NEWS FLASH: Drought ends at Ponderosa

It continues to be brutal in the area. I was on foot in the pasture fixing fence when that big blow came in the other day. I could see it coming, but I couldn't beat it to the house. The dust and wind hit and it was so cold and black and I just followed the fence to the house. I can only imagine what the "Black Sunday" was like in the dirty thirties. A little chance of wintery mix tonight.
 
Had a little drizzle and now dense fog. That's all for now and doesn't look promising in the ten day forecast.
I made a run to Garden City yesterday. It is so extremely dry everywhere along Highway 400(50). Visibility poor with dust in the air. I pray better days will come soon.
 
This year has been devastating to the quail and pheasant numbers at the Ponderosa. It is a rare sight when any are spotted. This week I did see two lesser prairie chicken, the first sighting of the year. The whitetail deer herd looks to be in really good shape and the antler growth this year seems good, but the bad news is that there was virtually there was zero fawn recruitment . I run numerous game cameras at mineral sites and I would see doe on camera without fawns, except one fawn all spring. Coyotes are plentiful and will be thinned some this winter.
As always, every winter, I critique my habit and the success of the wildlife. I certainly have better than average habitat, but it could be better and hopefully I will have the finances and time to address it properly this winter and next spring

Oh, Rodney Road Runner, continues to bless the Ponderosa. It is always good to see him as I did today, running around the farmstead.
 
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Preliminary critique of lack of upland game bird propagation at the Ponderosa 2022

Major deficiency-
Very low insect production
Extreme drought, less than 8"
Little annual weed growth
Established plum rows had limited bloom and some death of plants
Extremely low forb production in the CRP(Maximilian sunflower, Illinois bundle flower, partridge pea, prairie clovers, alfalfa)
I contribute this to the lack of rainfall and mature grass stands where the forbs couldn't compete during this drought.

Improvements planned-
CRP Mid Contract Maintenance
Reduce thatch, by one of the following methods
1) Burn, then light disking to revive the seed bank
My preferred method, but with no help, my wife and I am no longer able to tackle that much work
2) Graze, then interseed, or light disking or nothing at all
I like this method a lot and have a couple patches adjacent to pasture that I can accomplish this
3) Bale, then light disking to revive seed bank
This is my least preferred method, but may be the only option on much of the acreage
Light strip disking in CRP that is not in mid contract maintenance

These improvement along with some snow and rain should benefit in 2023
 
Thanks Drifter. I appreciate all you do.

I wish my local FSA and NRCS was more wildlife friendly. I have tried to make plans that will benefit the wildlife and they want to do what is easy for them for them in the office(paperwork), while my plans create more work for me and more benefit for the wildlife and don't violate the contract, but it makes their paperwork just slightly more difficult and they rule. Sorry I feel that way, but it is the truth.
 
It would be nice if that quarter of an inch primed the pump, but ten day forecast doesn't look promising. I am concerned with winter kill since the roots have not gone deep.
 
Check out this map. Its the precipitation totals (rain + snow) for this past winter (Dec - Feb). The areas in green is record precipitation since 1895 and dark blue is top 5 since 1895. Quite a large swath from Central California to the Great Lakes. Considering how dry it was in the summer/fall, its pretty remarkable how the pattern shifted. All those pacific storms headed directly to the northeast.

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My Brother in law lives up above Truckee Cal. I think they had 11' ft. of snow this last week. I don't know what they are at for the season , maybe 45' or something like that?
 
Good to see the moisture in those parts of the country, but most of it is still D1 or worse... I wish Kansas would get a little more of it...
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