Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[NH homesteader]

Haha! Nope no cows for us. I do like the idea of a Dexter but not going to happen! I don't do well with horse and cow sized animals. Goats and sheep are perfect for me! (and I don't even have full sized goats!)

 

[Mike CHS]

I knew what bisn meant and just assumed you were abbreviating.

 

[Bruce]

Yeah, I suppose. Even a mini weighs many times what a goat or sheep weighs. I look at the alpacas and can't even imagine having a llama and a llama would be 50% - 75% the weight of a mini cow. OK, no mini cows

 

[farmerjan]

Sounds like you need to get a mini beef cattle breed Not that I have even a millionth of a second of experience with same:

https://bigpictureagriculture.blogspot.com/2015/12/10-miniature-cattle-breeds-for-your.html



There is an edit function on your posts, you can fix errors found after posting and we would be none the wiser

Okay, I will try it. I get to typing so fast sometimes and even though I try to proofread before I actually post, I sometimes miss....Thanks

The mini beef breeds seem to have awfully big price tags on them that I have seen....Maybe not everywhere.

 

[farmerjan]

Nope you sure don't! We see them fairly frequently actually. My husband was just telling a story right before I read this about how they used to wake up to all their horses in the front lawn because a moose would run through the field and take out all their electric fencing!

Also we have a friend who, when he was younger and dumber, happened upon a bull moose in the road. He didn't move, so our friend honked his horn. BAD PLAN! Moose charged him, he had to floor it in reverse to get away!

 

[farmerjan]

I see the edit , guess I have to do it within a short period of time?

 

[Mike CHS]

Jan - we thought about beef but I'm at the age that I don't want to handle a critter that weighs several hundred weight more than I do. We have gotten to the point that we use sheep as our primary meat source and don't miss beef in the least.

 

[greybeard]

In East TX is white tailed deer. Out west they have both White Tail and Mule deer. In some areas, there are cross breeds. Most cross are white tail buck and mule doe as white tail bucks actively chase does in heat and mule deer bucks don't... So I guess you could see how that would work out. I actually love elk meat. It's much more tender and mild tasting than typical venison, though still very lean compared to beef.

Not just whitetail and mule deer. There are elk in Tx too.
Texas and elk have had a very long and trouble history. Yes, elk are native to Texas, and were here in great numbers when the Europeans first explored Texas. There are still free ranging elk in west Texas in the Guadalupe, Sierra Diablo, Glass, Wylie, Eagle, Davis and Chinati mountains of the Trans-Pecos. I used to live in San Angelo and we would take weekend trips out to the Davis Mountains and saw a lot grazing along the back roads. TP&WD estimates the free ranging elk in Texas to be around 1600 in number, not counting what are on high fence hunting ranches in the western and south central counties. Prior to 1997, elk were a game species in Texas. BUT, TP&WD some 40 years ago, re-introduced desert bighorn sheep to West Texas and determined that their efforts would be mitigated because the sheep and elk would be competing for forage. For somewhat obscure reasons, TP&WD sought and got a declaration from the Tx legislature, that elk in Texas were an "exotic' species, not native to Texas, because both elk and bighorn sheep had been hunted out by 1900. Since TP&WD manages wildlife thru seasons and bag limits on game animals, the declaration as an exotic meant that elk could be hunted year round with no limits, saying “Exotic ungulate populations will be controlled at the lowest level possible, with the goal of total elimination.”.

There has been an ongoing attempt to get a new piece of legislation passed, forcing TP&WD to treat elk as a game species--almost passed in 2014. Hopefully, it will next session. As a game species, elk would have a hunting season and bag limit--in other words, a true management plan, ensuring the Tx elk population will at least survive, if not prosper.


Texas also has a growing population of another exotic called Axis deer. They are smaller than white tail but have larger antlers. There are about 6000 of these in south central Texas and you just need a hunting lic and a non-game stamp, but can kill as many as you can haul off in your truck--same as elk.
Axis deer:

 

[babsbag]

I see the edit , guess I have to do it within a short period of time?

You can do it anytime, I have done it weeks later. I have no problems with mistakes that other people make but I bothers me to see one of my own.

That Axis deer is way to pretty to shoot. I would not make a good hunter.

 

[Bruce]

Yeah, something just seems wrong with shooting a deer that still has its "baby spots"


@farmerjan - the only difference between doing the edit pretty soon after posting and weeks or even months later is the stealth factor. There will be an "edited at" message added to it if you don't do it relatively quickly. Not sure how many minutes that is.