Drought in TX

[WhyNot]

Well in the northeast, anyone that could put up a descent amount of hay had to be a magician The longest span we had was two dry days and then the heavens opened up The sheep farmer up the road from me usually has 5000 bales put up allready ! If he got a couple hundred he did good ! All we can hope for is a descent second cut !!! Fingers crossed !

We dodged a bullet. In the spring we were in a slight drought and normally we chop the 1st cutting due to weed's but it was so dry figured it needed to be baled in case it didn't rain, then it rained and rained and the sun came out and the 2nd cutting was great. Just finished the 3rd and have more hay than needed for the year to feed 250 dairy cow's. Now more than likely the 4th and if the weather hold's out 5th cutting will be chopped. The corn is almost 8ft with the ear's getting bigger by the day with this heat and humidity trouble with this is it takes forever to chop cause 2 dump truck's can't keep up. Well time to go loose about 15 pound's of sweat

 

[Doc_Bob]

We dodged a bullet. In the spring we were in a slight drought and normally we chop the 1st cutting due to weed's but it was so dry figured it needed to be baled in case it didn't rain, then it rained and rained and the sun came out and the 2nd cutting was great. Just finished the 3rd and have more hay than needed for the year to feed 250 dairy cow's. Now more than likely the 4th and if the weather hold's out 5th cutting will be chopped. The corn is almost 8ft with the ear's getting bigger by the day with this heat and humidity trouble with this is it takes forever to chop cause 2 dump truck's can't keep up. Well time to go loose about 15 pound's of sweat

We got 1 inch rain yesterday in S.E. Wisconsin. So far, very good year. beans and corn look good
Bob

 

[_RaT_]

The cattle farmers are suffering again this year and are in BAD need of hay. Trucks loaded with hay are going through my town daily heading to the area. I am told that the hay is bringing $70 (and higher) per for a 4X5 round bale. I realize that freight is driving the price but I believe this is robbery. I baled 128 4X5's this past weekend, keeping 50 and have sold the rest for $20/bale. Maybe I look at it wrong, but you ought to help your fellow farmers. I have always thought what goes around comes around.

I am not quite sure what this means. Are you saying there is a drought in Texas which has caused a shortage of hay? Do you normally get rain in the summer? I ask because here in the West, we rarely see any rain from May to October yet don't consider that a drought. If we don't get much in the way of winter rains/snow, then we have a drought. Just curious how it is elsewhere in the country.

 

[Bird]

Yep, Rat, we have a drought; not just this summer, but for the year of 2005 and for the winter & spring of 2005/2006.

 

[_RaT_]

Yep, Rat, we have a drought; not just this summer, but for the year of 2005 and for the winter & spring of 2005/2006.

Bird, didn't El Paso just get hammered with rain? My Dad was born and raised in El Paso. Spent much of his time in New Mexico spelunking the massive caverns as a young boy. Of course, that was a long time ago back in the 20's. Hope rain is in your forecast. We won't see any until the end of October or begining of November.

 

[Bird]

Bird, didn't El Paso just get hammered with rain? My Dad was born and raised in El Paso. Spent much of his time in New Mexico spelunking the massive caverns as a young boy. Of course, that was a long time ago back in the 20's. Hope rain is in your forecast. We won't see any until the end of October or begining of November.

Did you ever hear the old Texas slogan "Land of Contrast"? In broad general terms, east Texas gets about 40-45 inches of rain a year, central Texas about 30-35 inches, and west Texas about 10-15 inches. And of course, there are always exceptions and it changes from year to year. I think I did see something recently about El Paso getting some heavy rain, but you know El Paso is 643 miles west of me. I think the last time I passed through there was in 1994.

And unfortunately, I don't expect any appreciable amount of rain before October or early here either. Our State Fair is in Dallas in October each year, and it's a very rare year indeed that during the fair we don't have some hot weather, some cool weather, and some rain.

 

[Hootie]

Check out this site

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

 

[jinman]

Bird, didn't El Paso just get hammered with rain? My Dad was born and raised in El Paso. Spent much of his time in New Mexico spelunking the massive caverns as a young boy. Of course, that was a long time ago back in the 20's. Hope rain is in your forecast. We won't see any until the end of October or begining of November.

Yep. El Paso got hammered with 3 days of rain. They had to do some flood rescues there. In general, West Texas and the panhandle have received a lot more rain than north-central and central Texas. Like Bird said, it's a big state with a lot of contrast from border to border.

When characters like in the attachment start knocking on your door to beg you to fill the birdbath, you know it's hot.

 

[scott_vt]

We dodged a bullet. In the spring we were in a slight drought and normally we chop the 1st cutting due to weed's but it was so dry figured it needed to be baled in case it didn't rain, then it rained and rained and the sun came out and the 2nd cutting was great. Just finished the 3rd and have more hay than needed for the year to feed 250 dairy cow's. Now more than likely the 4th and if the weather hold's out 5th cutting will be chopped. The corn is almost 8ft with the ear's getting bigger by the day with this heat and humidity trouble with this is it takes forever to chop cause 2 dump truck's can't keep up. Well time to go loose about 15 pound's of sweat

Mornin Whynot,
You guys sound like your doin OK down there Normally we only get two cuts up here ! By the time the third cut is ready the sun is lower in the sky spelled fall and its very difficult to get the hay to dry The second cut should be ready in another week or so !