# FROM THE BEGINNING:The story of the creek



## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 4, 2018)

G'day folks, so as to provide some context to the "update of the creek".I will begin to tell the story of the restoration.But you will need to be"patient ",as the amount of time required to put this together is considerable.I will start as soon as time permits,you are welcome to ask questions at any point and I will endevour to answer them...T.O.R.


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## Latestarter (Nov 4, 2018)

watching. Take your time, Most of us here know you've got quite a bit on your plate right now.


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## animalmom (Nov 4, 2018)

I'm signed on and will be watching.


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## Baymule (Nov 4, 2018)

Me too!


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## B&B Happy goats (Nov 4, 2018)

I'm  ready


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 5, 2018)

The fact is that this is not all about the repair of our creek –line. We were in fact confronted by a set of circumstances which questioned the future of the farm and how we managed it into the future.

What is your “vision” for the future is it, Productivity, Sustainability or Profitability?

Productivity is easy “how deep are your pockets?”

Sustainability is a little harder “it seems to me to be dependent on your market, your livestock choice and the productive future of your land”.

Profitability is by its very nature the hardest to predict. There is a saying in farming” How do you make a small fortune from farming? You start with a very “large fortune”.

In 2008 in the midst of one of the worst droughts in our 200 year history we were confronted by the farm as shown in the pictures below.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 5, 2018)

In 2010 the drought broke and the same three sites were photographed again.(SHOW PIC”S)

By this time our thinking had completely changed and the restoration of the creek was well under way. So, what drove the change and how was it achieved?

We will explore these questions in the next installment of: From the beginning.


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## Latestarter (Nov 5, 2018)

Wow... quite the contrast.


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## Baymule (Nov 5, 2018)

That is a change. Waiting to see/hear more.


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## greybeard (Nov 5, 2018)

The Old Ram-Australia said:


>



I assume that is your pasture on the lower 2/3rds of the photo. Why is it brown/dead & dry but green beyond the fence?
Did a wildfire cross on the lower part of the area?


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 5, 2018)

greybeard said:


> I assume that is your pasture on the lower 2/3rds of the photo. Why is it brown/dead & dry but green beyond the fence?
> Did a wildfire cross on the lower part of the area?



G'day GB,as always you are really observant.The area above the fence is the top of this catchment ,had not been grazed for about 5 months and had had the benifiet of the odd shower.By not grazing the tops the penetration was maximized and the Native sps that actually covers the whole area responded.The lower portion had been spring grazed ,but the dry summer and hot westerly winds had "burnt " the crowns right to the ground, but this sps is amazing it responds summer or winter to rainfall as you can see from the "after" pic,This particular paddock had "not" received one once of super/nitrogen for over 30 years,which adds to the value of the plant ,the protein value of the green plant is over 15%.It spreads by both seed and underground runners.The sps is quite evident in all 3 pics...T.O.R.


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## greybeard (Nov 5, 2018)

The Old Ram-Australia said:


> Native sps


define 'SPS' regarding the context you are using it please.
(depending where one lives in the world, it can mean about 3 different things related to agriculture...A silvopastoral system is what we now call agroforestry  here)


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 5, 2018)

greybeard said:


> define 'SPS' regarding the context you are using it please.
> (depending where one lives in the world, it can mean about 3 different things related to agriculture...A silvopastoral system is what we now call agroforestry  here)



sure "species" ie Native Microlaena stipoides.Introduced species, Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata).There are many of the Native ones on our place and I can list them if you wish.


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## greybeard (Nov 6, 2018)

SPS='species' of grass or forage.
Thanks.
I have often seen species abbreviated _sp_ and subspecies or 'several species' abbreviated _spp_ but am not familiar with seeing it as sps.
I had initially looked it up and it seems SPS seems also, to be short for  Australian seed company's products _ie_  Stephen Pasture Seeds and South Pacific Seeds.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 6, 2018)

greybeard said:


> SPS='species' of grass or forage.
> Thanks.
> I have often seen species abbreviated _sp_ and subspecies or 'several species' abbreviated _spp_ but am not familiar with seeing it as sps.
> I had initially looked it up and it seems SPS seems also, to be short for  Australian seed company's products _ie_  Stephen Pasture Seeds and South Pacific Seeds.



It was an error in grammar on my part ,it was meant to denote "many".I suspect that the fact that when I turned 14 my formal education finished contributed to the mistake.T.O.R.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 6, 2018)

PART 2.How do you measure a “good pasture”?  In a good season everyone has” lots” of grass. To my mind the true measure is how it holds up when things are “dry” for a time. This is where managing the water below the surface comes into play and the plants that can access it.

For the peoples of the Northern Hemisphere it’s worth nothing that in Aussie most of our soils were borne from the sea rather than the fiery start of most of the North and so when they are treated like the north the whole system collapses.

Our pasture mix is about 70% perennial, 5% legume and 25% annual. I have found that maintaining the perennial % can be a challenge, but this is how I manage it. After a “dry spell” the first rains bring a burst of growth which is how the pasture replenishes its reserves, if in this fragile state you “graze” it off you could expect to lose about 40% of your crowns, instead we “sacrifice “maybe two paddocks in which we continue to hand feed the stock and after the second rain we can start to use the rest (the sacrifice ones are destined for a long rest to recover completely).

To gain a better understanding of how ours works I refer you to the next pic. In this pic “gravity” would seem to dictate that the lower paddock should be greener, but the truth is in a rain event the lower paddock simply “sheds” the bulk of the rain falling on it, whereas our paddock (the one above) will absorb at least the first 50mm of rainfall and hold it in the profile. We have shown that by applying these principles over the whole farm, generally speaking our green feed supply last way longer than our neighbors. In the pic the lower paddock after every extended “dry spell” the paddock is worked fertilized and sown with a “new mix” of improved seemed stock and is limed and supered in alternate years. To be honest after the biannual supering the first rains to give an improved bulk of forage, but it seems that the new pasture species have little or no resistance to any sort of”dry spell”.

In the next installment I think we should look at the landscape and explain how the catchment and its management influences the water holding capacity within both the sloping land and the floodplain below.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 13, 2018)

Part 3.When it rains does your farm look like a shallow lake? Only to show when the rain has gone that a “scratch” of the soil shows it’s completely dry?

By controlling the speed of the flow down the slope it becomes an easier task to control and hold the flow down the creek, in the next part we will look at how we developed the system as it stands today and the plans for the concept into the future.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 13, 2018)

In 2008, we began improving our 800-meter section of a local creek which traversed our property. Normal practice is to create a solid wall, which in most cases creates an "illegal dam" or to lay logs across the flow. I suspect that these two options would only work if you were starting at the head water, as a peak flow higher than the wall would just flow over the top and damage the structure. We used field stone in the first instance, but from the outset it did not appear to be porous enough to contain the peak flow and stop debris from moving down the flow line (as the photos illustrate).

The wall was increased in height as the grass growth responded to the "damp patch" it created. In the next post we'll look at a new approach to handling "peak flows”.
Photo 1.Shows stone wall start,it was made higher when we got more stone.(Aug 2008)
Photo 2.Shows the limitation of this approach ,when the flow exceeds the height of the wall there is nor reduction in water speed and the debris is simply washed over the top.(May 2010)
Photo 3.Shows the results at 10/2012.Even at this early stage you will see that you must be patient and record everything as it happens.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 25, 2018)

THE STICKS

P1.This is designed to slow the flow and avoid damage to the downstream bed.

P2.The area has started to stabilize but note the dryness up the sides of the cut.

P3.The site is still feeling the effect of “wet and dry”.

P4.Two years on, the effects are now constant and the whole area is “green “year round.

P5. Taken in 2014, the whole area is now repaired and the creek area is now subjected to a grazing cycle within the whole farm program.


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## Sheepshape (Nov 25, 2018)

Good to see that your water conservation plans really work. With climate change these initiatives are going to be vital if we are to prevent deserts from forming.

Over here we usually have too much rather than too little rain, so last summer was a shock to us all. 

In my (not so short) lifetime I have seen the unpredictability of weather increase. Like you we are looking at ways of conserving water whilst preventing flooding, planting trees, enlarging culverts, collecting rainwater, 'terracing' etc. In the end, a lot more needs to be done to minimise those many parts of climate change that we contribute to.

Good luck with your venture.


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## greybeard (Nov 26, 2018)

A couple of beaver put behind 'the sticks' during a rain will fix you right up.


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## Sheepshape (Nov 26, 2018)

Beavers have been re-introduced fairly locally to where we live to aid water management......and it seems to be working.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 26, 2018)

G'day folks,yes GB the concept was in fact "inspired" by the beaver dams on the USA.

As a footnote to the creek here are some photos showing "peak flow",taken a few years into the program.The repair is such that even this volume of water was not able to Damage either the bed or the sides of the repair.The sticks capture all of the debris and at the boundary there is no debris caught.


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## Baymule (Nov 26, 2018)

When you can protect the fenceline and conserve water at the same time, I'd say that is a stroke of brilliance. Win/Win.


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## Sheepshape (Nov 27, 2018)

Got a few dogs TOR?


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 27, 2018)

Sheepshape said:


> Got a few dogs TOR?



A boy always needs a few dogs,only got 4 at the minute.......T.O.R.


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## Latestarter (Nov 27, 2018)

That's some serious water flow for a "dry creek" bed. Is there some reason why you couldn't actually excavate a retention pond to form a 3-5 acre holding pond/lake centered on/over/around the creek bed? Use the excavated soil to level/terrace the "uphill" areas some to slow water run off, and to build a damn? Then it seems to me you'd have a "year round" water source.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 27, 2018)

G'day, this "dry creek: is a regulated watercourse and we were threatened with prosecution it the work we did had any "adverse" effects on the dry creek bed.

The local authority have never acknowledged the success of our program publicly,but off the record some now concede that we have done a remarkable job...T.O.R.


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## Baymule (Nov 27, 2018)

Yes you have done a remarkable job.


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## Carla D (Nov 27, 2018)

Wow! This conservation project took about 6-8 years? I’m utterly impressed. I thought to make changes that drastic would take 20-30 years. It is absolutly breathtaking. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for saving a small chunk of our earth.


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## Sheepshape (Nov 27, 2018)

Yes, TOR, you're doing a great job.It seems to me that many authorities are stuck in the Pre-Climate Change Era.....what was appropriate 50 years ago now needs a hasty re-think.

As I mentioned earlier, beavers are being re-introduced in Britain.....already established in Scotland and England, now they are in Wales, too. The slowing down of water on streams and river tributaries is showing amazing bio-diversity results with a resurgence of 'primitive' plants like liverworts and mosses in the dammed areas, reduced soil erosion and less flooding of populated areas. Folk just have to get used to them.....they were commonplace here 400 years ago. Rather more controversially, wild boars and wolves are thriving  in carefully chosen sites (well, the wolves, at least)....I'm very much in favour, but not everyone is.

It's difficult to see why anyone would want to see a 'dry creek bed' which could become a desert as any rainfall, even if it comes in overall similar amounts to 50 years ago, now comes as two periods of torrential rain followed by drought rather than spaced out over the year.

We are seeing periods of very heavy rain (like at present)with high winds and flooding followed by drought over here. The ground hardens in the drought and the next period of heavy rain doesn't soak in quickly and floods the area, whilst eroding the soil. We have done what we can to slow the water flow in some areas and to speed it up in others to prevent field flooding. It has largely worked. Planting lots of sapling trees is helping to hold the soil together, plus we have re-instated some hedgerows. If nothing else, the visual impact is better!

Good luck with the ongoing project.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 28, 2018)

G'day folks,firstly I would like to express our heart felt thanks to the group for their support and enthusiasm for not only the results but for the concept itself.

Your clicks,likes and comments far exceed anything we get down here from authority's and academics.

Soon I will start on the last part of the story,but it will not be the end of the story as I have identified two sites one on either side of the creek proper .These are situated at the toe of the slope and the aim is to show how it can re-hydrate the portion above it over time.

Once again "Thank you" one and all......T.O.R.


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## greybeard (Nov 28, 2018)

The Old Ram-Australia said:


> G'day, this "dry creek: is a regulated watercourse and we were threatened with prosecution it the work we did had any "adverse" effects on the dry creek bed.


Shades of "WOTUS".


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## greybeard (Nov 28, 2018)

Sheepshape said:


> As I mentioned earlier, beavers are being re-introduced in Britain.....already established in Scotland and England, now they are in Wales, too. The slowing down of water on streams and river tributaries is showing amazing bio-diversity results with a resurgence of 'primitive' plants like liverworts and mosses in the dammed areas, reduced soil erosion and less flooding of populated areas. Folk just have to get used to them.....they were commonplace here 400 years ago.


Ahh, the good ol days eh?


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 28, 2018)

THE GRAVE.

This structure got its name when Jenny first inspected it while I was in the process of “digging it”. She commented at the time…….”If it does not work I can always put your coffin in it to save the cost at the local cemetery”…..So thereafter it was known as the “Grave”.

My thinking at the time was I needed to bring the flow to as close as I could to a halt before it reached the boundary. To achieve this we needed two pools the second one deeper than the first, the other requirement was to “turn the flow” 90 degrees across the bed of the stream which had a sloping floor so that there was as little driving force behind the flow at the exit point (except of course in the “peak flow” situation).

Photo 1.The pool of water was a result of an overnight shower, note the use of the sheet of gal iron to act as a baffle so the bank could not be “undercut” by the flow. On the left the old fence posts were there to stop the disturbed soil from washing back into the pool. The log and upright dead branch was a landing spot for small birds which generally speaking like to survey the area before descending for a drink.

Photo2. In this pic the entry point is in the foreground and the exits on the other side .Wherever possible allow the water to travel over un-disturbed ground. The level in the second pool is determined by the water table at any given time.

Photo3.Allthough the 2nd pool is almost empty the moisture retained over time has meant that the bed floor is completely covered with active grass cover

Photo 4.Taken in 2013, shows how the two ponds work together to hold and hydrate the surrounding pasture, although the far reaches have yet to achieve the benefits.

Photo5.Taken in April 2014 and in the midst of a very good season the upper slopes are benefiting from the penetration at point of impact and the moisture retention down the slopes means that there is forage available well into the woodland  and will be a good source of feed well into the winter months.

BELOW THE GRAVE. These two photos are interesting in that in the first taken Aug 2009 (one year into the program) the “failed “spring is so obvious on the rising country in the top right of the pic. The second one taken in Nov 2014 shows the site transformed (the two lighter small trees are English Hawthorns and the one to the right is a Euc species) the trees were self sown and survived in spite of the area being part of the normal grazing cycle.

Well that’s it for the time being .I hope you have enjoyed to story as much as I have in presenting it to you all. Into the future we will start a new program in the upper level of the catchment ,near to the “toe” of the slope.




 

 

 

 View attachment 55331 View attachment 55332


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 28, 2018)

Oops, here are the last three photos.


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## Baymule (Nov 28, 2018)

Retaining water rather than letting it run off is making a huge difference. I like the dead branch for the birds to perch on. It reminds me of my Squirrel stick. We have a 300 gallon galvanized tub for watering our horses. I keep a long stick in it so squirrels can get a drink, and more importantly, get back out and not drown.


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## Baymule (Nov 28, 2018)

Oh good! I couldn't open the attachments, it said error. Glad you posted the pictures again. Do you have plans on digging more GRAVES? LOL


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 29, 2018)

G'day BM,the new program will focus on holding the moisture stream in the mid-catchment and providing a water point for stock in paddocks which at this point have none.

The new program will include a sat pic for each site and a diagram of the flows I have identified and how I plan to utilize them in the further development of the re-hydration of the site."Henry" is the key element in this program as he can excavate to over 5 ft to establish a new weir and barrier to hold back the flow from the upper levels of the catchment.

I do not expect the new program to start until about Feb next year as I have quite a deal of work for him to complete first....T.O.R.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Nov 29, 2018)

Sheepshape said:


> Yes, TOR, you're doing a great job.It seems to me that many authorities are stuck in the Pre-Climate Change Era.....what was appropriate 50 years ago now needs a hasty re-think.
> 
> As I mentioned earlier, beavers are being re-introduced in Britain.....already established in Scotland and England, now they are in Wales, too. The slowing down of water on streams and river tributaries is showing amazing bio-diversity results with a resurgence of 'primitive' plants like liverworts and mosses in the dammed areas, reduced soil erosion and less flooding of populated areas. Folk just have to get used to them.....they were commonplace here 400 years ago. Rather more controversially, wild boars and wolves are thriving  in carefully chosen sites (well, the wolves, at least)....I'm very much in favor, but not everyone is.
> 
> ...



G'day SS,here is the problem I have with the re-introduction of higher order predators.In days of old they were hunted by the "upper classes" to contain their numbers because they present a danger to domestic livestock.In the USA they were hunted by the first nations and there numbers were restrained by the availability of food.It would seem that there natural food source was much more difficult to catch rather than the easy meal from domestic livestock and so the were hunted to almost extinction.To my mind the problem is that there are no population controls in place and so in a very short time the old problems will re-occur,but their advocates will "never" allow any culling of the animals.

What has been the result of the banning of "fox hunting"? have farmers resorted to the use of 1080 like we do in Aussie? Are farmers faced with increased predication of there new born lambs than are born outside like down here?.....T.O.R.


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## Sheepshape (Nov 29, 2018)

The re-introductions have been into carefully controlled areas (apart from the wild boars which escaped in one or two places!). We've had very little by way of problems so far....much more problem with mink which have displaced our own wildlife.



The Old Ram-Australia said:


> What has been the result of the banning of "fox hunting"? have farmers resorted to the use of 1080 like we do in Aussie? Are farmers faced with increased predication of there new born lambs than are born outside like down here?.....T.O.R.


Foxes can still be killed, just not with hounds and horses. To be quite honest I haven't seen any change. Our biggest fox population are urban foxes which live on fast food largely (though I have lost chickens to the fox when we forgot to shut the coop one night). Our biggest problem with foxes have occurred when well-meaning but knowledge-lacking folk have trapped and released urban foxes into the rural environment.The urban and rural fox are almost two different species...The urban fox is used to 'take aways' for his food  and is a very bold animal who is not too fearful of humans. The country fox is shy, strictly nocturnal and has a healthy respect for man. The urban fox when released into the countryside is generally driven by hunger into farms where he meets with the farmer's gun.

Foxes do take newborn lambs, but crows account for a similar number. I haven't really noticed any difference in predation since the 'ban'.


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## Baymule (Nov 29, 2018)

The main predator in east Texas is coyotes. We are on small acreage, so easy to control with a good fence and couple of Great Pyrenees. But I have no doubt that without our dogs, the coyotes would be over the fence and killing our sheep. We have fox, bobcats and the occasional cougar, but they haven't been a problem for us. A neighbor got his chicken flock wiped out by a bobcat, stupid on his part for not having a better coop for them.


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## Baymule (Nov 29, 2018)

Forgot to mention that we are overrun with feral hogs. That just goes without saying…...it's open season, anytime, on wild hogs. You can even shoot them from helicopters!


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## Rammy (Nov 29, 2018)

Couple years ago, when I hadnt been in my house for that long, I heard a bunch of shooting going on behind the house in this wooded area about a 1/4 mile away. The farmers had cornered and were shooting a pack of feral dogs that had been running the neighborhood and killing their baby cows, sheep, goats, chickens whatever. It was pretty bad. I hadnt bought my acreage next to my house yet so I didnt have chickens yet or Im sure they would of been wiped out. I have seen, Im positive, a cougar going thru my pasture about 2 in the morning once. It was big and had a long tail with the crook on the end. Never turned its head towards the camera but Im sure thats what it was. Looked like one and moved like one. Ive seen coyotes out here the size of a german shepard. A neighbor down the road has a game camera set up near her pond and got a bobcat on it once. Ive only lost a few chickens to predators getting into the coop and now its Fort Knox. Unfortunately, I have lost many to those dang buzzards. So they are in chicken jail permanently.


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## Sheepshape (Nov 29, 2018)

Rammy said:


> Unfortunately, I have lost many to those dang buzzards. So they are in chicken jail permanently.


 Yes, Rammy....I've lost some to buzzards, too. I keep large breeds, mainly Brahmas. They are too big as adults for the buzzard to bother, but, as big heavy birds who struggle to fly are real 'fox fare' if not away before dark. The fox (and humans!) are the main apex predators for chickens over here. My chickens roam in a flock of some 30+, and the safety in numbers thing seems to prevail (or maybe the fact that they spend a lot of their time in the sheep shed!)



Baymule said:


> You can even shoot them from helicopters!


 But can you hit them?   Do you eat them? Over here wild boar is quite an expensive high end restaurant food....sounds tough to me!


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## Baymule (Nov 30, 2018)

Sheepshape said:


> But can you hit them?   Do you eat them? Over here wild boar is quite an expensive high end restaurant food....sounds tough to me!



It is expensive to hire a helicopter to shoot feral hogs. I think it is just a "thing" for people with money to burn. That, or the state of Texas is desperate to kill the darn things any way possible. I've had feral hog, the young ones are quite tasty. A big, old boar would be left for buzzard bait or maybe to shoot coyotes over. Some people stock their freezer with free hog meat.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Dec 15, 2018)

G'day folks,I thought the following may be of interest.

During a particularly heavy storm recently (61 mm in a couple of hours) I noticed the results on the lower paddocks next door towards town. The whole flat area looked like a shallow lake, but a short time after was a series of what looked like "fast flowing" drainage lines and within a couple of hours all the water was deposited into the runoff dams.
Meanwhile on our place their was no visible runoff even on the sloping paddocks towards the creek.In the swales there were a few small puddles but no filling to overflow.We got very little in dams and it looked like it was restricted to what fell on top of or very nearby.
It would be an interesting exercise to measure the penetration in both sites (but this is not going to happen) but it will be interesting to observe the pasture situation by late Feb if we have a dry ,windy Jan /Feb......I had said recently that we are having a "bore" put down somewhere on the flat near to the creek for the purposes of reliable stock water into the future (we are too old now to be carting water to the stock).He had promised before Xmas but time is slipping away and I doubt he will make but no matter as we have had the rain anyway. I suspect the guy will use "divining" to find the best source,but I will try to note where he finds underground water for the best supply.

Since the start of Oct we have had around 9 in of rain on the farm,but in spite of that all of our dams(ponds) are barely one quarter full.This last week we have had a storm every afternoon as the humidity is so high ,so "Henry" and I have had a bit of a rest,Jenny and I and the dogs had a look at our efforts yesterday and found 3 rabbit burrows that had been re-opened, hope to fix them as soon as it dries up a little.......T.O.R.


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## Baymule (Dec 15, 2018)

It sounds like your work is paying off. The rain is soaking in instead of running off.


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Dec 15, 2018)

Hi folks , Jenny I and the dogs just came back from a look and walk.The catchment above the creek is now at 100% for moisture and last night we had 5 mm of rain and it put about a foot of water into the dam on the creek.I suspect that the rest of the creek downstream will not respond until that dam is "full"....T.O.R.


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## Latestarter (Dec 16, 2018)

Glad to hear thigs are doing what you intended. Hope you get a bit more rain to help continue filling and add to the area downstream.


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