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When a City Girl Goes Country
By Annette Bridges
I hope it doesn’t take you 40 years to become comfortable with your life.
It was the summer of 1980 when I was first introduced to the strange new world of cattle ranching. If you’ve been reading my columns then you know how foreign my new home felt to this city girl once upon a time. I felt uncomfortable, inadequate and unprepared. I was too shy and intimidated to admit my feelings to my husband or his parents who were my next-door neighbors on the cattle ranch we shared.
So what did this young city girl do? She stayed in her house and tried to do her best at making her new residence feel like home. She learned to cook for her sweet country boy who loved to eat.
She was ready to help anytime she was asked. But she was terrified to offer her help because of her uncertainties about her abilities to do the job anyone expected of her. To be very honest with y’all, I would say she quickly desired motherhood so she had someone to spend her lonely days with indoors. She believed she could be a good mamma and longed to feel proficient at something!
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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