Baymule’s Journal

[Baymule]

I have Direct TV now.
Called 800 number on the hot water heater. Had model numbers and serial copied down. Lady took down all information, then told me warranty didn’t transfer to new owner but the gas control valve needed replacement, gave me part number and web site to order from. Just great.

Called home warranty I got when I bought the place. Took down all kinds of information. Somebody will call with a Houston number, in a day or two. Ain’t that just hunkydory?
I’m guessing it will not be fixed by the weekend. I’m guessing I’ll take cold showers, go to sons house or I’ll just stink.

I got my home warranty papers from sons house and cell phone chargers.

I fell asleep in my recliner. Phone rang, and woke me up. Scam call. I’m just tired. I haven’t done much of anything today.

 

[Ridgetop]

If you put large clean horse trough of water in the sun in the am it will heat up for a warm (maybe hot) bath at night. Fill gallon jugs and put them in the sun and water will get HOT by evening. Mix with cold water in tub and have a bath inside if you don't want to use the horse trough under the stars!

 

[Baymule]

Or I can just go to son’s house. LOL

 

[Baymule]

It RAINED today! It come a frawg floater! I was trying to order a pogo stick for youngest granddaughters birthday.
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I chose text. They sent me back to create an account. Vainly I tried several times before giving up.

I’ll just go to the store and get it now. Of course the Target site for Lufkin said Not at this store. I did a nearby store search. Target in Huntsville had 3. 50 miles, 1 hour and 11 minutes, pouring rain. Might as well. I tried calling the store to make sure they actually had the pogo stick in stock. Interesting fact; Target employees do not want to talk to me. The phone rang for a long time and hung up, no matter what department I chose. I went any way.

My car was in a puddle so I put 1 gallon bags over my shoes to keep shoes and feet dry. Went out the gate and water was running over the road.

Next puddle didn’t run across the road. Look closely, there’s another puddle just up the road.

Drove through the rain to Huntsville, got pogo stick and a couple of other things. Birthday present is secured. Rain stopped, came home, road was slush in a few places but has a hard bottom.

I am trying to have the other toilet ready for the weekend, so I taped and floated the wall behind it. The seams over the bathtub are too high for me to reach and ladder didn’t feel safe, so I didn’t do them. If I get the wall behind toilet, so it can be set, and nothing else, I’ll be good with that. I just need 2 working toilets for the weekend.

Hot water would be nice too, but that’s probably too much to ask.

 

[Bruce]

Hot water is sort of a recommended luxury item.

 

[Baymule]

On Yahoo today....... @farmerjan

Crockett is 23 miles from me. While we got an area wide rain yesterday and have had spotty showers in the past couple weeks, it has come too late and not enough for many ranchers. My own little property has greened up, I am blessed. But so many cannot afford $150 per round bale. I was able to talk a 2nd cousin to my son out of 10 round bales, unfertilized, for $80 each. We had 100 degree days in May! A rain or two will not bring back the worst pastures any time soon. It's bad out there.

Dry pastures force Texas ranchers to slaughter ever more cows​

Evan Garcia
August 24, 2022·2 min read


By Evan Garcia
CROCKETT, Texas (Reuters) - With almost all of Texas in drought, ranchers are sending ever more cattle off to slaughter, a trend likely to increase beef prices over the long term due to dwindling supply from the largest cattle region in the United States.
Since mid-July, more than 93% of Texas has been in drought, according to the United States Drought Monitor. As of mid-August, more than 26% of Texas was at the highest level, characterized by widespread loss of pastures and crops as well as water shortages.
While conditions are especially acute in Texas, about 54% of all U.S. cattle were in some form of drought as of Aug. 16, up from 36% a year earlier. Cattle slaughter is high nationwide, temporarily increasing supply but portending tighter supplies in future years.
Paul Craycraft, co-owner of the East Texas Livestock Auction in Crockett, said dry pastures are depriving cattle of an important food source, while making it more expensive for ranchers to supplement their herds' diet with hay and feed.
"We've had I don't how many 100-degree (38 C) days and you can see out here, you know, the grass is gone," Craycraft said. "The cows are beginning to lose weight. The cows are weak because there's no protein. So we're getting rid of a lot of cows."
About 75% of the cows sold at auction the past two months have been sent to the slaughterhouse, Craycraft said, up from 30% to 40% in normal years.
Wesley Ratcliff, founder of Caney Creek Ranch in Oakwood, said he got an early start selling 50 of his 500 cows this year as the drought worsened.
"They were older mama cows and they might have gone and had another baby for us," Ratcliff said. "But rather than wait on them to have another baby, we went on to ship them to the meat factory."
Texas A&M University agricultural economist David Anderson said consumers can expect higher prices long-term due to what is happening in Texas, which according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture has more than 4.5 million beef cows, or 14% of the U.S. inventory.
"The pressure will be on for higher prices, higher cattle prices, higher beef prices over the next several years as the effects of this are felt," Anderson said. "We're going to face tighter supplies of beef. And tighter supplies of beef, with nothing else going on, means higher prices."
(Reporting by Evan Garcia in Crockett, Texas; Editing by Daniel Trotta, Donna Bryson and Matthew Lewis)

 

[farmerjan]

It makes me so sad to read that.... and to feel even worse that I was right.... so yeah.... I TOLD YOU SO .... been saying this for months to everyone.... had that bad feeling and saw it coming and honestly.... I was PRAYING I was wrong......
The worst thing is the farmers and ranchers that I have gotten to know on the other sites I frequent... so many in TX and surrounding areas... guys that are USED TO hot and dry..... talking about how BAD it was and selling down or selling out.
That video that went viral on the LINES at the cattle sale back in July.... Emory stockyard I think....

Cow numbers in both beef and dairy are down 2-4 % overall from the same time a year ago... and most of that is breeding beef cattle and replacement dairy cattle... so that will continue to lower the numbers for a few years as there will be fewer animals able to reproduce... especially with the numbers of beef heifers that have been put on feed...

But the saddest thing is the ones that will be going out and will not go back in, in a year or 2 when moisture levels go back up with hopefully future rains... because they are just getting too old and TIRED of fighting it... and the cost to go back in is going to be astronomical....

 

[Baymule]

The couple that sold me the farm are holding back heifers. He will have some real nice Bramha heifers to go to sale in the spring. He said he gets practically nothing for the Bramha steers or bull calves, but more than makes up for it on his heifers. Bramha's cross well with other breeds, making some bodacious momma cows. The Tiger Stripes are my favorites.

 

[Baymule]

It is raining. It has rained off and on all afternoon, but it's raining hard now. The ewes came off the field, 17 of them. I have 2 huts, 7'long by 4' wide. One ewe is in one shelter. One ewe. 13 are crammed in the other one, 7 have their butts hanging out. 3 are standing in the rain, looking unhappy. One lonely ewe in one hut, watching it rain.

 

[Bruce]

Wow, does she not have ANY friends in the flock?