL Cow/calf on small acreage in Texas and deep south?
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