The G3 Ranch Thread
- Thread starter G3 Ranch
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Looking good! Fields don't look like they have any rock in them or if they do it's very small...makes it nice...
I think people everywhere were putting in plots over the weekend. I saw almost as many tractors and disk on trailers as I did boats I think...
I think people everywhere were putting in plots over the weekend. I saw almost as many tractors and disk on trailers as I did boats I think...
dogdoc
Well-Known Member
We are all hoping for the rain predicted later this week. All the farmers were out this weekend baling hay.
Plots look good. Envious of that cab on your tractor. I seriously thought about upgrading but I do so much tractor work in the trees I think I would just end up tearing the cab up.
todd
G3 Ranch
Well-Known Member
There's lots of rock on the ranch, thankfully where the PO had prior food plots they're pretty clean. The rock isn't far down though. I seen a few that looked like they were prepping/planting, stayed on the ranch most of the weekend though.
I was at the supply house sat AM reading the instructions on the spreader (like I rarely do), it started rocking, I looked around thinking someone had backed into it when I felt & realized it was an earthquake... welcome to the earthquake capitol of the WORLD.
G3 Ranch
Well-Known Member
Thanks, hopefully the plots will be productive.
I have an old massey, no cab, that came with the place for where I don't want to put the cab tractor...It's also the most faithful tractor, never fails...air up the tires & go.
A cab tractor was on my must have list, getting old & soft and it's just so unbearably hot...not to mention a bee allergy reaction I had when I was young, I've got a list of justifiable excuses
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Yep - I was standing in our Kitchen taking a drink of water and all of a sudden some trinkets my wife has on top of the china cabinet started falling over and the cabinet bumped back and forth against the wall. I thought the washing machine was out of balance but thought that is odd because we have a new fangled "smart" washer with no way to unbalance it. My wife ran in there and asked if I felt the earthquake and I told her I thought it was the washer and she told me she wasn't using it! First one I have ever actually felt so far but I think my wife has felt every earthquake that people have felt east of Tulsa...
Seems most are in a hurry to get things done this time of year.....but one thing age has taught me is patience....and patience comes from honest observation and past recollection of having your backside handed to you for being young and impatient! Yes we have had some big rains this summer and they infiltrated soil but the water doesn't seem to stay in the soil as long as it should....there is just something weird about this summer compared to many in the past...maybe it is UV index or that earthquake with shook the headboard at 7:20 AMthe other morning. Temps are running 92 high and 75 low, wind is S at 10-15, current forage is transpiring water quickly, perennial cool season forages have popped but are growing slow, native cool season annual seedlings are scarce as hens teeth, warm season forage regrowth is slow, volunteer brassica are 3 leaf stage and seeing bug pressure, and my ball cap goes in the pool with me in the afternoon for cleaning then is hung on the porch rail to dry and is completely dry within an hour. Collective all of those observations are a "NO GO" for fall planting....the fat lady of summer isn't singing yet! So...I will continue mowing pastures behind the herd to provide fresh winter stockpile and prepare the seed bed for a flush of green....and if there is one dirty job I hate it is mowing Bermuda or just mowing forage to 6" stubble height period....dirt and chaff get on everything and in places they shouldn't go! The good news is that the high clipped weeds over the last month are showing new vegetative growth from the denuded stem....and if you are a cow or a deer....that little bit of lush broadleaf growth among mature forage is HOPE.....and it gives me HOPE as well! At some point really soon this thing we call an Okie summer will be over....temps will moderate and moisture will stick around like it should while the fat woman sings a vibrato.....and I will mount that horse called a grain drill and do what I love to do....plant something....sure we will have armyworms but any residual forage over 4" tall will have enough predators to handle the worms!
IF one has a place which needs 'cleaning up', there isn't a better tool for that than a good March prescribed fire!
IF one has a place which needs 'cleaning up', there isn't a better tool for that than a good March prescribed fire!
G3 Ranch
Well-Known Member
G3 Ranch
Well-Known Member
Ditto G3 - Working 40 hours a week at an office job and then about another 25-30 hours a week self employment leaves little time for pondering...I would really like to do things the way Doug spoke of but it just is not in the cards. Planting plots is simply a matter of having time to do it. No vacations taken during the summer due to work schedules and such and only time off taken is for deer hunting in the fall after self employment has ended for the year. I don't advertise anymore as the customer base is self perpetuating and continues to grow word of mouth. In some areas I can unload the tractor and mow 4-5 properties in one area before I load back up and it all started with 1 person wanting something done there. 2016 has been the biggest year yet...
Besides that we are on a good hard mast year again and I figure I am planting the plots more for me than for the deer anyway right now. If I have spring clover I will be happy!
Besides that we are on a good hard mast year again and I figure I am planting the plots more for me than for the deer anyway right now. If I have spring clover I will be happy!
My comment is a general one....not nit picking at you specifically...your post and Johnny's comment about the amount of tractors/discs etc on hwy made me reflect upon the past in general....so I just thought out loud!
There are some years we don't get a planting up until late Oct and sometimes are blessed with good conditions last week Aug...every year is different. Time is short here too....so I usually start about mid-Sept when sun is low in horizon and finish late Oct....one area at a time behind the cows....maybe some minor broadcast in Nov into Dec...the timing in general is right. It is Nature's clock and I'm just a time borrower, but that time has costs!
Usually takes an hour per ac to mow....then 30-60 min to drill an ac...so I really don't like to mow but won't starve a cow just to forego the mowing task. If just grazing and broadcasting, then an hour or less to move cows and broadcast 2 ac. Wildlife use is just one goal of the planting and if deer were still the main purpose then doubt I would still be doing 40 ac a year. Pretty rare I get help during fall and would rather the help clear lanes, check cameras and do the little crap I don't have much time to do. But it is hard to do those things if help isn't regular...at some point the young crowd will have to figure that our for themselves...but the young crowd is enjoying their freedom...can't blame them for that!. That is one reason I'm going to focus on fescue establishment for the next couple years....a tremendous plant to have at 30% of the pasture grazing from Dec to May.....cuts down on amount, cost, and time spent planting annuals and less winter feed bill....more time for quality of life!
A guy stopped and talked to me on the ranch the other day....his comment was "Do you ever just stop and relax?...you are out here doing something all the time"....my reply was NO..."I'll just work until I die!" But I didn't tell him when I was a young adult....that is when I relaxed...perhaps too much...now I have to make up for lost time and try and train the next generation in ranching in the process. Usually between 10 pm and 2 AM....I finally wind down for the day!
One bad thing about food plots that you won't hear folks talk about is ......priorities.....you can get so wrap up in doing plots that quality of life erodes....the older you get the more that becomes a reality! Is this really how life ends?....Work until you die?
Truth be told...what I really enjoy is moving cows, being content in their contentment, watching what plants grow behind them and seeing wildlife use those plants, and spending time with family....if I could do that full time I would be a happy man! There is a simpler life out there for all of us....sometimes we fear the 'leap of faith'!
There are some years we don't get a planting up until late Oct and sometimes are blessed with good conditions last week Aug...every year is different. Time is short here too....so I usually start about mid-Sept when sun is low in horizon and finish late Oct....one area at a time behind the cows....maybe some minor broadcast in Nov into Dec...the timing in general is right. It is Nature's clock and I'm just a time borrower, but that time has costs!
Usually takes an hour per ac to mow....then 30-60 min to drill an ac...so I really don't like to mow but won't starve a cow just to forego the mowing task. If just grazing and broadcasting, then an hour or less to move cows and broadcast 2 ac. Wildlife use is just one goal of the planting and if deer were still the main purpose then doubt I would still be doing 40 ac a year. Pretty rare I get help during fall and would rather the help clear lanes, check cameras and do the little crap I don't have much time to do. But it is hard to do those things if help isn't regular...at some point the young crowd will have to figure that our for themselves...but the young crowd is enjoying their freedom...can't blame them for that!. That is one reason I'm going to focus on fescue establishment for the next couple years....a tremendous plant to have at 30% of the pasture grazing from Dec to May.....cuts down on amount, cost, and time spent planting annuals and less winter feed bill....more time for quality of life!
A guy stopped and talked to me on the ranch the other day....his comment was "Do you ever just stop and relax?...you are out here doing something all the time"....my reply was NO..."I'll just work until I die!" But I didn't tell him when I was a young adult....that is when I relaxed...perhaps too much...now I have to make up for lost time and try and train the next generation in ranching in the process. Usually between 10 pm and 2 AM....I finally wind down for the day!
One bad thing about food plots that you won't hear folks talk about is ......priorities.....you can get so wrap up in doing plots that quality of life erodes....the older you get the more that becomes a reality! Is this really how life ends?....Work until you die?
Truth be told...what I really enjoy is moving cows, being content in their contentment, watching what plants grow behind them and seeing wildlife use those plants, and spending time with family....if I could do that full time I would be a happy man! There is a simpler life out there for all of us....sometimes we fear the 'leap of faith'!
G3 Ranch
Well-Known Member
My grandson spent the night and we went to the ranch today to get him some trigger time. We spent most of the morning with him shooting first rifle, he did good and with another trip or two will be ready to kill his first deer this year.
Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk
G3 Ranch
Well-Known Member
Thanks, Haydn is the firstborn of three grandsons, he'll be 8 Nov 1. He's too young to get his hunter safety card but I can hunt with him under the mentored youth license, I'm excited to get him in the woods.
We finished up seeding on the 4th, there was moisture in the ground when we seeded, we got a trace of rain on the 9th and an inch on the 10th. A buddie was out there on the 8th and there was already germination of oats/rye, last weekend there was quite a few radish sprouting, haven't noticed any clover, chicory or alfalfa sprouting just yet.
G3 Ranch
Well-Known Member
Hopefully we'll get some of the forecasted rain this week. I did go out yesterday to put a couple more cameras out and we still have decent soil moisture, another rain or two & I think we'll be in good shape.
