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Assignment: Texas with Russell A. Graves – Sierra Madera
By Russell Graves
The sight must have been a spectacular one. While estimates vary, sometime around 100 million years ago, the skies above what would later become the dry desert grasslands between Fort Stockton and Marathon, Texas, glowed in a brilliant light. Some scientist say that it was a comet while others say it might have been a meteor, but either way, something big slammed into the earth and created an enormous scar on the landscape. Estimates say the object was as big as a football field. Considering the size of the blemish on the earth, it is remarkable that an object so small can create a scar so enormous—a scar so big most don’t even know it’s there.
Somewhere south of Fort Stockton on US Highway 385, a mountain peak rises curiously from the desert landscape. Detached from the Glass Mountains further south, the singular peak stands juxtaposed in the surrounding landscape of scrub mesquite and a ring of smaller foothills around the periphery. Between the hills and the peak is a big, flat plain of mesquite and creosote bush. In all, the astrobleme is enormous at about eight miles across.
To read more pick up the January 2015 issue of North Texas Farm & Ranch.
One of my professors out at Texas Tech University always told us that we aren’t just raising cattle, we’re raising grass, because without grass there is no cattle business. The same applies to most livestock species and crops we seek to raise- without good land management, no good yield can grow.
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 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.
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