Thank you for identifying the different types of the grasses and great information. We live in the Texas Hill Country which we pray every day for rain because just last week three fires started and are still burning. God Bless the first responders, fire fighters, ranchers and farmers. We will make it through. 🙂
That green patch where the slope breaks on the hill is a key point. It is growing there because water that flows down the hill carries nutrients with it and deposits it in that spot. If you excavate a key point and dig a small pond you will have a superior water catchment. A couple of those and drought won’t hurt as bad, especially if your grasses have deep tap roots. You can’t make it rain, but you can save every drop that falls on your pasture and prepare you for longer dry spells.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher, If you have fire ant nest for sure is water direct beneath but probably will be too deep but sure is But where those green patches are has to be water like James mentioned it
More graziers in US should be aware of keyline plowing their pasture to spread and protect rainfall in their soil. Additionally, while subsoiling, adding biochar (perhaps injcted into the rips) is a great way to increase water retention (one of many incredible biochar properties as a soil amendment).
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher Génesis 1:29,30, 9:5, Isaías chapter 66:5, Jeremy chapter 7:20,21,22,23,24, Roman 14:20,21, 1 Corinthians chapter 8:13, 🛸🛸🛸⚠️♨️⚖💯🙏👉⚠️🖖🏼⏳🙈💯♨️⚖👈 ...those trees are your false and interested doctrines; what they make of you, the modern false prophets; you are falsehood made flesh; you are the yoke that every humble has endured in silence; you are the demons of your own creations; because the future planets arise from your ideas; that will taste your philosophical salt of life; you transmit in your own false ideas, your false future philosophies; that multitudes of creatures must live them; yes demons of power; you will curse a thousand times for having created false doctrines; that you call political parties; and that have nothing to do with my divine laws; with the divine Commandments; your damned doctrines say nothing about the divine eternity; Weren't you damned demons taught that the Father is first in all things in life? and you hypocrites, you do the opposite; weren't you taught to worship god above all things? above all human philosophy; above yourselves; poor you! you are marked by your own works; just as you acted in the trials of life, so you will reap; yes son; I know what you're thinking; that's how it is; each nation is a herd; that these demons for conveniences of interest, have kept divided; in your own flock there are also false prophets; who still want to continue deceiving their brothers in life; they don't let them join; they do not want the humble to see the light of progress; but these cursed will not pass; each philosophy has its time; it has its beginning, maturity and death; these demons are in the agony phase; in your town he is known by right; It was written: Let the left take care of what the right does; it means that my humble ones at work, the eternally exploited, do not get corrupted by the demons of money; that what awaits them will not happen to these violators of my law; for these demons a divine Moral judgment was written; for these cursed, humanity will cry; they must render a divine account of the backwardness to which they have subjected the planet; for one part has much abundance; an abundance that for its own convenience, corrupts; and another part of humanity suffers from hunger; and the spirit feels frustrated; because of these demons of ambition, there are rich and poor; all the rich must deliver up to the last gram of gold, which does not belong to them; that has not been won with the sweat of the brow; for everything that is gained with cunning belongs to the devil; because there is no rich in you world, that he has not deceived his fellow men.- Write: The Alpha and the Omega DIVINE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN CELL; ADAM AND EVE EXPAND THEIR PORES OF FLESH; HOW THE HUMAN LARVA MULTIPLIED IN THE SWAMPS; INFINITE LARVAE OF FUTURE LIVING SPECIES EMERGE; THE FIRST EIGHT VIBRATIONS.- www.AlfayOmega .com .pe ⚠️⚠️NATIONS and MEN WILL DENY my Name.⚠️⏳⚖👈 My Divine NEW NAME Revelation 2:17, 3:12, 19:12, 2 Corinthians 11:4, If He Who Comes. .. Alpha Omega Alian = THE WISE, the Most High, the ALMIGHTY, He I Am Who I Am, Our Divine and Loving Eternal Father. JESUS CHRIST =MOHAMMED MSTO=MASTER=CHRIST=THE GLORIFIED. MOHAMAD = MAHOM= AHMED MESTO. MARIA = SASHA MSTO. FATIMA = JENNIFER MESTO. My Divine Place of Residence, FOR ALL THOSE WHO NEVER SEE MY FACE IN THE FLESH, of God, and of the Father, and of CHRIST. Lattakia Syria=LAODICEA in Earth's past. Colossians chapter 2. The Divine Solar Family of the Kingdom of HEAVENS. ❤ THE OLD MAN = THE OLDEST OF ALL BEINGS..😎 2 John chapter 1. ⚠️⏳⚖EVERYONE WILL CRY, BUT OF ALL THE CRYING, THE DEVIL WILL SCARE..💯⚖🖖🏼☕👈 ⚠️THE FALSE PROPHET, AND THE ANTICHRIST, AND THE SPIRIT OF ERROR.⚖⏳⚠️ 1 John chapter 4:1,2,3,6, 2 John chapter 1:7, 🌍🌏🌎⚖⏳⚠️👈
I penned up our 13 head of cattle in a paddock for about a week back in January while we herded the feral horses to sell. Hauling water from the farm to the paddock became rather taxing and never made me more happy to have a water well supplied trough on the property. Now in the drought that holds true as well, almost all the stock tanks have dried up. The fantail goldfish reproduced in the 150 gallon and still no noticeable algae, such a great relationship to keep the stock water trough clean!
I read/heard that when you get into a drought, you have no rain you also have less/no nutrients leaching from the grass into the ground. That means the grass has a higher nutrient content and that's a reason why cattle also seem to eat less when in a drought.
Takes time and money to establish. Took a ton of effort to get the grass I currently have. Just planted Elbon Rye for winter grazing, so trying to make progress.
I think I would be lining up some water companies so you would be ready to fill your ponds, and I would have a water tank on a trailer to pull with your tractor.
I watched a weather forecast that is updated weekly. The meteorologist concentrates mainly on the Pacific Northwest but he does talk about the rest of the US and even the world. According to what he's seeing, he believes there is a strong likelihood the draught here in Texas will last into the late fall. A neighbor who works at a nearby convenience store told me she was talking with a man who said he bought a heifer for $8.00. My wife said she was told about a guy who bought a cow/calf pair for $12.00. Buying hay in advance is really smart. We have two cows (one is going to the butcher for hamburger) and we just bought 20 more round bales.
In my part of south Texas it’s sandy loam there’s nothing but dirt left. Last measurable rain we had was in December2021, since then we’ve had about 2 inches. Prickly pear and Trees are starting to die, weeds are even dead. Wildlife is suffering and I’m trying to feed and water them too.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher we got about two inches of rain about three nights ago when that little cool front came in but that’s it. It settled the dust. The ground soaked it right up. We didn’t make one pecan this year and next to no acorns. Pear beds even suffered. We really need to get those stock tanks refilled. If this drought goes into next year like it looks like and we don’t get those much needed rains between now and spring it’s really going to hurt. . We need those long slow steady rains. We are still in exceptional drought category.
There has to be a cost-benefit analysis on how much value each additional well brings to an operation vs. how much that well costs to drill. For 30-40 head on an already fairly well-irrigated ranch (ponds, existing wells, city water connections, etc.), there's diminishing returns on drilling any new wells.
You’re doing an excellent job with weed control. I have enough grass for a couple months. I’ve procrastinated on buying hay so far. I may have to haul hay out of Oklahoma that has been through the irrigation process. May end up selling my cows and keep my two horses. God bless.
How often are you moving your cattle? Some of the most successful drought management programs I have seen are using smaller paddocks and daily or twice daily moves. This seems to give the grass more time to recover before you come back through.
I’m typically moving every 4 to 5 days. My main limitation is time as I still work as a veterinarian full time. No doubt rotating daily or twice daily would be helpful, but it’s been so dry and so hot, I’m not seeing any regrowth in pastures that are rested as of the last several weeks. I just drove from here to South Carolina and back. Went northern route through north Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, and then back from Florida and along the entire gulf coast. Green the entire way once we left Texas. Lots of good rain almost all the way. What a difference!! Totally brown when we got back here 😩.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher Thanks for the response. I can understand the limitations you are under, especially with a full time job in addition to ranching. That definitely makes it harder to do daily moves. I also understand your point about there not being regrowth regardless of how often you move if there is no moisture for the grass. I hope you get some rain soon.
My hoof trimmer says that the stressed partially green grass is very dangerous for my horses to eat. Most of the grass in my yard is brown & crunchy. There are a few spots where I rinse my feed buckets & over my septic tank lines that are still green. There are other areas with less mowed longer grass that has bits of green (like in your pasture). -- I've heard the stressed grass is a concern for horses with laminitic tendencies.
In our area, it’s the lush, fast growing grass that causes laminitis. At least in our area, we don’t see laminitis during drought (stressed) conditions.
Is it too late to consider the abattoir and some freezers vs. the sale barn? In the next 6-18 months the USA should be seeing beef prices explode with all this drought-driven culling.
Another informative video Cliff. If you get to the point of destocking I hope you post a video in advance as I hope to have about 70 acres (on Hwy 21 just west of Madisonville) soon for use to start a small herd and will be interested. Not the best time to start back, but tough times present opportunities as well.
Great job on pasture management. We just received rain yesterday. It had been in between 7-8 weeks. No regrowth obviously. We are struggling as well. Prayers for rain in August. Thank you for the video
Pastures look good considering the lack of moisture. How much clover or legume do you have in the paddocks ? Looks like you could benefit from them. . Nice job with the cattle, well cared for.
I have a pretty good stand on 60 acres in a normal moisture year. Almost none came up this year. Have only planted reseeding varieties (Ball, Arrowleaf). Clover here (in years with enough moisture) is gone by June because of the heat. Tough environment.
It is great to see your cattle grazing outside as you would see here in Ireland. I had understood that most cattle in USA are housed in yards, am I wrong? Can someone tell me what Regenerative Farming is? Great looking beasts.
Regerative farming means a lot of different things to different people. The general theme is to work with nature and your environment and try to avoid external inputs like feed and fertilizer. It often requires a considerable rethink on the agricultural practices adopted over the last half century.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher 10.5 inches this year. Not terrible. 4” of it came in mid May to fill our dugouts thankfully. Atleast we don’t have to haul water to cattle in the pasture this summer
I can sympathize with you on the drought,, here in NE Arkansas, the drought has been brutal all summer. We did receive some rain had 10 days ago, but the grass is slow to recover. I'm a cotton farmer with irrigation wells, and can get through a drought, but it's terribly expensive. Hopefully the rain will return soon, and give ya'll some relief. Keep up the video's, I always enjoy them!
Praying for rain in north central Texas as well. We got about 1/2 inch in the last 30 days and that has helped us tremendously. However many of my neighbors are already feeding hay and selling cows. Our pasture rotation program has made all the difference for us. Giving the grass time to rest and regrow with that little bit of rain and allowing it to stay thick and cover the ground has kept us green. I am concerned about how it will look after our last grazing pass this summer. Praying for rain to see us through.
My source that sells cattle at Emory says they didn’t have a sale the 2nd and 5th. He’s not sure about Athens but doubts they missed any sale days cause theirs is on fridays. Regardless, it’s dry dry dry and water is in short supply as is grass. Tough year.
In any moment rain there where you are in Texas. Here in Sonora México are airplanes making travels to make rain and it is working because second year in a row good rain for the pasture which born with rain.. With one good rain you'll be out of that issue.. it is better try to make rain with airplanes it is hughe Texas
West Auction: Market Analysis for sale of 08/11/2022: Packer cows and bulls - steady to $2 higher. Pairs and Bred cows - steady. #1 stocker steers and heifers - $2 to $5 higher. #1 feeder steers and heifers - $2 to $5 higher. Pricing higher
Have you developed thru mop grazing establishing organic humus? Each inch per acre will retain 25,000 gallons and if you had 12 inches thus storing 300,000 gal.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher Thanks! It’s interesting to see the difference in soil from Willow City and our other place, south of Llano. Mesquites don’t care. I don’t really want to use chemicals but the massive amount of time it would take to pluck Mesquites from the ground and their roots seems endless and expensive. When you do it can you talk about what you see with Sendero Herbicide or anything similar vs mechanical and best practices to clear 30-50- 100 acre plots. I look forward to the discussions! Learning a lot! All the best
praying for rain for you ima be honest here. If i lived in cali and texas I'd never graze that far down. with climate change id probably never graze that far down again in my lifetime. you need to check out Greg Judy grazing school. I know people want it short for horses but frankly, i'd let them graze taller and supplement then graze that far down for "perfect" equine pasture. Because you are gonna be knocked down to hay if you aren't careful. but I've never had to feed hay in the summer because we run ducks and geese sheep and goats as well as horses and cattle. you got some pretty cattle though :) great channel. Oh we also feed seaweed. in an emergency because of fire reasons. I'd say i'd never graze that low if it could be avoided for any of the southwest come to think about it. the reason why i wouldn't graze that fair down in cali or texas if I could avoid it. it cooks the ground. Normally when I take over land that's beaten up (not like yours .. your looks pretty nice). I always run the ducks and geese then I put some small woodchips and leaves down. For 4 years in a row to recover the pasture. Let it grow high and take horses that are a bit too fat. let them high graze to help em lose weight. The goose or ducks prefer goose because they are very good with grass and forbs. Then I run sheep or goats, or rabbits. to finish it off. Then I let it grow tall again so it gets those seed heads and brings in either horses (are really good for planting seeds through manure) or cattle. Then ducks again or goose, then skip building the warm season seed bank. Let the horses come back in eat tall. It could really bring back that pasture. Because you got so much pasture exposed to that baking cali/texas heat which can wreck your pasture even outside of drought. It really makes me sad that the program for free leaves is scaled back in cali with everyone pulling down trees. Because they'd pay you to take it lol. You can also use cardboard but it must be soaked and mix chopped really small. you mix the cardboard with leaves and woodchips. be careful not to let it dry you can also mix it with compost. leaf, woodchip, and cardboard. in some places they pay you to take the cardboard and if you have a paved drive near the city for drop off. You can get the arborist to drop woodchip for free. (make sure you have lighting for the truck so they are regular)
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher Things were dry here in Michigan too, though not as bad as Texas. We rolled 140 bales of first cutting off a 25 acre field but only got 20 second cutting bales. No fun. Good luck!
is there not a way to get most of the water into tanks and the tanks into buildings to prevent evaporation? put the tanks on automatic time release into troughs or something. one would think whatever time/energy/expense one would incur would more than pay for itself in the prevention of evaporation and that water that didn't evaporate but instead went into the bellys of farm animals/crops. also building some sort of makeshift greenhouses at strategic locations and the water that would have evaporated could also be used for them.
That sounds like a very expensive bit of irrigation and engineering, both to build and then maintain. As it is it looks like he has some wells or connections where the livestock can drink from. Do you have an example of where what you are talking about has been done?
Margins on beef for ranchers are already basically 0%. Shipping an animal anywhere but the abbatoir or, sadly, the sale barn, would be tough to justify.
@@movinon1242 I agree with you on the economics of such a move. Too bad just the same. We have former farm land around here going back to the wild and grass up to our armpits. I would guess we could easily support thousands of grazing animals.
The hay situation is dire. Good hay almost non existent because none growing. They are baling Milo stubble, corn stalks and rice straw. Milo stubble in our area is $100 a roll. Not sure what the other will sell for.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher Wow! And like you mentioned in the video, transportation cost are too high to bring in hay. Our fields here in my area in north Alabama are very dry also. A field that usually yields in the 50's on a second cutting made 14 rolls and my county is a D0 on the U.S. Drought Monitor map. Most of Texas is D3 and D4. Hang in there Sir and keep us updated
That’s just one pasture. I thought you were just inquiring about the 38 acres. The total land I run them on is 163 acres and I rotate them through in 5 to 10 acre paddocks.
I’ve seen that done in California. Probably effective but expensive to do and tough work to clean up when no longer needed, plus not regenerative at all.
My pond still has water...everyone else's around me in Ferris, Texas has dried up...only difference is i have duckweed growing in mine...shades the water and seals the water from evaporation. FSA, USDA and NCRS a bit clueless about the wonders of duckweed to maintain ponds and lakes.
Thank you for identifying the different types of the grasses and great information. We live in the Texas Hill Country which we pray every day for rain because just last week three fires started and are still burning. God Bless the first responders, fire fighters, ranchers and farmers. We will make it through. 🙂
Hope you got some of this rain yesterday. Looked like you probably did 🙏🏼
Where in central tx are you?
Praying you will have rain soon. Keep your chin up
Will do!
That green patch where the slope breaks on the hill is a key point. It is growing there because water that flows down the hill carries nutrients with it and deposits it in that spot. If you excavate a key point and dig a small pond you will have a superior water catchment. A couple of those and drought won’t hurt as bad, especially if your grasses have deep tap roots. You can’t make it rain, but you can save every drop that falls on your pasture and prepare you for longer dry spells.
Great comment James! Will work on that!
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher, If you have fire ant nest for sure is water direct beneath but probably will be too deep but sure is
But where those green patches are has to be water like James mentioned it
More graziers in US should be aware of keyline plowing their pasture to spread and protect rainfall in their soil.
Additionally, while subsoiling, adding biochar (perhaps injcted into the rips) is a great way to increase water retention (one of many incredible biochar properties as a soil amendment).
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher
Génesis 1:29,30, 9:5,
Isaías chapter 66:5,
Jeremy chapter 7:20,21,22,23,24,
Roman 14:20,21,
1 Corinthians chapter 8:13,
🛸🛸🛸⚠️♨️⚖💯🙏👉⚠️🖖🏼⏳🙈💯♨️⚖👈 ...those trees are your false and interested doctrines; what they make of you, the modern false prophets; you are falsehood made flesh; you are the yoke that every humble has endured in silence; you are the demons of your own creations; because the future planets arise from your ideas; that will taste your philosophical salt of life; you transmit in your own false ideas, your false future philosophies; that multitudes of creatures must live them; yes demons of power; you will curse a thousand times for having created false doctrines; that you call political parties; and that have nothing to do with my divine laws; with the divine Commandments; your damned doctrines say nothing about the divine eternity; Weren't you damned demons taught that the Father is first in all things in life? and you hypocrites, you do the opposite; weren't you taught to worship god above all things? above all human philosophy; above yourselves; poor you! you are marked by your own works; just as you acted in the trials of life, so you will reap; yes son; I know what you're thinking; that's how it is; each nation is a herd; that these demons for conveniences of interest, have kept divided; in your own flock there are also false prophets; who still want to continue deceiving their brothers in life; they don't let them join; they do not want the humble to see the light of progress; but these cursed will not pass; each philosophy has its time; it has its beginning, maturity and death; these demons are in the agony phase; in your town he is known by right; It was written: Let the left take care of what the right does; it means that my humble ones at work, the eternally exploited, do not get corrupted by the demons of money; that what awaits them will not happen to these violators of my law; for these demons a divine Moral judgment was written; for these cursed, humanity will cry; they must render a divine account of the backwardness to which they have subjected the planet; for one part has much abundance; an abundance that for its own convenience, corrupts; and another part of humanity suffers from hunger; and the spirit feels frustrated; because of these demons of ambition, there are rich and poor; all the rich must deliver up to the last gram of gold, which does not belong to them; that has not been won with the sweat of the brow; for everything that is gained with cunning belongs to the devil; because there is no rich in you world, that he has not deceived his fellow men.- Write: The Alpha and the Omega DIVINE ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN CELL; ADAM AND EVE EXPAND THEIR PORES OF FLESH; HOW THE HUMAN LARVA MULTIPLIED IN THE SWAMPS; INFINITE LARVAE OF FUTURE LIVING SPECIES EMERGE; THE FIRST EIGHT VIBRATIONS.- www.AlfayOmega .com .pe ⚠️⚠️NATIONS and MEN WILL DENY my Name.⚠️⏳⚖👈 My Divine NEW NAME Revelation 2:17, 3:12, 19:12, 2 Corinthians 11:4, If He Who Comes. .. Alpha Omega Alian = THE WISE, the Most High, the ALMIGHTY, He I Am Who I Am, Our Divine and Loving Eternal Father. JESUS CHRIST =MOHAMMED MSTO=MASTER=CHRIST=THE GLORIFIED. MOHAMAD = MAHOM= AHMED MESTO. MARIA = SASHA MSTO. FATIMA = JENNIFER MESTO. My Divine Place of Residence, FOR ALL THOSE WHO NEVER SEE MY FACE IN THE FLESH, of God, and of the Father, and of CHRIST. Lattakia Syria=LAODICEA in Earth's past. Colossians chapter 2. The Divine Solar Family of the Kingdom of HEAVENS. ❤ THE OLD MAN = THE OLDEST OF ALL BEINGS..😎 2 John chapter 1. ⚠️⏳⚖EVERYONE WILL CRY, BUT OF ALL THE CRYING, THE DEVIL WILL SCARE..💯⚖🖖🏼☕👈 ⚠️THE FALSE PROPHET, AND THE ANTICHRIST, AND THE SPIRIT OF ERROR.⚖⏳⚠️ 1 John chapter 4:1,2,3,6, 2 John chapter 1:7, 🌍🌏🌎⚖⏳⚠️👈
Really good information! You have a a lifetime of experience. Thanks for sharing how you are working the difficult weather down there. Hang in there!
We will do our best!!
Water well and pump have been life savers. SouthEast Texas has rain in the forecast though so that will be nice.
I sure hope they get some!
I penned up our 13 head of cattle in a paddock for about a week back in January while we herded the feral horses to sell.
Hauling water from the farm to the paddock became rather taxing and never made me more happy to have a water well supplied trough on the property. Now in the drought that holds true as well, almost all the stock tanks have dried up.
The fantail goldfish reproduced in the 150 gallon and still no noticeable algae, such a great relationship to keep the stock water trough clean!
Thanks for the insights into what's going on with you in Texas
Most welcome Mark!
I read/heard that when you get into a drought, you have no rain you also have less/no nutrients leaching from the grass into the ground. That means the grass has a higher nutrient content and that's a reason why cattle also seem to eat less when in a drought.
I think that is correct!
You need different grass strains, one for a wet period, one for a dry period, one for cold, one for hot, mixed with some flowers.
Takes time and money to establish. Took a ton of effort to get the grass I currently have. Just planted Elbon Rye for winter grazing, so trying to make progress.
You and all the other farmers and ranchers impacted by the drought are in our prayers. Keep up the good work, Doc.
Thanks Harrison!
I think I would be lining up some water companies so you would be ready to fill your ponds, and I would have a water tank on a trailer to pull with your tractor.
I have water wells in each pasture with multiple troughs. All good for now.
Bless you. Praying for rain for you and ourselves! Thank you for sharing your journey and the many decisions that involved in drought management.
Still very hot and no rain in the forecast. Tough year!
Thank you for all the tips and information. I sure hope we all get some rain soon.
Indeed!
I watched a weather forecast that is updated weekly. The meteorologist concentrates mainly on the Pacific Northwest but he does talk about the rest of the US and even the world. According to what he's seeing, he believes there is a strong likelihood the draught here in Texas will last into the late fall.
A neighbor who works at a nearby convenience store told me she was talking with a man who said he bought a heifer for $8.00. My wife said she was told about a guy who bought a cow/calf pair for $12.00.
Buying hay in advance is really smart. We have two cows (one is going to the butcher for hamburger) and we just bought 20 more round bales.
That’s not good 😩
In my part of south Texas it’s sandy loam there’s nothing but dirt left. Last measurable rain we had was in December2021, since then we’ve had about 2 inches. Prickly pear and Trees are starting to die, weeds are even dead. Wildlife is suffering and I’m trying to feed and water them too.
Are things looking up now? We are way behind on rain still but are hanging in there.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher we got about two inches of rain about three nights ago when that little cool front came in but that’s it. It settled the dust. The ground soaked it right up. We didn’t make one pecan this year and next to no acorns. Pear beds even suffered. We really need to get those stock tanks refilled. If this drought goes into next year like it looks like and we don’t get those much needed rains between now and spring it’s really going to hurt. . We need those long slow steady rains. We are still in exceptional drought category.
@@Hotrodford definitely worrisome. Praying it gets better for all of us. Hang in there!
Cliff, those cows look great for your conditions. Hang in there
Thanks William! Finally, things are looking up!
a water well is needed every 1 mile in every direction on land u own. there is water down there u just gotta drill deep enough to reach it.
We sit over the richest aquifer in Texas. Excellent water!
There has to be a cost-benefit analysis on how much value each additional well brings to an operation vs. how much that well costs to drill.
For 30-40 head on an already fairly well-irrigated ranch (ponds, existing wells, city water connections, etc.), there's diminishing returns on drilling any new wells.
Agreed. Thankfully, all these wells were here when we purchased the property.
You’re doing an excellent job with weed control. I have enough grass for a couple months. I’ve procrastinated on buying hay so far. I may have to haul hay out of Oklahoma that has been through the irrigation process. May end up selling my cows and keep my two horses. God bless.
Tough year for a lot of people. Keep the faith!
How often are you moving your cattle? Some of the most successful drought management programs I have seen are using smaller paddocks and daily or twice daily moves. This seems to give the grass more time to recover before you come back through.
I’m typically moving every 4 to 5 days. My main limitation is time as I still work as a veterinarian full time. No doubt rotating daily or twice daily would be helpful, but it’s been so dry and so hot, I’m not seeing any regrowth in pastures that are rested as of the last several weeks. I just drove from here to South Carolina and back. Went northern route through north Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, and then back from Florida and along the entire gulf coast. Green the entire way once we left Texas. Lots of good rain almost all the way. What a difference!! Totally brown when we got back here 😩.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher Thanks for the response. I can understand the limitations you are under, especially with a full time job in addition to ranching. That definitely makes it harder to do daily moves. I also understand your point about there not being regrowth regardless of how often you move if there is no moisture for the grass. I hope you get some rain soon.
My hoof trimmer says that the stressed partially green grass is very dangerous for my horses to eat. Most of the grass in my yard is brown & crunchy. There are a few spots where I rinse my feed buckets & over my septic tank lines that are still green. There are other areas with less mowed longer grass that has bits of green (like in your pasture). -- I've heard the stressed grass is a concern for horses with laminitic tendencies.
In our area, it’s the lush, fast growing grass that causes laminitis. At least in our area, we don’t see laminitis during drought (stressed) conditions.
I would Hot Wire that pond ..so they could only drink at those designated spots. God bless.
Probably wise. Working on that.
Is it too late to consider the abattoir and some freezers vs. the sale barn? In the next 6-18 months the USA should be seeing beef prices explode with all this drought-driven culling.
The local abattoirs couldn’t take anymore as they were backlogged. A real dilemma.
Another informative video Cliff. If you get to the point of destocking I hope you post a video in advance as I hope to have about 70 acres (on Hwy 21 just west of Madisonville) soon for use to start a small herd and will be interested. Not the best time to start back, but tough times present opportunities as well.
I will indeed Kenny! Shoot me an email at southpollcows@gmail.com so I can find you again! I’ll screenshot this as well!
Great job on pasture management. We just received rain yesterday. It had been in between 7-8 weeks. No regrowth obviously. We are struggling as well. Prayers for rain in August. Thank you for the video
Hope you get more soon!!
Pastures look good considering the lack of moisture. How much clover or legume do you have in the paddocks ? Looks like you could benefit from them. . Nice job with the cattle, well cared for.
I have a pretty good stand on 60 acres in a normal moisture year. Almost none came up this year. Have only planted reseeding varieties (Ball, Arrowleaf). Clover here (in years with enough moisture) is gone by June because of the heat. Tough environment.
Praying for you in Texas. How is it going on your place since this video?
Much better! Have had 2.3” of rain (much less then surrounding areas but grass is green again so we are very blessed)!
It is great to see your cattle grazing outside as you would see here in Ireland. I had understood that most cattle in USA are housed in yards, am I wrong? Can someone tell me what Regenerative Farming is? Great looking beasts.
Most of the cattle are raised and kept on pasture. The confinement comes when finishing the cattle that will be slaughtered for meat.
Regerative farming means a lot of different things to different people. The general theme is to work with nature and your environment and try to avoid external inputs like feed and fertilizer. It often requires a considerable rethink on the agricultural practices adopted over the last half century.
@@movinon1242 Thanks.
good luck Cliff hope things work out for you.
Thanks Mack….things are better now.
This is rough to watch. We have some regions in the country that are flooding and others that need rain real bad.
Hope all the best for you.
Things are turning around at least for now. Hoped better days ahead. Thank you!
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher good to hear. We will hope for the best.
2017 we were dry here (se Sask) 3” rain all year.
Had no hay to make
2021 we got 5” all year.
Been a rough go
How are things so far this year?
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher 10.5 inches this year. Not terrible.
4” of it came in mid May to fill our dugouts thankfully. Atleast we don’t have to haul water to cattle in the pasture this summer
I can sympathize with you on the drought,, here in NE Arkansas, the drought has been brutal all summer. We did receive some rain had 10 days ago, but the grass is slow to recover. I'm a cotton farmer with irrigation wells, and can get through a drought, but it's terribly expensive. Hopefully the rain will return soon, and give ya'll some relief. Keep up the video's, I always enjoy them!
Thanks Dwight, I feel for you as well. Pumping water is terribly expensive! Hunker down!
Love your content, keep it coming
Praying for rain in north central Texas as well. We got about 1/2 inch in the last 30 days and that has helped us tremendously. However many of my neighbors are already feeding hay and selling cows. Our pasture rotation program has made all the difference for us. Giving the grass time to rest and regrow with that little bit of rain and allowing it to stay thick and cover the ground has kept us green. I am concerned about how it will look after our last grazing pass this summer. Praying for rain to see us through.
As my dad always said, “we are one day closer to a rain!” Keep the faith!
I'm so heartbroken for the Texans hold on long as you can prayers are powerful this will break by Sept I'm praying for you all
Emory and Athens had long lines because they were closed for 3 sales around 4th of July.
My source that sells cattle at Emory says they didn’t have a sale the 2nd and 5th. He’s not sure about Athens but doubts they missed any sale days cause theirs is on fridays. Regardless, it’s dry dry dry and water is in short supply as is grass. Tough year.
Hopefully we'll get something our neighbor had a small grass fire already
I sure hope you do too!
In any moment rain there where you are in Texas.
Here in Sonora México are airplanes making travels to make rain and it is working because second year in a row good rain for the pasture which born with rain..
With one good rain you'll be out of that issue.. it is better try to make rain with airplanes it is hughe Texas
Rain will come 🙏🏼🙏🏼
When you get into years of hard drought like in Australia.....then you will be cutting down you forest trees to feed them....crazy weather....
That doesn’t sound good at all.
West Auction:
Market Analysis for sale of 08/11/2022:
Packer cows and bulls - steady to $2 higher. Pairs and Bred cows - steady. #1 stocker steers and heifers - $2 to $5 higher. #1 feeder steers and heifers - $2 to $5 higher. Pricing higher
Thanks for information. You experiece is really good. I live Panamá ...
One day I will visit!!
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher yes
How much acres your ranch ? Only You work ?
Bummer there aint any good places to work either. gloom despair and agony on me😭
Deep dark depression, excessive misery. 😂
My goats are dry lotted here in what was an east texas thicket. Even briar are drying up and dying
The next crisis is no hay growing that will be available for winter feeding. Can still grow it if it rains this Fall, but if not, major jam.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher I pray the Lord make known the way for His people to get through this time. If it be His will.
Have you developed thru mop grazing establishing organic humus? Each inch per acre will retain 25,000 gallons and if you had 12 inches thus storing 300,000 gal.
We are making great progress. Just takes time!
New subscriber love the info, have you done a topic on mesquite take over? We have a place north of Fredericksburg and south of Llano.
I haven’t but I will!!
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher Thanks! It’s interesting to see the difference in soil from Willow City and our other place, south of Llano. Mesquites don’t care. I don’t really want to use chemicals but the massive amount of time it would take to pluck Mesquites from the ground and their roots seems endless and expensive. When you do it can you talk about what you see with Sendero Herbicide or anything similar vs mechanical and best practices to clear 30-50- 100 acre plots. I look forward to the discussions!
Learning a lot! All the best
praying for rain for you
ima be honest here. If i lived in cali and texas I'd never graze that far down. with climate change id probably never graze that far down again in my lifetime. you need to check out Greg Judy grazing school. I know people want it short for horses but frankly, i'd let them graze taller and supplement then graze that far down for "perfect" equine pasture. Because you are gonna be knocked down to hay if you aren't careful. but I've never had to feed hay in the summer because we run ducks and geese sheep and goats as well as horses and cattle. you got some pretty cattle though :) great channel. Oh we also feed seaweed. in an emergency because of fire reasons.
I'd say i'd never graze that low if it could be avoided for any of the southwest come to think about it.
the reason why i wouldn't graze that fair down in cali or texas if I could avoid it. it cooks the ground. Normally when I take over land that's beaten up (not like yours .. your looks pretty nice). I always run the ducks and geese then I put some small woodchips and leaves down. For 4 years in a row to recover the pasture. Let it grow high and take horses that are a bit too fat. let them high graze to help em lose weight. The goose or ducks prefer goose because they are very good with grass and forbs. Then I run sheep or goats, or rabbits. to finish it off. Then I let it grow tall again so it gets those seed heads and brings in either horses (are really good for planting seeds through manure) or cattle. Then ducks again or goose, then skip building the warm season seed bank. Let the horses come back in eat tall. It could really bring back that pasture. Because you got so much pasture exposed to that baking cali/texas heat which can wreck your pasture even outside of drought. It really makes me sad that the program for free leaves is scaled back in cali with everyone pulling down trees. Because they'd pay you to take it lol. You can also use cardboard but it must be soaked and mix chopped really small.
you mix the cardboard with leaves and woodchips.
be careful not to let it dry you can also mix it with compost. leaf, woodchip, and cardboard. in some places they pay you to take the cardboard and if you have a paved drive near the city for drop off. You can get the arborist to drop woodchip for free. (make sure you have lighting for the truck so they are regular)
Great insight! Thanks!
How are things in Texas? We would like an update sometime. Thanks.
Got our first rain Monday. Was getting really bad. Will try and update this weekend. Thanks for asking!
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher Things were dry here in Michigan too, though not as bad as Texas. We rolled 140 bales of first cutting off a 25 acre field but only got 20 second cutting bales. No fun. Good luck!
Have you gotten any rain in your area of Texas as yet
Not a drop. Hopeful for some within the next week but we are in bad bad shape currently.
is there not a way to get most of the water into tanks and the tanks into buildings to prevent evaporation? put the tanks on automatic time release into troughs or something. one would think whatever time/energy/expense one would incur would more than pay for itself in the prevention of evaporation and that water that didn't evaporate but instead went into the bellys of farm animals/crops. also building some sort of makeshift greenhouses at strategic locations and the water that would have evaporated could also be used for them.
I supposed there’s a way but one good rain and they will be full.
That sounds like a very expensive bit of irrigation and engineering, both to build and then maintain. As it is it looks like he has some wells or connections where the livestock can drink from.
Do you have an example of where what you are talking about has been done?
Too bad you can't summer a couple hundred thousand head up here in the northeast. Our winters can be rather unpleasant though.
Wish we could make that happen!!
Margins on beef for ranchers are already basically 0%. Shipping an animal anywhere but the abbatoir or, sadly, the sale barn, would be tough to justify.
@@movinon1242 I agree with you on the economics of such a move. Too bad just the same. We have former farm land around here going back to the wild and grass up to our armpits. I would guess we could easily support thousands of grazing animals.
@Cliff Honnas Regenerative Rancher & Equine Surgeon What part of Tejas do you reside fren? Looks like Gonzales area
I’m about 15 minutes North of Bryan, Texas.
Your doing a good job with what you have to work with. What is the hay situation in your area?
The hay situation is dire. Good hay almost non existent because none growing. They are baling Milo stubble, corn stalks and rice straw. Milo stubble in our area is $100 a roll. Not sure what the other will sell for.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher Wow! And like you mentioned in the video, transportation cost are too high to bring in hay. Our fields here in my area in north Alabama are very dry also. A field that usually yields in the 50's on a second cutting made 14 rolls and my county is a D0 on the U.S. Drought Monitor map. Most of Texas is D3 and D4. Hang in there Sir and keep us updated
Will do!!
Wouldn’t molasses make them thirsty
Yes, it does, but they have plenty of water available.
The father of weaponized weather Ben Livingston
Frightening to say the least.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher they're definitely manipulating the weather if they wanted it to rain they could do cloud seeding to stop the drought
Why “they” want to wreck the country, I’ll never understand, but it definitely appears that way.
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher I believe they want us to be like North Korea Klaus Schwab says we will own nothing and be happy 😏
Belton, Tx is on fire!
Oh no!
Hi
How are you
You from
I’m fine, and you?
Hi
Howdy
2022 hasn't happened yet!
When do you think it will happen?
how many head did you have on the 38 acres for 30 day?
50 cows and around 30 calves
@@cliffhonnasregenerativerancher that pasture held up well. We are extremely dry here in southern Missouri too. Hope we all get some rain.
How many head do you run on the 38 acres?
50 cows and currently about 30 calves. I rotationally graze them through 5 to 10 acre paddocks.
Your running 50 cows and 30 calves on 38 acres??
That’s just one pasture. I thought you were just inquiring about the 38 acres. The total land I run them on is 163 acres and I rotate them through in 5 to 10 acre paddocks.
How about using ping pong balls or something similar to reduce evaporation?
I think there's a reservoir in CA? using that technique...
Not very regenerative...
I’ve seen that done in California. Probably effective but expensive to do and tough work to clean up when no longer needed, plus not regenerative at all.
My pond still has water...everyone else's around me in Ferris, Texas has dried up...only difference is i have duckweed growing in mine...shades the water and seals the water from evaporation. FSA, USDA and NCRS a bit clueless about the wonders of duckweed to maintain ponds and lakes.
That’s awesome! Good for you!
I don’t think anyone here got this joke, considering lake Powell hahahaha