Horace McQueen – Hay, And More Hay—will it all be used?

Just a couple months ago, farmers were worried about their hay supplies. Now, no more! The rains made grass—and weeds—grow. With cattle numbers still short in East Texas, and the thousands of hay bales for sale, makes you wonder if there will be enough buyers to empty barns and stack lots. Anyway, making hay is one of the costliest chores on the farm. Fertilizer, weed control and baling charges can add up quickly to an investment of $50 a bale or more in that hay. And if you are buying hay, buy quality. Looking at a bale of hay tells little about the feeding quality. Some of our farmers who have hay for sale will have results of a hay quality test for buyers. It’s comparable to buying cattle cubes at the feed store. The low protein, low energy cubes are priced a lot lower than the “good” cubes testing 20% protein, and full of feeding value. Saving a dollar on cheap, poor quality hay costs cattlemen lots of extra dollars that could be saved.

Several hay shows are coming up in our area. For grass farmers who want to know the quality of hay they are producing, entering some samples in the local hay show solves the problem. County Extension agents and farm supply stores have updates on hay shows when and where.

Losses of pond and lake waters to evaporation can deplete the supply quickly. Dr. Kevin Wagner at Texas A & M says the evaporation rate in East Texas is 2-inches in January and 5.5 to 7.7 inches in the heat of summer. In West Texas, evaporation loss is nearly 12-inches a month in July and August. Wagner says our East and Central Texas lakes and ponds are doing well—mostly full up. But in the San Angelo area, he says some major reservoirs are only at 15-20% of capacity—and that could spell trouble for towns and cities in that region in coming months.

At Ole Miss, their “Pride of the South” band is a longtime favorite of many folks. Their rendition of “Dixie” was great—and admired by millions. But, no more! The “politically correct” University leaders got their way! Reason, they said, was that “Dixie” was associated with the South—and slavery. “The Ole Miss band has to regroup and create a new and modern pregame show that does not include Dixie and is more inclusive for all fans,” according to University higher-ups.

Then, on the upcoming election front, President Obama continues to spout his racist and inflammatory rhetoric. Latest was this diatribe: “I will consider it a

personal insult, and insult to my legacy, if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election”. Obama called for voters to support Hillary Clinton. I figure come November, millions of voters will cast their vote for a candidate other than Hillary—and if that is a “personal insult” to Obama, so be it! That’s –30—[email protected].