My previous post was about a disappointing hay harvest. Well, the second cutting exceeded my expectations. I got 39 bales of hay off of ~15 acres. This same area only produced 13 bales the first cutting. What made the difference? Well, I think the fertilizer had finally kicked in. We had a good 2″ of
I had a few acres cut for hay this year as the cows weren’t keeping up and it was going to seed. On 25 acres I only got 15 bales. I knew one 10 acre patch would be sparse, but I was expecting 2 bales per acre on the remaining 15 yet I got less
I’m not a big wine drinker, but when Molly and I visited Fredericksburg this spring I couldn’t help but pick up a few grape vines. I picked up 2 of each of the three varieties available – Black Spanish, Blanc du Bois, and Champanel. These are the predominant wine grapes in Central Texas as they
Added more earthworks to the ranch. This time I put a swale in as the first phase of my orchard. A swale is basically a ditch on contour. The idea being that runoff acclimates in the ditch and slowly infiltrates the soil instead of running off. The added depth of topsoil and moisture retention is
Heading toward Christmas I could see the bellies swelling and the udders filling. I knew we were going to have some winter calves. I pulled two heifers out of the heard (#12 & #21) and put them in a paddock with hay so I could assist with the birth in the event I needed to.
Well 2017 concludes my first year in the cattle business. And I must say, I made some big mistakes. 1. I paid too much for most of my cattle. I was paying premium price on moderate quality animals, and I was paying bred heifer pricing on animals that turned out to be open. Takeaway: a
When I built the pond in front of the house (the one that catches the rainwater overflow) I was left with several yards of spoils. They had been stacked up for several months and were quite unsightly – with weeds growing in great abundance. So I finally broke down and rented a dump trailer from
Hurricane Harvey passed through this month and dumped about 12″ on the ranch over a 5 day period. It was rather insignificant as the water fell at a steady slow rate, and had plenty of time to move through the terrain and make its way off of the property. Of course it all moved towards
If you were with us for And More Water – Part I, you saw the cisterns that we put in to capture rain water from the house. Yesterday I finally got around to completing the system. When I built the cistern, I left a 2″ stub up in order to draw water out of the
Working cattle is a necessary endeavor that every rancher dreads. Lots of pushing and prodding, a few rambunctious animals, and tons of poop and flies. The challenges start when you try to round up the cattle. It’s important to incorporate you’re working area into the cattle’s normal routine – otherwise they’ll know something is up
After several months of waiting, Dunn’s Fish Farm showed up at a local feed store. I bought 200 Channel Catfish, 200 Black Crappie, 100 Copper nose Bluegill, and 10 lbs of Fathead Minnows ($475). Unfortunately, half of the crappie were dead when I got home. The bags, which are filled with 1/4 water and 3/4 oxygen,
So after several weeks of building fences and other preparations, we finally have cattle on the ranch. We have 9 adults and 5 calves that I bought from my father-in-law. The two cows that don’t have calves should be bred, so I’m off to a good start. These are Black Angus crosses. Additionally we purchased
