Farm & Ranch
B-E-E-ING A Beekeeper – Celebrating the triumphs and understanding the trials
By Jessica Crabtree
Raising honeybees, like anything else, will present you with trials and triumphs, things that will fail while other parts will flourish. Now that we have established your needs as a new beekeeper and goals in the first year, we now discuss the things that can go wrong, why and how to fix it, as well as why things are going so well. For this we consult fellow beekeeper and Red River Beekeepers Association president, Kerry Roach.
Challenges
Roach described honeybees as being “delicate creatures.” If the colony is strong, as a colony of many bees, they are a unit. However, the individual bee is very susceptible to an array of frailties. That, in and of itself, is the challenge and what causes bees to die. Roach explained the challenge for the beekeeper is to minimize the adverse effects in nature. Contrary to popular belief, honeybees can freeze, drowned and fall victim to the natural effects of weather. When the elements strike, Roach said, “They [honeybees] have to fly and come back, and figure out where their hive is, where their place of safety is.”
Additional dangers to the tiny creatures are wind, rain and flooding. Of course, like anything else, these insects are not without predators. “Honeybees are very tasty and palatable to birds, animals such as bears and skunks, which are all natural predators,” Roach described. Other predators include spiders, “Honeybees must watch for spider webs. Webs simply offer another natural danger.” One of a beekeeper’s largest challenges is minimizing those natural dangers as much as possible. Naturally, honeybees live between six and eight weeks. However, the worker bees literally work themselves to death.
Beekeepers in our state possess their own beekeeping challenges. That comes in the form of Texas’ unpredictable weather. “In Texas, our main issue is heat in the summer. A beekeeper here must give proper ventilation to a hive. They can’t just keep the box closed up. The hive needs air to circulate through it,” Roach shared. This can be done by offsetting the hive boxes to create a space for air to circulate.
To read more pick up a copy of the October 2017 NTFR issue. To subscribe call 940-872-5922.
By Barry Whitworth, DVM, MPH
With the prolonged drought, most pastures in Oklahoma end up in poor condition. With the lack of available forage, animals may go in search of alternative foods.
If oak trees are in the pastures, acorns may be a favorite meal for some livestock in the fall. This may result in oak poisoning.
Oak leaves, twigs, buds, and acorns may be toxic to some animals when consumed.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By: Tony Dean
There are a handful of grasses on North Texas grazing lands ranchers need to know, not because they are highly desirable, but rather because they are not of much value. I call them “decom” plants, which is am acronym for “Don’t Ever Count On Me.” Silver bluestem is a “decom” grass.
Silver bluestem is a perennial which grows in all areas of Texas. It can survive in almost all soil types, and in full sun conditions or in semi shade. It grows up to three feet tall and is easily recognized with the presence of the white fuzzy seed head. Also, one of the identifying characteristics of Silver bluestem is a bend in the stems at each node, causing the plants to take on a rounded shape as they mature.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By: Rayford Pullen
Fall is here which means winter is closing in on us and before we officially get into winter, we need to make sure our factories are either producing or will be producing in a few months.
We have been pregnancy testing our cows this fall and if they are not bred or nursing a calf, we are bidding them adios. With annual costs somewhere between $900.00 and $1,000.00 per cow, those cows not producing a live weaned calf are costing us quite a bit.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
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