N RANCHING
Look for us at
atural Resources The Edwards GLCI will be having a fi eld day in Kerr County, focused upcoming
industry events.
stock shows, sales and other
on profi table grazing management, in late February or early March. Con- tact
Kason.haby@tx.usda.gov to be placed on an email list for updates regarding this and other events in the region.
Coastal Prairie Stephen W. Deiss, rangeland management specialist, USDA-NRCS The spotty, but signifi cant, September rains along the upper Gulf
Coast produced a fl ush of forage including a large amount of old world bluestems. October was drier than normal in this area, but cattle were looking
very good on ranches that were properly stocked. Most cattle picked up condition, largely due to the cool, dry days.
Some ranches have cattle with body condition scores (BCS) as high as 6.5. Forage clippings during October revealed much less moisture. In gen-
Gina Bryson Media Consultant
817.916.1793
gbryson@tscra.org
eral, clippings are 40 percent to 50 percent water during this period, but most of those checked were 40 percent to as low as 18 percent, depend- ing on where in the region the range was evaluated. The general rain during the latter part of the week of November 3
through 7 was greatly needed, especially for building soil moisture for the current growing season. The non-evaporative days after that rain might increase soil moisture for 2015, if we get that kind of rain inter- mittently throughout the winter. The big danger in our area is overly wet soil. In our area, hardly
anything sets cattle back more than having to carry the weight of mud, especially if the forage base has likewise degraded with excessive rain.
Shawn McCoy Media Consultant
817.929.8597
smccoy@tscra.org
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South Texas Jose de la Luz “Pepe” Martinez, rangeland management specialist, USDA-NRCS The word I would use to best describe South Texas rangelands in the
last few months of 2014 would be “healing”, but in some areas the scar is just too big for a band-aid. El Niño is keeping his promise of cold and wet, and our land re-
ceived from 5 to 18 inches of rain from September to November. We received more rainfall in those 3 months than in the entire year prior to September. The response of our rangeland forage has been better than I would
have expected. It almost seems that a survival instinct kicked in with many of our native and introduced grass species after a 2- to 3-year drought. A problem we often encounter with overgrazed lands after a late
rainfall event is that invasive and less desirable grasses and forb species will have a head start on production and establishment by the time we have a response from our desired forage. If rainfall events continue to happen in South Texas in the next couple
1-800-242-7820 54 The Cattleman January 2015
of months, and the land is in position to take advantage of it, we would start a growing season with the potential of very high forage production, so we can prepare ourselves for the next drought.
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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