Rain in Oklahoma

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Bonsman

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Western Oklahoma
On the local OKC television this morning, they stated that Oklahoma's lack of rain for the past nine months is worse than the dust bowl era. We have not had any significant rain since August, 2010. 2010 was a very dry year.

I have been reading post on here about the use of hay, cubes, and other forms of supplementation use by seedstock producers. I calve in March/April for a number of reasons--one of which is the ability for the cows to use native grass to stay in shape after calving without using supplements.

However, if we do not get a rain soon, I am seriously thinking about feeding some creep feed to the calves to help the cows stay in shape and breed back. Is this a viable option or should I consider feeding 20% breeding cubes to the cows instead?

Because of the lack of rain, I am feeding my yearling replacement heifers and bulls some alfalfa.

My older bulls are fine, they are use to getting the "crap" that the cows will not eat! ;-)

What is everybody else doing to combat the drought?
 
Reduce numbers and sell calves lighter, not keeping any replacements...yet..cull, cull, cull....Already fed 3 years supply of hay in one year back in 2008....conditions aren't getting any better (to bad I didn't listen to what I was saying back the Jogee)...conditons are actually are getting worse...(just take a peak at my avitar) For me, it's not worth the fight something totally out of my control...nothing wrong to call "uncle" and live to fight another day...or not!

Started out with a 3 weeks dry and 18 days wet back in the late 90s...then went to 30 days dry and on to 40days dry....at present it's really hard to tell the dry periods because it no longer rains during the wet...been 6 weeks since the last 1/10th of rain and I'm not sure if that was the wet spell or a freak accident in the dry period....

BTW...when it finally becomes newsworthy enough to be noticed....usually turns a 180 and makes em look like fools....our trouble has been it hasn't stuck with it when that happened.
 
one thing that will help the cows bcs is a pound of bean meal per cow per day then try to scrape up some cheap hay just a few options u might have i really feel for you guys down there David
 
I hear you on the no rain.

I live in far southern oklahoma and it is drier than a popcorn fart around here. :) One of my son in laws manages a ranch in western ok and they are in the same shape and have been fighting grass fires.

It's actually kind of depressing that at a time of the year when you normally should be growing grass by leaps and bounds that you are already starting to get that (survival mode) mentality. :cry:

Even if we get a weather forcast for a chance of rain it just never seems to happen- just goes on by us.

I am a card carrying member of the Choctaw indian tribe(one of my gr mothers was indian) maybe i need to dust off one of the old rain dances and perform it.I have already been praying to the Great Spirit. Hey, a dance couldn't hurt. :banana:
 
beefmasters":vtiql1uw said:
I hear you on the no rain.

I live in far southern oklahoma and it is drier than a popcorn fart around here. :) One of my son in laws manages a ranch in western ok and they are in the same shape and have been fighting grass fires.

It's actually kind of depressing that at a time of the year when you normally should be growing grass by leaps and bounds that you are already starting to get that (survival mode) mentality. :cry:

Even if we get a weather forcast for a chance of rain it just never seems to happen- just goes on by us.

I am a card carrying member of the Choctaw indian tribe(one of my gr mothers was indian) maybe i need to dust off one of the old rain dances and perform it.I have already been praying to the Great Spirit. Hey, a dance couldn't hurt. :banana:
watered down Cherokee here,
but hope yall get some soon :cowboy:
 
I hear ya. Were in a bad way. All my wheat is about to hit joint stage. Im not gonna make any grain if we don't get rain soon. Started to get blue spots in it. May just cut the **** and bale it. Hate to but that may be my best option.
 
Well I got lucky.

I purchased 160 acres (with improved grass) which has a nice-sized Victorian House!! So, on August first I will finally be able to move back into the country. And I can continue to expand my herd. I have not been so excited since my last daughter was born!! :banana: All I need now is a wife, well maybe a wife.

The land includes a twelve acre lake with improved bermuda grass on the backside of the dam which holds a lot of moisture coming from the lake. Most all of the remainng land is bluestem. And it is only 3 miles from the homeplace where my grandfather homesteaded in 1915. He rode a horse from Lee County, Virgina to Custer County, Oklahoma to make his home. My dad owns currently owns the homeplace.

My breed of cattle, Bonsmara, from its inception, was developed to be drought resistant. This will be the year to see if their body condition holds up; and to compare the DNA test results with actual results that I can see. So far, I am very pleased with their looks.

There is a lot of "blue" wheat in this part of Oklahoma. If we do not get some rain in the next ten days, then there will be a lot of wheat fields that are baled and and then plowed, if not just plowed. My relatives always talk about 1955 (the year I was born) as the benchmark for droughts. Now, 2011 could be the new benchmark in this part of the state.

I apologize in advance if this comes across as flippant; but I am so excited...... :D
 
I apologize in advance if this comes across as flippant; but I am so excited...... :D[/quote]
Thanks for your post! No need to apologize! Send us some pictures. I haven't been to Ok in so long I forget what it looks like.
 
I think you have the right to be excited. I live in Lee Co. Virginia and can't imagine riding a horse from here to there.
If you would please PM me some info about him. We might be related, some of the old family storys I have heard talked about part of the family leaving here and going to OK.
 
Bonsman":5uu0lc1z said:
Well I got lucky.

I purchased 160 acres (with improved grass) which has a nice-sized Victorian House!! So, on August first I will finally be able to move back into the country. And I can continue to expand my herd. I have not been so excited since my last daughter was born!! :banana: All I need now is a wife, well maybe a wife.

The land includes a twelve acre lake with improved bermuda grass on the backside of the dam which holds a lot of moisture coming from the lake. Most all of the remainng land is bluestem. And it is only 3 miles from the homeplace where my grandfather homesteaded in 1915. He rode a horse from Lee County, Virgina to Custer County, Oklahoma to make his home. My dad owns currently owns the homeplace.

My breed of cattle, Bonsmara, from its inception, was developed to be drought resistant. This will be the year to see if their body condition holds up; and to compare the DNA test results with actual
results that I can see. So far, I am very pleased with their looks.

There is a lot of "blue" wheat in this part of Oklahoma. If we do not get some rain in the next ten days, then there will be a lot of wheat fields that are baled and and then plowed, if not just plowed. My relatives always talk about 1955 (the year I was born) as the benchmark for droughts. Now, 2011 could be the new benchmark in this part of the state.

I apologize in advance if this comes across as flippant; but I am so excited...... :D

Nothing wrong with being excited. I too bought new land to expand this year and it looks like I will need every inch of it just for the cattle I already have if things keep going this way with the drought. I did get 1.35 inches the night before last though. :banana: Now I just need another 10 inches in the next 2-3 weeks and everything will be back to normal. :roll:
 
Ashton V":nkoznsct said:
I hear ya. Were in a bad way. All my wheat is about to hit joint stage. Im not gonna make any grain if we don't get rain soon. Started to get blue spots in it. May just cut the be nice and bale it. Hate to but that may be my best option.

Most of our wheat is already headed out, but I doubt its gonna fill without some rain.
 
My breed of cattle, Bonsmara, from its inception, was developed to be drought resistant.
Somehow this does not make sense to me.
What is a drought resistant cow?
Your bluestem however is drought resistant as compared with some other grasses.
 
Isomade":3ogjr8vf said:
Nothing wrong with being excited. I too bought new land to expand this year and it looks like I will need every inch of it just for the cattle I already have if things keep going this way with the drought. I did get 1.35 inches the night before last though. :banana: Now I just need another 10 inches in the next 2-3 weeks and everything will be back to normal. :roll:
Haha...guess that is "normal" for the past 10 years or so....rain for 3 weeks and drought for 6 months...I'd rather have the "normal" I remember having to work in to earn a paycheck where it rained once or week or at least every 10 days....except for August...
 
novatech":3mchywk7 said:
My breed of cattle, Bonsmara, from its inception, was developed to be drought resistant.
Somehow this does not make sense to me.
What is a drought resistant cow?
Your bluestem however is drought resistant as compared with some other grasses.


When Dr. Jan Bonsmara created the breed; he opted for a 5/8 Africaner, 3/16 Horned Hereford, and 3/16 Shorthorn to form the composite breed Bonsmara. The Africaner is a heat tolerant Sanga breed that has been around forever. The Africaner is what gives the breed heat tolerance. In my excitement I said drought resistant when I should have said heat tolerant. It was my mistake.
 
novatech":fl3l8w9c said:
My breed of cattle, Bonsmara, from its inception, was developed to be drought resistant.
Somehow this does not make sense to me.
What is a drought resistant cow?Your bluestem however is drought resistant as compared with some other grasses.
my guess ''in short'' cattle developed to survive in South Africa..
 
ALACOWMAN":xmlglnp8 said:
novatech":xmlglnp8 said:
My breed of cattle, Bonsmara, from its inception, was developed to be drought resistant.
Somehow this does not make sense to me.
What is a drought resistant cow?Your bluestem however is drought resistant as compared with some other grasses.
my guess ''in short'' cattle developed to survive in South Africa..

No, they were developed for certain climates. In North America, it would be south of the 45 degree north latitude line. The 45 degree latitude line roughly divides Canada and the USA. I am aware of at least one herd in Canada. Obviously, Britian and the orgin of the British breeds is north of the 45 degrees north latitude line. Bonsmara developed his breed to thrive south of that latitude.

Dr. Bonsma used four climate regions in developing the breed. I do not have my book handy, so I can only remember the tropics, sub-tropics, and arctic. I cannot remember the other region's name.
 
No, they were developed for certain climates. In North America, it would be south of the 45 degree north latitude line. The 45 degree latitude line roughly divides Canada and the USA. I am aware of at least one herd in Canada. Obviously, Britian and the orgin of the British breeds is north of the 45 degrees north latitude line. Bonsmara developed his breed to thrive south of that latitude.

Dr. Bonsma used four climate regions in developing the breed. I do not have my book handy, so I can only remember the tropics, sub-tropics, and arctic. I cannot remember the other region's name.[/quote]................... and he was able to build drought resistants in with all that??
 
I drove from Garden City, Kansas to Stillwater, OK a couple weeks ago. Went through Woodward and Enid and Hennessey. Oklahoma looks sub tropical compared to southwest Kansas and the Panhandle.

At least everything was green. Only in the last week or so has grass started to green up around here. There is little or no dryland wheat so I guess we can't complain about the color. Had a couple large grass fires in southwest Kansas.

Weather man gave a 67% chance of rain today. It doesn't look promising so far.

If you haven't read "The Worst Hard Time" about the dust bowl era on the high plains I highly recommend it.
 
"Dr. Bonsma used four climate regions in developing the breed. I do not have my book handy, so I can only remember the tropics, sub-tropics, and arctic. I cannot remember the other region's name.[/quote]..................."

1- Frigid Zone
2- Temperate Zone (North Temperate - South Temperate, between the Tropic and the Polar Circles)
3- Torrid Zone

DOC HARRIS
 

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