Still Waiting for Rain in Central Texas. (much-pics)

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1982vett

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Not much to do. Not much use in making spring plans since moisture is the big question. Most repairs that are a must have been made. I have some that I could do but they all involve spending funds that I feel ought not be spent right now. Went out and took a bunch of pictures today sort of a picture record of how things look. Ill start off with the oats.

This is my best looking patch. It was planted 9/19/08. I posted a picture of it a while back. I started grazing it with 14 bred heifers on Christmas day. They get to graze several hours every other day.
oats.jpg


Several of those heifers. They are due to start calving in March and April. These are some that I bought last May when I had an abundance of grass and wasn't planning to bale much hay. Plan was to resell them in November as bred hefiers but we all know what happened to that market. If it doesn't start raining more consistently soon I will have to hope their will be a better demand for them in the spring.
heifers.jpg


You would think oats would grow in a garden like weeds. Not this year.
garden.jpg


Here are a few cows with a bunch of calves. Got em mixed up since the last time I posted pictures. Instead of being grouped by breed, they are now grouped as cows with calves, bred cows, and bred heifers.
Calves.jpg


This cow is a 5th generation that comes from the first roan bottle calf Dad bought for me back in 1967 I think it was. She would be 1/2 angus, 1/4 limousin, 1/8 Simmental, 1/16th Brangus, and 1/32 Hereford. The white face calf is not hers.
cattle.jpg


Half sister to my Hereford bull and her calf.
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Couple calves.
calves3.jpg


Calf born 1/16/09 and his protector.
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One of the water ponds. Could use a little water. Approaching 1996 level when it was dry from February - August.
tank2.jpg


Getting to the pastures. This is an Alica field that usually has volunteer ryegrass growing on it. I planted oats and arrowleaf clover on it in October this year but it didn't survive.
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This used to be rowcrop land till Dad quit rowcropping. Then it was planted in oats up until 2005 when I planted Texas Tuff bermuda on it. I also pasture drilled oats and ball clover on it September 16, 2008. If you look carefully you can see a strip of green. Each time we get a bit of moisture that oats freshens up. Just not much of it left. I don't think the ball clover survived.
hay.jpg




This is pasture looking over an oats patch fence looking down to the creek. These cows don't have calves yet or just weaned them recently. They just get good hay, salt and minerals and 18% all natural molasses tubs. Do have two that just had calves that will get moved to the oats group in a day or two.
Pasture.jpg


This is pasture that is across the creek in the previous photo. This was woodland that Dad had cleared out in the mid '60s. He did sprig coastal on it but it was always used for pasture. Not much was ever done to it to keep it going. It is now mostly KR Bluestem and native grasses, some bahaia and coastal. Usually has a good mix of ryegrass and other native cool season grasses. I would save this for late spring grazing when the oats plays out and I need to close the cows off of the hay meadows.
pasture9.jpg


More of the same. Anyone notice the abundance of cow patties in the pastures. They really show up whithout and grass to hide them or rain to wash them out.
pasture11.jpg


This water leak proves we could have green pastures with rain.
waterleak.jpg


One of the many cracks the ground still has.
ground_cracks.jpg



And one of my feeding areas. I've already drug it out once. I don't feed on it anymore but the cows still have to pass thru from one oats patch to the new feeding area. Oh and the date on that photo, I had a mishap with the batteries and didn't realize I needed to reset the date. Somehow I didn't get it cropped out of the picture either.
feeding_area2.jpg



Thanks for taking time to have a look. Hope you enjoyed and when you get a chance, send a little thought of rain my way. It will be appreciated.
 
Your cows look, looks like your doing a real good job with them with no rain. Every time I see a storm go across Texas I hope ya'll get some. Hope it brakes soon and don't forget the worse it gets just duck your head and keep pushing foward.
 
Nice place Vette!! Your cattle look good in spite of the drought. The rains will come. Thanks for pics!
 
Be glad to send you what we are having. 0 last night, high today of 24, 20 at 6:00pm and now at 10:35 is has warmed up and raining. Talk about ice and slick. Really hard on calves born today.
 
Great pics Vett ! Good looking place and good looking cattle . Does look dry, our ponds here are still low, even at that when it thaws a little we have mud . Your old row cropping ground looks like it would be good with a little water .

I know I should post some pics but, I'm not good with a camera and even worse at getting them posted :oops: .

Anyway hoping and praying for a little moisture to come your way .

Larry
 
Vette i no you need rain and sure hope you get some soon. I was watching one of the aig shows yesterday and the way he showed it you might stand a chance of getting some rain in a couple of weeks. Hope you do.
 
I know what you mean Vett we are really dry this fall also
, I have a few fields of cereal rye planted that look about like you oats if you look real hard you can see strips of green
If we don't get some moisture this winter we will really be hurting this spring

Just say your prayers to the rain goods and if that doesn't work ya might have to do the nakkid rain dance and if your like me NOBODY wants to see that happen :lol:
 
To me, there is no more helpless of a feeling than try to produce something when the rain doesn't come your way. Its discouraging to say the least. I hope you get plenty soon. Lord knows you are due. Selfishly, I'm hoping we don't have to deal with another summer's drought. Its about time for our luck to change.
 
Well the cows are in pretty good shape considering. They are going thru the hay pretty fast. the oats to for that matter. At the present rate, without change, I figure to run out about the end of May and oats in about 3 weeks. The cows that had calves are cycling and breeding so. A group of bull calves are chasing after a cow right now. :lol: I haven't seen any repeats so I figure the next calf crop isn't in danger from nutrition.

I've been watching the 10 day forecast, ours doesn't show much chance in the near future. About the only thing I have noticed changing is that the high winds have calmed quite a bit. Maybe that is a start back in the right direction. National radar map sure does look void of precipitation out west and mid-west. Eastern parts look cold and wet. This part of the country can bounce back pretty fast if the rains come and keep coming. Just don't know if that is going to happen this time. That one seems to be a hard one to bet on.

Kind of entering uncharted waters. I don't recall a time when lack of rain has gripped us like this for so long. We've had plenty of times when it was dry 3 months at a time (usually June, July, and August). Never got far enough that we had to think of making plans about selling cows beyond those that needed to be sold to begin with. And then on top of it, having to sell when everyone else is forced to sell also.

Again, thanks for your kindly thoughts and well wishes.
 
Dang it's hard to plan things when it's so dry. Vett, cattle look good, I 'm ready for some pics without snow. Wish I could send you some of the moisture we've had in snow since Oct.

Larry get those pics posted, We all would like to see what you got going in Ohio.

We got the warmest day we've had in a while +20 today, maybe bring the camera along. Haven't checked out the steers lately. When It's so cold I feed, water don't pay much attention, get back by the fire. :nod:
 
you have a real nice place there.you can tell your cows are in good shape in the drought.hope you get some rain soon.
 
one of the outlooks, from Texas Forest Service, for the next three months shows increasing drought for south central- central Texas. Hope it is wrong.
 
kenny thomas":8fd9qfjn said:
one of the outlooks, from Texas Forest Service, for the next three months shows increasing drought for south central- central Texas. Hope it is wrong.
Kind of has that feel to it. Wind is back today NW @ 23. Got up to 70 F.
 
Hauled a load of calves to Crockett today once I hit Houston county you could see all of their stock tanks were low. All of ours are going out the overflows amazing the difference 60 miles makes.
 
Caustic, ours should be going out the overflow too. Usually hard to find a place to feed hay on without being to mushy. Now it is hard to find a clean space that isn't full of 8 months worth of cow patties to feed on. What does the grass situation look like over that way. This weeks USDA Drought Monitor shows a huge increase in areas hurting for rain. I've been holding out selling any bred cows or pairs until the usuall seasonal strength in March and April. Looks like that is going to be a failed plan too.
 
1982vett":3n9me2yf said:
Caustic, ours should be going out the overflow too. Usually hard to find a place to feed hay on without being to mushy. Now it is hard to find a clean space that isn't full of 8 months worth of cow patties to feed on. What does the grass situation look like over that way. This weeks USDA Drought Monitor shows a huge increase in areas hurting for rain. I've been holding out selling any bred cows or pairs until the usuall seasonal strength in March and April. Looks like that is going to be a failed plan too.

I haven't even let the cows in the hay field yet. I still have some stockpiled pasture and it is so wet here you can't even work in the pastures without rutting them up. Water is just running out the side of the hills. But we all know how quickly that can change as well. Supposed to rain here again this weekend. Neighbor is a contractor building houses, barns and such he has been out of work most of Dec. due to rain.
 
Will work for food..... Oops! I mean.... will trade cows for rain! CB you send me a load of rain, I will send you a load of broken mouth cows! (evil grin)

:lol:
 
1982vett, My place looks like yours except for the green part and a lot less cattle. I turned my cattle into the hay field and overseeded the pastures with rye grass/crimson clover. The clover came up first and now is browning out. The rye grass came up next and now it is starting to brown out.

I had to feed hay from July 08 till now. Have about 12 weeks more of hay left.

Three of my neighbors have reworked their tanks since they were dry. I use well water but am kinda nervous each time I check the water tanks. I had a new well drilled this summer so I guess that one will be OK. We have prayed for rain, hung dead snakes on the fences and just about any old or new idea that would bring rain but no luck. I have even washed my truck!

Good luck to you. Hope that this part of Texas will be green someday.
 

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