Outdoor
The Pig Explosion- Part 1
By contributing writer Russell Graves
Pulling through the gate of his northeast Texas ranch,
Garry Mills instinctively knew what his eyes were about to
tell him. Just a couple of weeks prior to our visit hundreds
of native pecan trees on his place yielded a bumper crop of
nuts this year and littered the ground with the brown and
black nuggets.
Most years the trees yield a limited harvest – just enough
for his family to pick a few and share the rest with close
friends. This year, however, the trees became heavy with nuts
and with a complimentary price spike, he thought he could
make a little extra money with the harvest.
Mills planned to pick the bounty with the help of contract
labor using pecan harvesting equipment.
Before the mechanical pickers could arrive, pickers of a
different sort beat him to the punch. Over the course of two
nights a pack of wild pigs in untold numbers swept through
his small patch of ground and ate nearly every pecan they
could find.
“The pigs really wiped me out,” he says with a bit of
expected trepidation. “I had expected to make a bit of money
off these pecans but the hogs beat me to them.”
Mills says that it’s not the first time pigs have damaged his
crops or ranch infrastructure.
To read more pick up the March 2014 issue of North Texas Farm & Ranch.
By Tony Dean, [email protected]
If moisture is adequate, there are several winter annual grasses that dominate the landscape during early spring in Texas. One of the most common is Rescuegrass.
This winter annual is native to South America but grows over much of the United States and can be found in all ecoregions of Texas. Rescuegrass is easily recognized by its flat seed head.
Numerous seed heads produce seed that is transported by animals and can quickly spread to other areas.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Norman Winter | Horticulturist, Author, Speaker
The National Garden Bureau has designated 2024 as the ‘Year of the Angelonia’ and I am in full celebration mode. As I was preparing for my contribution to the celebration, I was, however, sent into taxonomic trauma.
For the last 26 years of deep love for the Angelonia, or summer snapdragon, I have told everyone via newspaper, radio and television that they were in the Scrophulariaceae family. Since most gardeners don’t like those words, I modified or simplified the snapdragon family, but somebody has tinkered with green industry happiness and moved Angelonia to the Plantaginaceae or plantain family. I immediately reached out to my friend Dr. Allen Ownings, Horticulture Professor Emeritus with the Louisiana State University AgCenter. I said, “Did you know this, or better yet, did you do it?” He said, as I expected, that the Taxonomist group had done it. This reminded me that someone once said taxonomists have to eat, too.
To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Jelly Cocanougher
Brazen rumbles cut through the daylight stillness. Enamored by the grandiose symphony of the firmament, tinged in anticipation from where the light will snap next.
The clouds dance in the sky as a love letter to the electrically-charged synergy of the ground and air. It moves unashamed, reckless, and bold. It is raw power that could command attention for any being, a reminder that we are attuned to the primal opus of flora and fauna. The spirit of the prairie was awakened, the hands of a cowboy rests at the heart of it all, a symphony in combination.
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