I sure hope the drought ends soon!

Was wondering when you'd begin "blogging" again...good to see you back

I'd almost "swear" that I could see a pile of snow wayyy in the background of that first pic. though

That would be the lime pile that will eventually get spread on the pasture

I'm so sorry. I hope you get some rain soon. It has to rain eventually.

Karen

Wow...now that's drought damage!

Ya'll are really at the mercy of Ma Nature, and Ma must be moaning about it all, too. No fair.

We've had some serious droughts here over the years but mostly affecting grass and gardens, very few trees were affected like at ya'lls place.

I feel for ya.
Hang in there...it'll change.

Shoe

Oh that is so sad

Hoping and praying y'all get rain real SOON!

Wow! My heart goes out to you all in Texas. What a rough, rough year it has been. And I complain about my two months of little rainfall. I will now be quiet.

I started counting dead/dying trees one day, and I quit when I hit 20, and that's just those I could see from where I was standing!

In the interest of full disclosure, we did quit watering the grass near the beginning, so that's why it looks the same as the pasture, which of course doesn't get water. We're on a well, but even so, comparing the electric use of the well from last year to this year- it quadrupled!

Also, I didn't take pictures of the creek, which is completely dry.

We keep saying that, Shoe. It will change eventually!

I just read this article about your drought.

http://news.yahoo.com/no-hurri...

Sounds very familiar here at home. Obviously, we're just a family farm so, our numbers are different, but the effects are just as real.

Anticipating a bad hay year, we sold off our entire beef herd last fall. I sooooo hated to do that, but as Dave has pointed out several times this year, it was the right thing to do, as we were only able to pull off a small amount of rye for hay. Daisy and Frank have done pretty good, although we're feeding hay and corn stalks (which they LOVE, and we might as well since we certainly weren't going to get corn). I don't know how much he spent, but we estimate that our neighbor is in at least $5,000 already in hay. The bales are small, and not high quality.

Based on that article, I'm anxious to at least get back in with a couple of beef-ers.

The fires have been horrible. I really feel for all of those who have lost so much.

I was sad seeing all the dead plants. My small area looks just as bad. I have three plants that survived the heat.

Trish - we have seen semi loads of Large square bales heading down south to you guys! Also we have seen large and small herds from Tx etc..being bought by farmers/ranchers up here! So sad to see that happen to you!

We have about 10 head of beef cattle right now... we sold off earlier this Spring and the DH bought 2 then 3 then 5 -- cant take the cow out of the cowboy!

Christine- a lot is being said around TX about the selling off of herds and how that will affect things in the future- not just for Texans, but for the price of beef as well.

Cowboy(girl) is in the blood, I'm pretty sure

I just found your blog today Trish, I am so sorry that your trees and most everything else is dead or dying on your farm. I feel very sad for you and the rest of the people that are suffering through that terrible drought.

Thanks, Margaret. I no longer allow the children to play in our woods (we have 90 acs). When a nice wind comes, huge branches fall, and it is quite dangerous. Last week a "branch" the size of a school bus fell very very close to where the children have their favorite play spot.

Things are looking a bit better since this post. We've had an inch of rain since then, and 2 weeks ago the night time temps cooled down. We're still in the mid nineties, but the nights get down to the 50s now. That has helped a whole lot!!

Our fall farmers market was canceled- the farmers just don't have anything to sell. Where we would normally have the beginnings of a fall crop right now, we're just now feeling brave enough to plant brassicas in the ground.

Wow, talk about devastation. How horrible! I know my mom in the SE NM mountains had a rough year and her acreage looks like yours on where she didn't water.. even all her cacti died too. No snow all winter, no rain until this September.. bad bad bad. Let's hope for a nice wet winter for you.. that'll help! A slow steady drizzle for a couple of weeks, not flash floods or anything. And I thought I'd had it bad here in the Denver metro w/only like 10.5" of rain for the year.. we usually get 4x that just in snow!

What gets my goat and strangles it is the price of beef. You'd think that with all the farmers such as yourself selling off your herds because of the lack of rainfall/feed that beef would go down. No such luck.. the cheapest hamburger in my area is still going for $2.89/lb (73%). What gives? That's why beef is a rare treat in my household.. steaks are too expensive!

Toni- I predict that the price of beef is going to get much higher. Ranchers aren't just selling off some of their herds- they are dumping their whole program. Ranchers from all over the US are coming to TX to buy whole herds, and it will hurt our economy badly. While the price per head right now is low, the cost to feed is extremely high. To buy the cow on the hoof may be cheep, but the cost per pound at the market will not be the same story. The cow that we are growing for our own beef: he'll cost easily quadruple to grow out than he would have on a normal year.

I know nothing of farming. But from my perspective the worst thing about it would be relying on Mother Nature to be in a good mood and provide decent rainfall, temperatures. Most of the time Ma Nature is good to us, but it's just not something we can count on all the time.

Karen

Trish - guess that's why we are dropping beef from our diet almost 100%. It's not that I have anything against eating beef.. I love beef. A good ribeye on the grill.. *drool* But when they're on sale for $9.99/lb.. wth? Can't afford that.. not when I can buy 2 chickens for that price.

I understand- that's why we grow our own!