East Texas Ag News: Rescheduled cattlemen’s seminar to cover bull breeding, beef industry outlook, ‘cow economics’
NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - An annual program for cattle producers in East Texas was cancelled in May due to wet weather and rescheduled for this coming Friday.
The “Pineywoods Cow Congress” was postponed due to the rainfall creating wet conditions at the host ranch. This coming Friday, June 21, Sunnyhill Ranch, the guest speakers, vendors, and AgriLife Extension organizers will again try to hold this seminar.
An abundance of rainfall is rarely unappreciated. It is the timing of the rainfall that has frustrated many hay producers in the region. The expression, “make hay while the sun shines” is incredibly important as hay needs to cure (dry out) so that it can be wrapped into bales and stored for later consumption by livestock. The frequency and abundance of rain for the past several weeks has delayed much of the hay production in the region.
Additionally, the excessively wet soils have hampered field operations. Wet soils don’t hold up well under heavy tractors or fertilizer trucks. It was ultimately the excessively wet ground that cancelled last months meeting. While the host ranch has a great entrance driveway and parking for their family and farm equipment, the arrival of many more trucks would have created deep ruts in the pasture as well as possibly getting folks stuck.
Yet with a decent chance of rain still in the forecast this upcoming week, area County Extension Agents are pressing on with the hope that we can hold the program this coming Friday, June 21.
Dubbed the Pineywoods Cattle Congress, the day long program will be at the Sunnyhill Ranch from 8:00 am until 3:00 p.m. at 7611 State Highway 94, Lufkin, Tx. This ranch that was started in the 1950′s by Bill Pate is located west of Lufkin between Hudson High School and the Neches River on the south side of Hwy 94.
Topics for the day include breeding soundness of bulls, bull selection, economic outlook for the beef industry, the “Economics of a Cow”, and weed control of grassy weeds by using a ‘wick’ applicator.
Guest speakers include Dr. David Anderson, Professor and Extension Economist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service; Lane Dunn, Shelby County Extension Agent for agriculture; and local veterinarian, Dr. Bradley Clary.
The last session of the day will focus on the reduction of weedy grasses that plague many pastures in the area. The group will learn about the successful efforts by the host Pete Johson in his work to control Vaseygrass and Smutgrass . Both grasses are of little to no value for beef production, can be quite invasive, and have proven difficult to control. Johnson has utilized a “wick applicator” that wipes herbicide onto the taller vegetation and does not affect the preferred grasses that have are favored and have been grazed down shorter by cattle.
Sponsors for the field day are Heritage Land Bank, Jarvis Farm Equipment, and GrassWorks. Farm equipment will be on display and will provide demonstrations in the afternoon for those that are interested.
Individuals with Pesticide Applicator licenses with the Texas Department of Agriculture will receive one CEU towards their pesticide license.
Early registration is requested by Tuesday, June 18. Participants are requested to provide the courtesy call to the Angelina County extension office at 936-634-6414 x 0, to help plan for the program and the lunch meal.
The Pineywoods Cattle Congress, it is a non-profit, non-political, educational event organized by Extension offices in Angelina, Nacogdoches, Panola, Sabine, San Augustine and Shelby Counties.
For more information contact me at 936-634-6414 x 2.
Cary Sims is the County Extension Agent for agriculture and natural resources for Angelina County. His email address is cw-sims@tamu.edu .
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