Moving to Texas

[greybeard]

I'd plant whatever your surrounding area has growing, especially if it's bahia. But do a soil sample first, see what the results are and plant according to what your local county agent says will grow well there with minimum input.
If I had mine to do over, I'd go with Jiggs bermuda, (has to be sprigged--not seeded) wwBDahl, (seed is expensive) Tif85 bermuda, (seed not quite as expensive) or an endophyte free fescue.
If you are lucky, your county agent or co-op will have a no-till drill you can rent to seed your place with. Mine does not. If you are the one moving near Cooper, there is a grass sprig farm on hiway 19 not too far out of Paris heading towards Sulphur Springs. I saw it last month when I was up there. They had several different kinds of forage listed on the sign--I don't remember the name on the sign tho.

 

[tressa27884]

Thanks @greybeard , I am indeed the person moving to Cooper.

 

[Baymule]

Plant a mix of grasses. We admire beautiful green fields of Bermuda and I am guilty of it myself. But let me put it this way, say your favorite food is broccoli. You LOVE broccoli! You eat broccoli 3 times a day, every day, forever. Although broccoli is good for you, it might be missing key minerals or nutrients that a variety of foods would give you. So even though you are full and well fed on broccoli, you are not as healthy as you could be, if you had more and different foods to eat.

So a mono-crop of one type of grass will feed your livestock and they will fatten up and look good. But livestock, just like us, need and enjoy different foods. What we might consider an unsightly weed may be rich with minerals and nutrients because it's roots reach deeper to a different layer of soil than the grass roots do. When the soil is disturbed from letting cows graze the Johnson grass to the roots and trampling the earth, seeds that are already there, lying dormant, will come up. Some might be what cows, goats, sheep like, some not. Sprig or plant the grass seeds you want, Mother Nature will show up with things you didn't plant.

Sheep or goats relish weeds that a cow won't touch. Together, or rotated one group behind the other, both get what they want and need. We let the back yard grow up this spring and early summer. We weaned lambs and put them in the back yard. They ate the weeds FIRST. They ignored the Bahia and Bermuda. There is a patch of blackberry vines in the corner and they stripped the leaves off every vine. When they ran out of weeds, they ate the Bahia, then finally the Bermuda.

 

[Latestarter]

Hey Tressa, I believe you said you'd be here in Cooper tomorrow (11/7) and Tuesday. When I had Bay and DV over today I mentioned that I had considered offering to drive up there to meet you for lunch one of those two days and asked if they though I'd be too forward to extend the offer. They said no, so consider the offer extended. I know it's late notice and not even sure if you'll see this, but if you'd like to get together for lunch or even dinner, let me know or contact me via PM here with contact info and we'll see if we can make it happen. I'm not familiar with the area up there either so we'll both get to explore a bit

 

[Bruce]

Tressa, go to Joe's place! He has leftover marinated ribeye steaks

 

[Devonviolet]

I hope I'm not being too forward. DH and I would also love to join y'all for a meal (lunch or dinner) while you are here. That is if you do it today (Monday). We have plans for tomorrow, but are available today, and would love to meet up with y'all, while you are here. If not, we can do it after you settle in at the end of the month.

 

[tressa27884]

Hey Tressa, I believe you said you'd be here in Cooper tomorrow (11/7) and Tuesday. When I had Bay and DV over today I mentioned that I had considered offering to drive up there to meet you for lunch one of those two days and asked if they though I'd be too forward to extend the offer. They said no, so consider the offer extended. I know it's late notice and not even sure if you'll see this, but if you'd like to get together for lunch or even dinner, let me know or contact me via PM here with contact info and we'll see if we can make it happen. I'm not familiar with the area up there either so we'll both get to explore a bit

I'm going to be there less than 24 hours . Can I take a raincheck?

 

[tressa27884]

I hope I'm not being too forward. DH and I would also love to join y'all for a meal (lunch or dinner) while you are here. That is if you do it today (Monday). We have plans for tomorrow, but are available today, and would love to meet up with y'all, while you are here. If not, we can do it after you settle in at the end of the month.

Absolutely not too forward. I can't wait to get to meet all y'all in person. If I was there longer than 24 hours this trip I'd make it happen. So sorry it's such a short trip. We'll all get together once I'm moved in.

 

[tressa27884]

Barn question.....I've noticed when driving around that most barns are metal. Is there a reason for this?

 

[greybeard]

1. They don't burn well.
2. Termites don't like them.
3. Even as far north as you will be, hurricanes can give you 4- 8 hrs of continuous ~50 mph winds and steel holds up better than wood.
4. They don't rot.
5. discount on property insurance because of the above reasons.

Texas wildfire map for just active wild fires the month of Sept 2011.

All reported Texas wildfires Jan-Dec 2011:

Austin, looking East toward Bastrop Complex fire, Labor Day 2011. Charred 14,000 ac it's 1st day. At end of day 2, it had burned 28,000. Took 24 days to get it 98% contained.

Welcome to Texas.