Timing is everything...

[R Leo]

We've barely seen 2" of rain since mid July. The ponds are easily 3-4ft low and grass is dormant to the point we're feeding some hay and supplemental protein to the cowzers.

Anyway, every time the ponds get this low I always say I'm going to set some pilings out away from the full pool shoreline so that I can build a fishing pier that will be in the water when the level is higher. I finally did that on Monday...I set two big 'ol telephone poles so that I can build a dock to sit on and fish.

Fast forward to today. We've received a shade over 4" since midnight and about 7" in the last two days; the ponds have come up...significantly! The water level of the pond where I installed the poles rose almost 24" last night. The other pond is up more than three feet!

Man-oh-man am I glad I got those poles in coz there's no way to dig those holes now!!!

[LUVMBDiesels]

Way cool!

In NOLA it has rained almost every day I have been here!
I mean significant amounts too!

I hope your rain continues until you have all you need - take some from here if you need it

[tbomachines]

Haven't seen rain here in SE PA in recent memory now that I think about it...

[pawoSD]

Same thing here, we had about 17 days with 0 rain at all, then it rained like crazy for 2 days, now there is nothing in sight again for a long while.

[layback40]

We have just had the best rain in 10 years here. There are towns flooded. Before that the trees were chasing the dogs !!

[davidmash]

According to Weatherbug we have had nearly 7" this month. Most of it fell in the last 24 hrs or so.

[R Leo]

Originally Posted by Whiskeydan

Way to go Randy! Pictures?

It's been so dry here I've been filling the pond and already halfway thru my winter hay.

I should have taken some before and after pics of the pond but didn't think of it...I'll get some of the pier when we start construction.

Danno, you might think about feeding those cattle some protein supplement like cottonseed meal. It will take up the slack in crude protein that the forage is lacking and the cattle will make better use of the stemmy, lignified forage that is out there.

Any decent feed mill will have cottonseed meal. Have them mill in about 30% salt by weight and offer it free choice to your herd in a covered feeder. The salt will limit their consumption to about 2#/day. It will cost you about .50/day per head to do this and is a great way to get those cows to eat what is out there even if it's less palatable by their standards. IT ruins it if it gets wet so, if you don't have a feeder, only put out what they'll consume before it rains.

They need access to plenty of good water too.

[R Leo]

Originally Posted by davidmash

According to Weatherbug we have had nearly 7" this month. Most of it fell in the last 24 hrs or so.

Same here, 180 miles south of you. Austin got hammered last night...+10"

[R Leo]

Originally Posted by Whiskeydan

City folk.

Probably think they're feeding deer.

The dry spell was hurting us until I put out cottonseed meal. They'd just lie around all afternoon and not forage until evening and then not much because the bahia was getting stemmy and they'd wiped out all the coastal. In addition to the rest of the herd (4 replacement heifers, plus the non-breeder heifers and steers earmarked for harvest) I've got seven mommas with calf at side that were starting to lose body condition (particularly the two with the oldest calves) which is something we don't like to see heading into fall/winter with another one in the oven. With the supplement, now I see them working it over...even face down in the doveweed and ironweed to get some grass and they're starting to get back their lost BCS.

Weaning is going to be a nightmare this year. Despite my best efforts, calving managed to spread out over 3 months so I have three 5 month old calves, a 4 month and a 2 month calf...that and, there is a horse here now that spends some of her time in the weaning paddock.

[retmil46]

Yep, that was what was left of Hermimine, or what ever they called it. Center of it went right over SA, right over where I work as a matter of fact. Had some nice 40 mph wind gusts to go with it. Besides the rain, 2 good things that came of it - it slowed all the Indy 500 drivers down to a crawl, and Tuesday night Bass Pro Shop was nearly deserted when I went in to pick up some items for dove hunting.

Nothing like having a diesel 4WD Jeep when weather like that hits.