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Getting Their Shot
By Phillip Kitts
Closing out a rodeo season can be nearly as traumatic as the ups and downs of running the rodeo road for months on end.
Everyone who follows the sport of rodeo hears all the year-end talk about who made their way to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, who fell short, and who will have their eyes set on the yellow bucking chutes for the next year. The fact is just like all sports, the focus is probably just where it needs to be with the athletes that become the faces of the sport.
However, let’s take a moment and discuss the inner workings of a long list of just as important people who may not compete in a traditional sense but compete just the same all year long. It is probably not common knowledge that outside of the two-legged athletes, many other athletes and individuals fight their way to the yellow chutes of Las Vegas, starting with the animal athletes. For 12 months, hundreds of animal athletes travel up and down the same roads as the cowboys and for eight seconds at a time they do the one thing they were bred to do. They buck, run, and perform to the best of their ability.
To read more, pick up a copy of the January issue of NTFR Magazine. 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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