Texas Heat!

[Bigfoot62]

That big fella deserves to be a nice couple of benches in your yard:thumbsup:

I know what you mean. It's just hard to handle trees that large. My biggest chainsaw has a 28" bar on it, but I'm not sure that will cut half-way through. Then, there is nobody around here with a band-saw mill big enough to rip it into lumber.

It's a real shame to see these big ones go. Between hurricane Rita (in 2005) and now the drought, we've lost dozens of large red oaks. That's just on our place, the neighbors are experiencing the same thing.

 

[Bigfoot62]

We call it dove weed down here. It is the last weed barely hanging in there refusing to turn brown.

The cows are munching on yaupon and cedar. This is the time when the brush on the land sustains the cows (and some cubes).

Yep, the doves love it. (I've heard it called that as well) Not sure why the locals call it goat weed, because it's one of the few things that goats will not eat.

I sold my cows in the spring. I was raising replacement heifers and they were nearly two years old. Normally, I would keep them till about Easter time, but my pastures were already stressed in Feb and the cattle were eating too much hay. Looking back, it was a good decision to sell them a little early. What I didn't make on the animals, I probably made up by selling the rest of my hay. Usually, I would be looking for some weaned calves to buy right now, but not this year. No grass, no hay, so I'll just pass. So, not only will I not have the income of selling 400-500 rolls of hay this winter, I'll miss a year of having any cattle to sell.

Oh, well, it's like the story I heard about the cattleman that won the lottery. When he was interviewed by the TV reporter and asked what was he going to do with the money, he replied, "I'm just gonna keep farming 'til it's all gone."

 

[mblair441]

I encourage all y'all (that would be plural) to read a book by Elmer Kelton named The Time it Never Rained. It is about the drouth in the '50s in west Texas. It's a good story, a bit depressing however, about a rancher and his struggle to survive during the 6 year drouth. It's also a good commentary about how the impact of the drouth changed everything in agriculture, from goverment intervention, to banking, to Anglo-Hispanic cultural relations. In Midland, Texas, I went exactly one year without rain. None, zero, zip, nada! Then it rained one inch and no more since. Just imagine if you had no appreciable rain for 6 years. It has happened and can happen again.

 

[Western]

They talked to a farmer on the local news, who remembered the 50's drought. He said "there where cracks in the ground big enough to get my truck tires stuck in".

A drought like that would severely hurt Texas, probably more now with the huge demand for water versus the 50's. I remember 1980-81, but honestly, I only remember the heat.

 

[Bird]

My dad had a service station in Marietta, OK, in the summer of 1956. We were doing a booming business in the early part of the year, but when they highway bypassed us, that killed a lot of business, and then the heat and drought did the rest. I remember the farmers in the area hurting, the Chevrolet dealership next door to our station went under and shut down, and I remember hearing stories of car batteries dying that was attributed to salt in the water from the Red River and Lake Texoma.

That was when we moved to Texas. If it hadn't been for the drought, we might have stayed in Oklahoma.

 

[Gordo 56]

I sure feel for ya all down south, I don't know how ya all can take it. When it was in the 90's here for 12 days straight we thought we had it bad.

Gordo

 

[Western]

I sure feel for ya all down south, I don't know how ya all can take it. When it was in the 90's here for 12 days straight we thought we had it bad.

Gordo

Right! 90's would be great right now, with some rain!!!!

Normally when I talk to my son in Phoenix, I tell him I couldn't take his kid of heat, like 112+, I know for a fact now that I'm right:laughing:

Ill. some good deer hunting up that way:thumbsup:

 

[ocaj11]

I'm in Texarkana, AR and it's just as bad here. We can't get any rain, eventhough several storms have passed just north of us.

We have a ton of trees here with brown leaves. Looks like the start of fall without any color. Are these trees dead or will they come back with some moisture?? I really hate the thought of taking out 100s of trees for no good reason.

Surely we'll get some rain one of these days.....

 

[NativeSon]

I encourage all y'all (that would be plural) to read a book by Elmer Kelton named The Time it Never Rained. It is about the drouth in the '50s in west Texas. It's a good story, a bit depressing however, about a rancher and his struggle to survive during the 6 year drouth. It's also a good commentary about how the impact of the drouth changed everything in agriculture, from goverment intervention, to banking, to Anglo-Hispanic cultural relations. In Midland, Texas, I went exactly one year without rain. None, zero, zip, nada! Then it rained one inch and no more since. Just imagine if you had no appreciable rain for 6 years. It has happened and can happen again.

I love Elmer Kelton and I've read a lot of his books and "The Time it Never Rained" is one of his very best. It gives you an understanding of how the Government gets it's hooks in you and then starts making your decisions for you.

Charlie

 

[pacerron]

There is a look at the first pages here.
The Time It Never Rained - Google Books