NEWS FLASH: Drought ends at Ponderosa

M. R. Byrd said:
Bad news to report on the rain dance. I am absolutely desperate and had an old timer tell me to dance naked around a prickly pear, five times to the right, five times to the left. I know that no one can see me, so what the heck. I was doing a respectable job, when I went to turn to the left, wrenched my back, lost my balance, fell backwards onto the prickly pear, filled my left butt cheek with twenty-three spines, trip to the ER and 746 dollars later I was leaving. All the laughs from the ER staff, plus everyone else on staff that had to come to see, priceless for them. Daily trips to the chiroprator for the wrenched lower back and he even thinks it to be amusing.

I did have a pretty good proposal from a good looking nurse to take over my dancing, but how would that look in a small community if the word got out that Maynard had naked dancing girls up in the canyons.

Any other bright ideas?
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Who was that Old Timer, ME ?
 
Been quite a yo-yo year at the Ponderosa. 7 and a half months with no rain or snow, then nice spring moisture rebound and moderate temps, now brutal heat and dry and no rain in sight. The early rains created a jungle in my waste areas with weeds as tall as my tractor cab. My pastures remained green much longer than usual, but now are fragile under foot. No idea what the wildlife is doing. The quail that had been calling around the farmstead are absent. My wife did see one nice turkey hatch, but that is it. There are two hen turkey hanging around the farmstead so they aren't raising any young this year. With all the cover it is hard to evaluate what is happening with the critters.

There is quite a mix of crop conditions here in this area. Milo and dryland corn that went in timely and of a shorter maturity are looking really good, but starting to stress now. I did make a trip across to eastern Kansas along Highway 50. Crops in Reno, Harvey, Lyon were looking poor. Some corn fields had already been harvested or cut for silage. Lots of combines in the fields harvesting corn. Bean fields were suffering. Didn't have a chance to talk to any farmers as to yields on the corn.

I sure cannot get a handle what hunting will be like this fall, but I have yet to see anything to offer any encouragement, but as an optimist, I am hopeful.
 
Nice 4" of snow on the ground this morning. Loving it.
Monday is looking bad at the moment. Snow chances and possible 60mph winds. Will see what really happens. Another chance of snow next Friday.
 
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.35 in the gauge I would have guessed 3 inches of snow. Looks like more on the way for Monday. I would have thought the drought monitor would have moved in a better direction with all the moisture. Makes me wonder if those experts determining the drought map might have a lot of cattle.
 
westksbowhunter said:
.35 in the gauge I would have guessed 3 inches of snow. Looks like more on the way for Monday. I would have thought the drought monitor would have moved in a better direction with all the moisture. Makes me wonder if those experts determining the drought map might have a lot of cattle.
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My guess is they are teachers.
 
westksbowhunter said:
.35 in the gauge I would have guessed 3 inches of snow. Looks like more on the way for Monday. I would have thought the drought monitor would have moved in a better direction with all the moisture. Makes me wonder if those experts determining the drought map might have a lot of cattle.
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I'm not sure they even care about the monitors or even being "approved" to graze or bale crp. They just do it. When you have zero consequences who gives a rip. It's a great model for them, get paid to let your reserve grass grow, have twice the stocking rate you should, then you when you run out of your pasture that you know you will, good ole crp is out there to save the day. And in the event the stars align and they have enough feed there is still a feeder down the road with too many cattle that will sure buy it from you
 
Haven't pulled the gauge yet, but I'm guessing 5-8 inches. Not good for the birds! Have 4 foot drifts on the lee side of some fairly small crop fields I passed. Sure hate that this is going to be followed by low, low temps!
 
Prairie Drifter said:
Haven't pulled the gauge yet, but I'm guessing 5-8 inches. Not good for the birds! Have 4 foot drifts on the lee side of some fairly small crop fields I passed. Sure hate that this is going to be followed by low, low temps!
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I never thought 5-8 inches would hurt the birds at all. If so there would not be a bird in the Dakota's and Iowa. Saw a couple of roosters out and about this morning behind the house. But with a lack of habitat and a cold winter some loss will happen. -10 for Sunday night. Where my daughter lives on the Minnesota border, they go weeks without making it above zero. And the birds pull through with that thick CRP that you can't walk thru.
 
Prairie Drifter said:
Talking quail. Intense cold following snow cover can really affect these smaller birds negatively.
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That is my concern as well. The early spring rains really produced a jungle in my waste areas. I feel the quail can find some shelter areas, but I worry that there will not be enough high calorie seeds available for them to maintain body temperature during the prolonged extreme low temperatures coming.
 
westksbowhunter said:
I never thought 5-8 inches would hurt the birds at all. If so there would not be a bird in the Dakota's and Iowa. Saw a couple of roosters out and about this morning behind the house. But with a lack of habitat and a cold winter some loss will happen. -10 for Sunday night. Where my daughter lives on the Minnesota border, they go weeks without making it above zero. And the birds pull through with that thick CRP that you can't walk thru.
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Not going to be much warmer down here! Looking close to -10 here on Sunday with snow. That’s pretty darn cold for far SEK.
 
westksbowhunter said:
I never thought 5-8 inches would hurt the birds at all. If so there would not be a bird in the Dakota's and Iowa. Saw a couple of roosters out and about this morning behind the house. But with a lack of habitat and a cold winter some loss will happen. -10 for Sunday night. Where my daughter lives on the Minnesota border, they go weeks without making it above zero. And the birds pull through with that thick CRP that you can't walk thru.
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Kocia can be a miracle worker when crp isn's available... In fact it may be better than Switchgrass or Indian grass. I agree there's less habitat but there's still good enough numbers out there to make a turn around if our government can make crp competitive again... I'm not holding my breath on that. Flushed over 100 birds two days ago out of two five acres of kocia. two counties south two days prior moved 100 birds out of a kocia draw and three year old crp. All WIHA.....
 
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