FROM THE BEGINNING:The story of the creek

[Sheepshape]

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.

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'.

 

[Baymule]

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.

 

[Baymule]

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!

 

[Rammy]

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.

 

[Sheepshape]

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!)

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!

 

[Baymule]

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.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

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.

 

[Baymule]

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

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

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.

 

[Latestarter]

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.