I’ll Have to Use My Words
With a camera on the blink, and no photos being taken I realize just how much I rely on photos for this blog. Photos save you all from the blah, blah, blah. Not much changes here anyway, calves are due any day, the weather has finally gotten back to normal (wet – big sigh), grass is finally growing at an acceptable rate, etc., etc.
These photos were taken about two weeks ago, as you can see the grass is growing pretty slowly due to our dry late winter and spring. The sun was welcome for the garden and soil working, but not for the grass. It was starting to look like late July here soil-wise. Conversations with other farmers confirmed the same. Berry farmers irrigating in early May, grain growers wishing for a drenching rain to give their newly seeded crops a boost.
In my pastures seeing seed heads so early in May was worrisome.
The seed heads were signaling stress from the lack of rain.
I am so glad we finally are receiving the rain we sorely needed. Now we wait – for calves and for growing grass.
i am glad you got some rain. i live in the east and we are starting off really dry too. way too dry for this time of the year. it is actually raining right now but we are about to be in the 90’s for days which will dry everything up fast!
The last photo of cow & dog is worthy of framing–so natural & spontaneous. Love your blog.
I too love that last photo of the two pasture pals!! 🙂
Dang! Glad to hear from you,,, I thought you had gone down the wooded path to the other pasture and been eaten by the mountain lions!! I’m not kidding… so glad to hear you are not lion poop though I know you would be thrilled to be contributing to the growing cycle of the pasture…. love ya girl!
Love your Hereford pics – thanks for sharing. We suffered through two consecutive years of drought here in NE Texas, requiring us to severely reduce our permanent herd to ease the stocking rate of the drought-parched pasture. We’re still a little behind in our moisture for 2013 but at least we get a little shower here and there to keep a little sub-soil moisture in preparation for the harsh summer months. Praying for more rain!
~Taylor-Made Ranch~
Wolfe City, Texas
We have had nearly two feet of rain in the last 45 days. I have seed heads everywhere…not to mention alfalfa weevil…not to mention water in the basement. I need a break in the rain to get that first cutting of hay in. 1/2 inch on Sunday, 1 inch Monday, another half today, forecast is calling for 3 more inches before the weekend is out…Whew! Cows are trampling a lot of forage in and we’re moving fast to aviod pugging. Here’s hoping for a fast recovery.
Oh my gosh North Central Missouri is drowning! Grass is lush and green and the good news the drought is over for us…. temporarily atleast : ) Bad news is that everything is flooded roads, bridges, my gardens, Oh MY… Tornado watch as I type this 3 inch hail predicted tonight and more rain predicted for the rest of the week. Wonder when that lush beautiful hay will get cut? Hugs from Hickery Holler
Canned Quilter, hang on tight my dear.
Our usual post ice-age dry spell has also been dissipated by a few wet days. How come though that the wet days are always on days I have time on my hands and the dry days when I could be out in the garden are spent doing other stuff! Can’t win just lately. Your grass does look nice and green though and not suffering from the infestations of weeds our does – it’s getting better though
I was noticing here in the southern Willamette Valley that they are already cutting hay — seems a couple months early to me. The fields are only about 2 feet high but seed heads are full developed.
However, I have to say, after a trip to southern California last weekend that it still looks lush and green here in Oregon. I couldn’t believe the almost dust-bowl conditions throughout central Cali. I remember those areas burgeoning with cotton, almonds, kiwis, peaches and so much more when I was a kid. It’s all due to water wars; I don’t know the answer but there has to be a better solution than what is going on.