From the Pastures: It just did not grow

On my way home from church Sunday, I realized I have the only green 80 acres for miles around, albeit light green because in August I had 2.1 inches of rain and in September I had 1.3 inches of rain. This is half the normal rainfall over the last 30 years for those two months. Combined with 90-degree temperatures and strong winds, the ground and the crop really dried out. However, I kept pushing ahead.

I had cereal rye and purple top turnips no-till drilled into the bean stubble on Sept. 19. I got lucky and received 1 inch of rain Sept. 20-21 and could row it on Sept. 28. Then I had the wheat no-till drilled into the other field of bean stubble on Sept. 27 and could row it on Oct. 8, eight days later — lucky two times in a row. Now if they just keep growing.

Also on Sunday I noticed my pearl millet, a warm season annual, grown in hot and dry Texas, was starting to have the top leaves turn brown — maybe from lack of moisture, uh-oh!

I’m one month earlier than normal to graze my last farmette, just to give you an idea of how dry it is and how sparse the grass is. It just did not grow. This last farmette was baled the first week of June and then left to regrow. Before I started to graze it I measured it and it was only two-thirds the height of the previous year’s measurements.

My eight-way cover crop mix that was no-tilled drilled in on Aug. 4, however, is still waiting for a rain. Only the cereal rye, which is about 4 inches tall, and the oats that is sparse and mid-shin tall grew. Even the established 2-year-old red clover is only ankle tall. This was supposed to be my feed from Oct. 15 to Dec. 30 and be knee to crouch high by now. Needless to say, I’ll be feeding hay in about 30 days. However, several cattle guys in the area have been feeding hay for two to three weeks.

As I drove across the eight-way cover crop field and complained to my 17-year-old granddaughter that was sitting in the cab of my van with me, about the short forage and lack of forage, I asked her, “Why don’t I have any growth?” And as teenagers do — minus the eye roll — she gave me “that look” and said, “Well, Grandpa, you haven’t gotten any rain!” Smart kid! I had to make a joke out of it because it takes less muscle to smile than to frown.

I also called Jim Draper on Sunday and he’s out in Ketchum, Idaho, at the Trailing of the Sheep Festival. Hopefully, he got his article written and sent in. It will be fun hearing what he did and saw.