Hate havin to do it...

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

But there wasn't much choice left. Yes we've gotten a little rain in the last week or so, but to save ourselves we decided to go ahead and dump all the calves, and a few cows. So this mornin before the sun was up, we were out there gettin started. We hauled 4 trailer loads to the sale barn. All total we hauled 82 head before 10:30 this mornin.

Bringin em in....

Headin into the corrals...

A few of the calves as they were headin to the loadin gate...

He's put in his full day's work.....time to rest...

Won't be seein this face around here no more....

Mismatched rowels.....

Fixin to unload some at the salebarn....

Glad it's all done, but hate to do it this early in the year.......now.....come on rain!!!!

 

[Soapweed]

Sorry it is so dry down in Texas. A drought sure flubs up normal ranching plans. Thanks for the photos. I especially like the black and white "heading into the corrals" scene.

 

[little bow rancher]

well it must have been tough ,there's alot of people up here going to do the same thing , we've had alot of calls for hay , dam I hate dry years

 

[Nicky]

Bummer Lilly, hope you get good prices for them.

 

[bverellen]

It's a bit drier here also, last week we turned ours out into our Southern Pasture that typically has standing water on it this time of year.

No standing water but lots of grass, we may be able to get thru the winter without feeding hay again.

bart.

<><

 

[Shortgrass]

Darn! Droughts are bad. You made a good choice. The drys will take a lot less feed, and you saved the "factory" so that you have something next year. Will pray for rain down that way. I really appreciated Soapweed's post where he once said that he prays for rain, then for patience until it does rain, and then for widsom to make good choices if it don't rain. I thought that was worth remembering. Hate to see it come to that point.

 

[Trinity man]

I guess I will see you there today. Those poor old cows will have a long day standing in the heat before they are sold. I just can't figure out why they do that and sell the cows last. Then they can't figure out why they go down coming to the sale ring and burn them up with the hot shots to make them go. :roll:

 

[alabama]

Ms. Lilly: When do y'all calve? Down south with warm winters and planting some winter grazing I have better lucl with fall calving. That way I don't have heavy feed demands in middle and late summer when we get that hot dry weather. In the few years with plenty of rain you can cut hay off the pasture in late fall or bushhog. Having the calves weaned in late summer it also gives the cows a chance to recover before calving in September.
Also the lush spring grass sure gets those calves growing good before selling. It may take feeding "good" hay and a little extra hay but I think it pays off in weaning weights.
I start breding around Thanksgiving and turn in the bulls in Jan.

I am sorry about your bry summer I know the down feeling when all the summer pastures are brown. But in the south is seems we are feast or fammon. It either rains on all your hay or it is too dry to grow any.

 

[Mike]

Ms. Lilly: When do y'all calve? Down south with warm winters and planting some winter grazing I have better lucl with fall calving. That way I don't have heavy feed demands in middle and late summer when we get that hot dry weather. In the few years with plenty of rain you can cut hay off the pasture in late fall or bushhog. Having the calves weaned in late summer it also gives the cows a chance to recover before calving in September.
Also the lush spring grass sure gets those calves growing good before selling. It may take feeding "good" hay and a little extra hay but I think it pays off in weaning weights.
I start breding around Thanksgiving and turn in the bulls in Jan.

I am sorry about your bry summer I know the down feeling when all the summer pastures are brown. But in the south is seems we are feast or fammon. It either rains on all your hay or it is too dry to grow any.

Yea, but you have to feed those cows during winter with a calf sucking them. That gets expensive.

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

I guess I will see you there today. Those poor old cows will have a long day standing in the heat before they are sold. I just can't figure out why they do that and sell the cows last. Then they can't figure out why they go down coming to the sale ring and burn them up with the hot shots to make them go. :roll:

Nope...sure would like to meet ya, but I won't have the pleasure of spendin the day at the sale barn like I'd like to. Lil Lilly has a barre race today. So she's out gatherin horses now, and soon as she gets em in the trailer we'll be headin to New Caney.

Thanks everyone for your kind words. But such is life raisin critters. It happens to us all at one point or another. Sucks when it does. But we will prevail and keep right on keepin on.

 

[Denny]

Tough deal for sure if it got that bad here we have lots of county,state and potlatch land thats full of swamps trees and grass. I know my cow's would be running wild in those conditions..

 

[HAY MAKER]

I guess I will see you there today. Those poor old cows will have a long day standing in the heat before they are sold. I just can't figure out why they do that and sell the cows last. Then they can't figure out why they go down coming to the sale ring and burn them up with the hot shots to make them go. :roll:

Nope...sure would like to meet ya, but I won't have the pleasure of spendin the day at the sale barn like I'd like to. Lil Lilly has a barre race today. So she's out gatherin horses now, and soon as she gets em in the trailer we'll be headin to New Caney.

Thanks everyone for your kind words. But such is life raisin critters. It happens to us all at one point or another. Sucks when it does. But we will prevail and keep right on keepin on.

I guess I dont ever remember east Texas that dry,its kinda expected south,but I bet someone in your operation made a wise decision,this could get worse before it gets better,sale barns around here are running at capacity.........hope you get a fair price for your cows.
good luck

 

[Workinonit]

Similar to what others have stated, its too bad that you are in that bad spot to have to make those decisions, but it is for the best. Cows will dry off sooner needing to consume less and perhaps putting a little less 'stress' on the grazing land.

I too hope you get a decent price for those calves.

Good luck with the barrel racing.

K

 

[allen57]

Hey, you look pretty green compaired to us. But we have greened up too since the rain. We are now back in burn down mode. I guess what we did get bought a couple weeks and kept alive what hasn't already died.

 

[Trinity man]

Hey I just got in from Navasota and boy did they have the cattle 3575 hd and was still getting some cattle in when I left. Jersey I hope your calves sold like you hope they would. I think I seen some of your calves from the pictures you posted. If it was they did pretty good. Here is some of the top number I remember from the steers:

200-132
300-130
400-121
500-105
600-99
700-95
800-85

And the best replacement heifer I seen sale in a long time was a Reg. gray Brahman 515 lbs for 185.00 lb and Brahman crosses 300 to 400 125.00-127.00 lb

Jersey if you want me to I will post the market report from Navasota Sunday when I get done with it so you can see how your calves did.

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

That's alot of cattle!!! Not the numbers that we'd heard, but still wayyyy up from normal numbers.

Hubby just left makin a parts run. I sure hope he remembers to stop by and pick up our check lol I can't get him to answer his phone

You can post results.....that'd be great. I appreciate it. LOL I have a hard time catchin ours when they go thru unless they have some distinguishin mark. Yesterday was also the first time I've gone into the building since they had the fire in the kitchen. Now there's no kitchen!!! What are all those buyers gonna do that hafta sit there all day long and into the night???? Starve

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Ms. Lilly: When do y'all calve? Down south with warm winters and planting some winter grazing I have better lucl with fall calving. That way I don't have heavy feed demands in middle and late summer when we get that hot dry weather. In the few years with plenty of rain you can cut hay off the pasture in late fall or bushhog. Having the calves weaned in late summer it also gives the cows a chance to recover before calving in September.
Also the lush spring grass sure gets those calves growing good before selling. It may take feeding "good" hay and a little extra hay but I think it pays off in weaning weights.
I start breding around Thanksgiving and turn in the bulls in Jan.

I am sorry about your bry summer I know the down feeling when all the summer pastures are brown. But in the south is seems we are feast or fammon. It either rains on all your hay or it is too dry to grow any.

Yea, but you have to feed those cows during winter with a calf sucking them. That gets expensive.

Yeap I agree. it's awful hard to produce enough hay as it is with these conditions. But to hafta feed extra?? Just from experience when we calved year round....just can't put up enuff hay to keep up with all the cows and calves in the winter time.

But on an up note....now that we have all the cross fences up. It will be sooo much easier now to plant some winter graze than before. We talked about that just this last week. And are makin plans to plant quite a bit in rye grass (if we get some moisture in the late fall)

 

[Trinity man]

That's alot of cattle!!! Not the numbers that we'd heard, but still wayyyy up from normal numbers.

Hubby just left makin a parts run. I sure hope he remembers to stop by and pick up our check lol I can't get him to answer his phone

You can post results.....that'd be great. I appreciate it. LOL I have a hard time catchin ours when they go thru unless they have some distinguishin mark. Yesterday was also the first time I've gone into the building since they had the fire in the kitchen. Now there's no kitchen!!! What are all those buyers gonna do that hafta sit there all day long and into the night???? Starve

THe kitchen will be moved to the green building to the left of the barn. With no chance of it burning down the barn again.

 

[allen57]

But on an up note....now that we have all the cross fences up. It will be sooo much easier now to plant some winter graze than before. We talked about that just this last week. And are makin plans to plant quite a bit in rye grass (if we get some moisture in the late fall)

Don't rule out oats. Ryegrass is good and is the backbone around here in the spring, but oats has been getting an earlier start. I've copied a neighbor that has been pasture drilling oats instead of ryegrass in late October and Early November and tried it myself last year. The ryegrass didn't survive the dry fall and winter but some of the oats did.