West Texas Ranches

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Thanks Wild Cattle. Do not mean to start a debate about where West Texas starts, some folks tell me anything west of Fort Worth. Any ways that is interesting to hear. I am always curious about animal units in the different regions but I suppose that can vary significantly in each county. How are the medical support institutions in that area? Do you find you have to travel to the Dallas area regularly or do you get what you need as far as special services in that region ?(think medical-surgical, professional, legal)
 
Wild Cattle":2ss6volf said:
bman, seams to me you have been getting some incorrect info on the country north of Abilene. I live and ranch 2 hours north and west of Abilene Texas. We do not consider the Abilene area to be "west" Texas. The weather is hot and humid in the summer and it rains pretty regular in those parts, winters are mild, and there is not much wind at all. Great wheat ground around there and native pastures are pretty good as well. Abilene is a good sized town with all the modern conveniences you might need. Its a pretty good country for raising cattle and a nice place to live.
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I have to ask, why all the wind powered generators if there is not much wind?
 
bman4523":2txhglxj said:
Thanks Wild Cattle. Do not mean to start a debate about where West Texas starts, some folks tell me anything west of Fort Worth. Any ways that is interesting to hear. I am always curious about animal units in the different regions but I suppose that can vary significantly in each county. How are the medical support institutions in that area? Do you find you have to travel to the Dallas area regularly or do you get what you need as far as special services in that region ?(think medical-surgical, professional, legal)
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You should have all the professional services you would need in Abilene, we never go to the Dallas area for anything we are closer to Lubbock and Amarillo. In my country stocking rates for native pasture vary from 5-30 head per section. That's running year round, cake in the winter and no hay. The area you are asking about would be better than our best country. Range land in my area is selling for around $800/acre, the Abilene area will be higher.

Regarding wind turbines. The large wind farms run west of Abilene to Snyder and up to my country. The best average speed for a wind turban is 18mph. There is a very noticeable climate change when you travel west from Abilene. The area from Abilene to Cross Plains to Albany to Throckmorton is pretty nice cow country with a mild climate and enough rain to really keep it green.
 
Wild Cattle":12n1gupy said:
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You should have all the professional services you would need in Abilene, we never go to the Dallas area for anything we are closer to Lubbock and Amarillo. In my country stocking rates for native pasture vary from 5-30 head per section. That's running year round, cake in the winter and no hay. The area you are asking about would be better than our best country. Range land in my area is selling for around $800/acre, the Abilene area will be higher.

Regarding wind turbines. The large wind farms run west of Abilene to Snyder and up to my country. The best average speed for a wind turban is 18mph. There is a very noticeable climate change when you travel west from Abilene. The area from Abilene to Cross Plains to Albany to Throckmorton is pretty nice cow country with a mild climate and enough rain to really keep it green.
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How was we giving him false info if the average wind is 18mph that is considered windy
and on stocking rate we said were typically lower and you just stated it takes 20-128 acres to raise a cow/calf pair on native pasture so I don't see where we gave him much false information
 
I'm also not trying to start a debate with Wild Cattle, but to say that it's hot and humid in the summer is a bit of an overstatement. Sure, some summers are hotter than others, but I wouldn't define it as humid. Try southeast Texas or any other area near the Gulf, now THAT's humid. Being that the avg rainfall for that area is between 20"-25" per year, that's less than an inch every two weeks. I wouldn't say that "it rains pretty regularly" there. And I guess it's irrelevant to bman's questions, but Abilene and the surrounding area is considered "West" Texas. Heck, even Lubbock, and parts of the panhandle is considered west Texas, even though they are more "northwest".
 
I don't think most Texans consider Abilene as "West Texas". West Texas is a hundred miles south and two hundred miles West. Abilene is hardly a hundred miles from Ft. Worth. It's definitely different but really just on the south end of the Panhandle. When we see that Abilene is getting rain we figure it's just a few hours from us. Millions of acres of crops in the area too and some very nutritious grass. People actually have lawns there too. :lol2: :lol2:
 
Hey this is great stuff, but I am getting a little confused about the areas specifics. If one were running stockers on native grass in the area between Sweetwater and Roby Tx what could one expect on average as far as AU? Is that range even suitable for a stocker operation? Can one improve a grass pasture in that area without irrigation? (think replant with improved grasses) Wild cattle, I can't picture what area specifically your local is- What is your nearest city? I didn't realize that the dryer areas may produce more nutritional grass than the wetter ne Texas area as others shared on my other topic post so that is something else to consider :? Any other thoughts on this are welcome, just mining for any info!
Thanks bman
 
The general area you are looking at has some great ranching country. I would probably look a little further north or north east from Abilene where land is a little cheaper. The area around Stamford, Haskell, Albany, Knox City and Throckmorton still has land that is selling for decent prices, and you are still close enough to Abilene. Move north, south or east of there and the prices jump up significantly, move west of there past Aspermont and your looking at more acres/cow. Just an example a neighbor of ours in Haskell county has 400 acres for sell, 214 acres of that is CRP about 90 acres is mesquite pasture and the rest is cropland, it has several tanks (ponds), a well, barn, pens, and grain silos, it is listed at $700 or $750 an acre.

For the record most people from the Abilene area dont consider it west Texas, we also ranch near Pecos now THAT is west Texas.

Good luck with your search.
 
The country between Sweetwater and Roby varies a bunch. River breaks full of ceder to dryland farm country. that country is a little tougher than north of Abilene. AU around there I don't know for sure but I would guess for yearlings, 6 acres/ head for 6 months.

I am running cows and yearlings in Briscoe and Motley counties 100 miles SE of Amarillo and 100 miles NE of Lubbock, 120 miles NW of Abilene. Those are the closest towns of any size. Some of our country neighbors the Matador Ranch and we are only 60 miles NW of the 6666's and Pitchfork. Common practice in this area, for stockers, is running on native or improved pasture in the spring/summer and on wheat pasture in the winter. I can run 1 steer/2 acres on dryland wheat or native/improved pastures for 120 days if we have average rainfall.

This is short grass country and it doesn't take much rain to produce very strong grass. Great country for yearlings. All the major feedlots are in the panhandle and if you are delivering truck load lots you can sell direct. With-in 100 miles of me there is a sale barn selling cattle 5 days a week and prices are pretty good in this area because of the close proximity of the feedyards and large stocker operations.
 
Thanks JH and Wild. Wild, I spent a few days in your country this last summer driving around looking at properties from Silverton to Quanah. I really like the country but am having a hard time selling my wife on it. That's great info though, now I have some more specific questions regarding your comments. Can you clarify what exactly constitutes native pasture? Is it different than a mesquite pasture? Does improved pasture mean a field that is plowed, disked and replanted? If so does that require irrigation or is there seed that flourishes on natural rainfall? When is wheat pasture planted? Is it an annual or perennial planting? Does it require irrigation? I see the term "dry land farm" often and assume that refers to land that is not irrigated. Is the term applied to crops only or improved pasture for stock purposes?
Thanks bman :santa:
 
bman,
Native pasture is the same as Mesquite pasture, buffalo, grama, and bluestem grasses.

Improved pastures in this area generally have been cleared, or are old crop ground, and have been worked and replanted. No irrigation needed. We have some planted in WW Spar and B-Dahl grass and the summer grazing on these pastures is very good.

We plant wheat from the end of August through middle of October. It can be dry land or irrigated, it can be grazed from the time it gets up about 6" through the first of May on the average. Dry land wheat does not make every year. Some, myself included, are turning to a summer grazing crop on our wheat ground and running steers in the summer instead of grazing wheat over the winter. We are planting BMR Sudan or a mix of hay grazer, beardless wheat, barley, and Rye.

We do have some irrigated coastal pastures in this area, they do well but the costs of irrigation are high.
 
Thanks again Wild, that is very helpful. Think I'll do some homework on the grasses you mentioned. One last question, who/what/where is the extension agent/agents in your area? thanks again and Merry Christmas everyone.
 
Wild Cattle said:
The country between Sweetwater and Roby varies a bunch. River breaks full of ceder to dryland farm country. that country is a little tougher than north of Abilene. AU around there I don't know for sure but I would guess for yearlings, 6 acres/ head for 6 months.

Yea I would agree with that! Some of that country would be pretty tough to raise cows on or grow much on!
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Well this thread is a little old but I wanted to let you all know I finally bought my little slice of Texas today, about 74 acres of coastal Bermuda with a few oak tress and several tanks that even have water in them! The property is a little north of Comanche Texas in Comanche County. Good sandy soil, fencing and cross fencing, pens, chute and head gate all in excellent condition. Hope to build a house on it later next year. Thanks to everyone for your input over the months and years leading up to today.
I look forward to your input as I am sure to have many posts/questions regarding cattle and grass and such moving forward.
Thanks again- bman
 
Welcome to the area! I'm in San Saba which is about an hour south of you. You will like it here. I grew up in South East Texas (gulf coast). It was hot, humid and miserable and there was no spring and fall, just went from summer to nasty, rainy winter. Here it is HOT in the summer , no humidity and the spring and fall are about as nice as you would want. We get a few 20 degree mornings in the winter and get the occasional bad cold front but for the most part winter aint bad. On brush country you can expect to run a cow calf pair to about 20 to 30 acres. It really depends on how rough the country is and how good the ground is. Our place has two parts, hilly and rocky not great grazing and a creek bottom that is all brush but is deep black ground and great grass and grazing. If your place is in improved coastal then you should be able to run a few more cows than on the brush country I would be conservative and say a pair to 10 to 15 acres. Only because this country will change IN A HURRY. It can be lush and green and look like paradise then change to scorched earth in about 2 weeks . If the place is all coastal then you will need to be sure to have plenty of hay in the winter because the coastal is pretty much worthless once its dormant. I would drill wheat or oats into the coastal in the fall for grazing that will help.

Hope I have helped some.
 
Yes. Welcome to the area.

I am a little over an hour east on the Brazos flood plain. Coastal works well for me too. The old peanut field gets winter grasses now. Wheat, oats etc.

Overseeding that coastal with clover has been very beneficial for me. Hubam Clover grew to 8 feet all.

If you could get to know the folks up at Turner Seed in Breckenridge, it would be a good thing. You are closer to them than I am.
 
Hate to hijack backhoe but what is hubam clover, I have been wanting to plant some type of clover in my nurse cow patch and various types of burr clover are all i have come up with. This hubam sounds like the ticket i guess it would grow here if it will grow at your place.
 

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