Prosperity With Peas

Transcription

POSTAL CUSTOMER
Dairy due
Gene Dunham (right) and family take a look at the plaque presented Gene during a recent
reception that honored his work.
Celebr
er
g ov
n
i
t
a
20 Years
■ Southwest . . . . . . . Page 7a
Vol. 24 No. 39
32 Pages
July 14, 2005
2 Sections
50 cents
Simple and fun
Jacks, a simple, fun game that
can test your skills, is just one
thing to do during National AntiBoredom Month.
Medicating cattle made easy
Farm
subsidies
in jeopardy
Northeast Texan perfects innovative method
they raised near Denison, the couple relocated to Cooper
in 1999.
Once settled on their new property they began raising
C.H. “Bud” Swayne has mastered an innovative way to two herds of cattle, a Beefmaster cross herd and a Red
Simmental Angus cross herd. While the two were plenty
medicate his cattle. He shoots them.
Bud and his wife, Phyllis, have been raising cattle since experienced to run a cattle operation, they still needed
1969. After selling off the registered Red Brahman herd help in critical situations from time to time. Swayne said
he did not know of any
good helpers when he
first moved to the area.
Most of the help, available to him at the time,
was at least 80 miles
away,
which
was
unhelpful in emergency
situations. The problem
escalated.
One of his cows was
a having a difficult birth.
He called on a veterinarian and a cowboy for
help.
“By the time I got
help, it was actually the
by KARI KRAMER
Country World staff writer
■ Country Kids . . . . Page 12a
In Brief
All cows culled from
herd of animal with
BSE test negative
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sixty-seven cows culled from the herd of an animal infected with bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) have tested negative for the disease, the Agriculture
Department said Sunday, July 10.
Testing was conducted on two
groups removed from the herd at an
undisclosed ranch in Texas; 29 cows
were tested on July 6, 38 on July 8.
Results released July 10 on the second group were negative, the same
finding the department had announced
July 9 for the initial test group.
The National Veterinary Services
Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, conducted
the tests.
The infected animal, a 12-year-old
Brahman-cross beef cow, had spent its
life at the ranch, the department said.
After a livestock market sold the cow
on Nov. 11, it arrived dead at a slaughterhouse a few days later and was then
taken to a pet food plant in Waco. The
animal was not used for food, and its
brain tissue was removed for testing.
Herbicide ok’d for some
counties’ catfish ponds
The Texas Department of Agriculture has been granted approval by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
to issue a Section 18 specific exemption allowing the use of diuron in catfish
ponds to control blue-green algae
(Oscillatoria chalybea).
The products, Direx 4L Herbicide
and Karmex DF Herbicide, manufactured by Griffin LLC, may be applied
following all directions, restrictions and
precautions on the EPA registered product label, as well as restrictions within
the exemption notice. The specific
exemption will expire Nov. 1, 2005.
Applications will be made only by
certified applicators, by licensed applicators or by persons under the direct
supervision of licensed applicators.
Applicators must have a copy of the
exemption notice and label before making any applications.
The approved products may be
applied to commercial levee contained
catfish ponds in Brazoria, Calhoun,
Colorado, Hopkins, Jackson, Lamar,
Matagorda, Red River, Victoria and
Wharton counties.
For more information, contact your
county Texas Cooperative Extension
office or TDA at 512-463-7544. A copy
of the approval notice is on the TDA
website at www.agr.state.tx.us/pesticide/exemptions/pes_catfish05.htm.
Notable
Quotable
“As soon as she touched the skunk,
it came to life, whirling and biting her
on the finger.”
-- Dr. James Wright, veterinarian
Department of State Health Services, Tyler
Story
Story on Page 10a
Inside
Texas Crossword . . . . . . . .page 4a
The Outdoors . . . . . . . . . . .page 4a
Cow Pokes . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 5a
Country Life . . . . . . . . . . . .page 6a
Dairyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 7a
Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 8a
Classifieds . . . . . . . . .pages 1b-12b
Markets . . . . . . . . . .pages 13b-20b
See ‘Darting’
Page 2a
Long-time cowman
Bud Swayne has
found utilizing a
dart gun to inject
medication into a
sick cow or calf is a
time- and laborsaving method.
-- Staff photo by Kramer
By LIBBY QUAID
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush
administration is carrying an olive branch
into trade negotiations in China, saying
the U.S. is serious about cutting subsidies that help farmers.
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns,
who departed for Beijing over July 9-10
weekend, said the administration sent a
strong signal by asking Congress to kill a
cotton subsidy program that was ruled
illegal by the World Trade Organization.
‘‘We have been saying all along we’re
very anxious to get a reform-oriented
WTO round,’’ Johanns told reporters July
6. ‘‘We believe that our farmers and
ranchers can compete with anybody in
the world.’’
Farm subsidies are critical in the WTO
talks. Developing nations want subsidies
cut in wealthy countries to allow competition from farmers in poor countries.
President Bush, attending a summit
with leaders of other wealthy nations,
said Europe and the U.S. should agree
jointly to abolish subsidies through current WTO negotiations.
See ‘Aid’ • Page 9a
Texas farmers urged to watch for new whitefly
Texas farmers are urged to be on the
lookout for a new and highly destructive whitefly that’s resistant to many
insecticides now being used.
Dr. T-X Liu, a Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station vegetable entomologist in Weslaco, said the new pest is
not indestructible, but a change in management strategies will be required if
and when it is detected here.
Known as Biotype Q, the sweet
potato whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) Biotype Q has been detected in small numbers in California and Arizona but may
have been transported aboard plants to
other southern states, including Texas.
Scientists in Arizona and California
who made the discoveries in March
said the insect is thought to have originated in the Mediterranean region. It
has a host range of more than 500
plants from 74 families, including vegetables and ornamentals. Like other
whiteflies, this insect can damage many
other crops, including cotton, unless
controlled.
“The Biotype Q is highly resistant
to the insecticides and cultural practices that have helped us manage the
silverleaf whitefly, or Biotype B whitefly, in Texas and the Rio Grande Valley
for many years,” Liu said.
An outbreak of Biotype B whitefly
here in the early 1990s made it one of
the most important pests on cotton,
vegetables and ornamentals. About a
decade later, new insecticides and
coordinated cultural practices reduced
populations.
The Biotype Q whitefly reproduces
and develops more rapidly than the
Biotype B, is capable of transmitting
more viral diseases, and has a wider
range of host plants, Liu said.
It also looks identical to the Biotype
B and can be detected only by analyzing the esterases (enzymes), protein or
DNA of the whiteflies.
Liu, U.S. Department of Agriculture
personnel and Experiment Station sci-
Cattle theft
on the rise
Current investigations center
on about 500 head of cattle
‘missing’ in Texas
When a major Texas newspaper runs a frontpage story about cattle theft, you know you’ve
got a problem!
“Rustlers on Prowl,” screamed the recent
headline. “Higher prices, ‘absentee ranchers’
lead to a rise in cattle thefts.”
“We’re being inundated,” confirmed Larry
Gray, director of law enforcement for Texas and
Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Certified peace officers from the 128-year-old, Fort
Worth-based association are currently investigating reports of about 500 cattle missing across
the state.
TSCRA has 29 livestock theft investigators
strategically stationed throughout Texas and
Oklahoma. Thoroughly trained in all facets of
law enforcement, they combine their comprehensive knowledge of the cattle industry with
modern technology like computers and DNA
tracing to track down missing cattle.
In 2004, TSCRA inspectors investigated
1,214 cases and accounted for stolen livestock
and ranch equipment worth more than $4.03
million. Gray expects higher totals in 2005.
“Cattle prices are at an all-time high right
now,” he explained. “A trailer-load of cows and
calves can bring as much as $20,000; that’s a
pretty big temptation for a thief.”
TSCRA’s inspection system
Cattle being sold to market go through auction barns, where TSCRA has its first line of
defense. Seventy market
See ‘TSCRA’
inspectors monitor 125
Page 3a
cattle auctions and two
The new Biotype Q whitefly is
similar in appearance to the more
common Biotype B whitefly
(shown here) and can only be
distinguished using high-tech lab
procedures. An immature whitefly is shown in the upper left side
of this photo.
-- Texas Agricultural Experiment Station photo
entists regularly trap whitefly samples
and send them to the University of Arizona for identification.
“We’re asking growers to report any
unusual whitefly activity in their fields
or greenhouses,” Liu said. “This would
include a sudden, large increase in the
number of whiteflies, or a sudden
whitefly resistance to insecticides that
had been effective. Whiteflies are less
of a problem in north Texas fields, but
greenhouse operators there should also
be on the lookout.”
Dr. Scott Ludwig, Texas Cooperative Extension Integrated Pest Management specialist at Overton, said the
threat of Biotype Q and the trend
toward increased insecticide tolerance
See ‘Fly’ • Page 11a
Prosperity with peas
East Texas farmers harvest over 600 acres
by LYNN MONTGOMERY
Hungry for fresh, purple hull peas? What about
cream peas or blackeyed peas? Maybe some fresh
pinto beans or butterbeans would hit the spot.
These fresh vegetables, along with produce from
other East Texas farmers, can be found at Sides Pea
Farm in Canton, where over 400 acres of peas are
Virginia Sides has devoted many years to farming. “The Pea Lady” carries in a bag of beans
and peas at their market in Canton.
planted every year, with another 200 acres planted
and harvested in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
“We got some pretty peas,” began owner Virginia
Sides, who along with her husband Winford, have run
Sides Pea Farm on FM 2909, south of Canton, since
1957.
So far this year, the Sides have “cultivated 50 acres
right here and (we) are beginning to pick the first
peas,” Virginia said in late June. “This is the oldest
field and it is deep sand. We could use some rain here
for the blooms, but the other fields are holding up
okay. We have blackeye, purplehulls, cream elite, Zipper cream, pintos, butterbeans, and Lima beans.”
The other 400 acres of peas are spread throughout
Van Zandt County.
The young-at-heart farmers have farmed all their
lives. Virginia, 72-years-old and one of 14 children,
stated, “The day I got married, I used a turning plow
all day long and got married that night. I said I would
never marry a farmer. I married the biggest farmer in
Texas.”
Today, the youngest of Virginia’s siblings, Shirley
(and her husband George), helps with the retail and
wholesale business. Grandson Brandon also helps
with the business, but he will be moving to Chicago at
the end of the summer to eventually go to law school.
Daughter Wendy also helps when she can, but runs a
smaller market in town during the First Monday Trade
Days event in Canton.
The “biggest farmer in Texas” that caught young
Virginia’s eye is now 77. Winford has had health problems and “can’t do what he used to,” his wife shared;
but he still goes to the fields every morning to check
on the peas.
“He tells us when to plant, pick, etc.” Virginia said.
Seasonal workers are used during the picking season.
Picking in South Texas’ ValSee ‘Peas’
ley region is complete, but the
Page 11a
2a - COUNTRY WORLD, Thursday, July 14, 2005
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Swayne sits atop his four-wheeler as the herd roams
behind him. The animals are accustomed to the vehicle
that carries his medication pack and gun.
for subcutaneous injections.
When delivering a medication
subcutaneously, Swayne uses a
three-quarter-inch needle on the
dart and sometimes shoots the
medication at a slight angle.
“You don’t want too much of
an angle, or it’ll just ricochet
off,” he added.
The availability of the darts,
medication, and treatment time
has saved Swayne trouble and
dollars.
“This saves money, but mainly it saves animals,” he said.
“Without a question, this has
saved animals.”
Cowboys available to rope
sick cattle are becoming more of
a rarity, and veterinarians are not
always readily available. A single person would have trouble
roping, holding, and treating a
sick cow or calf.
“The whole problem is really
one of getting that animal
penned and caught,” Swayne
explained. “That’s stressful on
the calf. With the dart, the calf
doesn’t even know anything has
happened.”
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the sick animal, then fires off the
dart of medication into the animal’s neck.
The needles each have a
small wax piece near the base.
Once the dart enters the skin of
the animal, the wax slowly
warms and eventually shrinks
enough to allow the needle to
fall-out. The process, according
to Swayne, takes between 10 and
15 minutes.
“It’s nice to pick them up (the
needles) when you see them,”
said Swayne. He added that the
needle tips do not create more of
a hazard than any other random
pieces of material in a pasture.
The innovator has mastered
his system, though he admits that
he only needs to use the tool 10
to 15 times a year. Still, he is
always prepared. When he goes
to check his cattle, he carries a
small lunchbox-type cooler,
complete with medication, Vaseline®, darts, and ice packs to
keep the medication from heating. He carries the gun on a standard gun rack mounted on his
four-wheeler.
“I have the gun, and this little
bit of medication with me when
I go out,” he said. “If I see a
problem, I can fire the dart. It
takes three to four minutes to get
ready. Then, I shot the calf and
I’m done.”
Swayne is a Certified Texas
Quality Beef Producer (CTQBP)
through the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. TSCRA regulates aspects of
CTQBP operations.
“You actually sign a contract
with them that you will only
give neck shots,” said Swayne.
It is an agreement he abides by
with his dart gun.
While he mostly uses his dart
gun for intramuscular shots, he
noted that the system also works
A
M
O
N
Emory
dart. Most darts are equipped
with an inch-long needle, but
Swayne says darts can be
ordered in a variety of sizes.
He fills the darts himself
using a longer, narrower needle
that can be inserted into the needle on the dart. Darts may not
always be available in the size
Swayne needs, so he improvises.
“The dart must be full to
work properly,” he explained.
“You can mix medication with
sterile saline solution.”
Once the dart is full, there is
no seal or pressure barrier to
hold the fluids inside the dart. To
solve the problem, Swayne discovered the perfect sealant.
“I just take a bit of Vaseline®
and put it on the hole,” said
Swayne.
Once the dart is ready, it is
loaded into the chamber of the
gun.
Swayne’s cattle are accustomed to his four-wheeler, so he
uses the vehicle to get close to
P AD
E L E
AME
C AR
HRH
J OU
ANN
M T
B
O B
RMA
EGR
E
Sulphur
Springs
Hwy 19
Greenville
Hwy 69
--Staff photos by Kramer
A
U
G
U
R
Y
Whispering Pines
Meat Processing
Left: Bud Swayne loads
a medicated dart into
his gun. The process of
preparing and filling the
dart takes between
three and four minutes.
Right: The longer narrow needle is used to
fill the dart with medication by inserting it into
a hole on the dart’s tip.
Once filled, a seal must
be used on the end of
the dart to keep the
medication from leaking.
S
T
R
O
U
D
next day,” said Swayne. By then,
the cow and calf were both dead.
“That’s what you’re up against
if you have to find help,” he
added.
It was after that situation that
Swayne noticed the success a
friend, who raised elk, was having with tranquilizers shot from a
gun. Swayne began searching for
a gun he could use to shoot darts
of medication into his cattle.
After several dead-end searches,
he again confided in his friend,
who directed him to Wylie and
Sons in Wills Point (903-8487912).
At Wylie and Sons, Swayne
found what he was looking for.
He purchased a pump-style gun
that could shoot darts filled with
medication. The system is relatively simple.
Swayne described three different gun options, ranging in
price from $225 to $700. First,
there is the style of gun he
prefers. It is a cheaper, pump-up
gun that allows a person to shoot
at distances up to 30 yards. The
bargain is accurate and gets the
job done, according to Swayne.
“It’s fast. They’re
not going to get
away,” he said about
the action of darting
cattle.
The mid-range gun
is powered by a carbondioxide cartridge.
While these are slightly more powerful,
Swayne noted the disadvantage to this type
of gun.
“The
pneumatic
rifle, with the CO2
cartridge is simple, but
if you don’t use it a
lot, that cartridge is
going to bleed off,” he
explained. “I don’t
average a shot a month,”
he said. In that case, when the
gun is not used often, the carbondioxide cartridge may empty
itself between uses.
The most expensive choice
also allows the user to shoot
from greater distances. This rifle
uses a blank 22-caliber shell to
power the dart.
Swayne is happy with his
more economical pump-up style
gun, and the darts are inexpensive, ranging from $2 to $4 a
R A
A L
T E
T
L I A
E S L
S
ND
AR
KO
EWE
I NN
N ED
AD S
Continued from Page 1a
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The system makes Swayne
more self-sufficient. He can treat
cattle for a variety of sicknesses
without causing the animal additional stress.
He warns that the availability
of the medication and darts does
not mean that they are a replacement for a veterinarian.
“A lot of stuff you’re going
to be giving is only available
from a veterinarian,” he said. “I
always visit with my vet and see
what’s new out there.”
Swayne says he still regularly
discusses treatment options with
his veterinarian and together
they have created a herd health
program. Twice a year, a crew of
cowboys and a veterinarian visit
Swayne’s ranch and work his
cattle. Castrations and vaccinations are preformed, in addition,
the herd is sorted and cattle are
pulled for sale.
Under the advice of his veterinarian, he is able to use the
dart-medication system for
minor problems.
“During the course of the
year there are little problems that
come up,” he said. “And that’s
where this will help.”
Swayne also has several recommendations to minimize and
simplify treatments. He suggested buying cattle from a reputable
breeder, working with animals to
calm their temperament, coordinating a herd health program
with a veterinarian, and checking the herd daily.
He has recommended the use
of dart-injected medication to
several people.
“It lends itself to anyone who
is single-handing it,” he said.
“Everyone I know who has tried
it has liked it.
“It’s a really good tool for
anyone in the cattle business.”
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COUNTRY WORLD, Thursday, July 14, 2005 - 3a
Groups, companies say they Dry conditions prompt alert
can trace livestock sooner than for prussic, nitrate poisoning
government’s goal of 2009
By LIBBY QUAID
WASHINGTON (AP) — A nationwide, industry-run system for tracking livestock will be operating by January, a cattlemen’s group said July 7,
less than two weeks after the government confirmed a new case of bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE).
The Agriculture Department wants to have the
ability, by 2009, to pinpoint the movements of
the country’s 9 billion cows, pigs and chickens
within 48 hours.
The government had to use DNA analysis to
identify the herd of a Texas cow infected with
BSE because there is no national tracking system. Investigators are searching for offspring and
other animals in the herd that were born about the
same time as the cow with the brain-wasting disease.
Producer groups and private companies
already collect data about the birth and movements of livestock and are working quickly to
offer databases sooner than the government’s
goal.
One group, the National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association, said on July 7 its database would be
running by Jan. 1, 10 months earlier than
planned.
‘‘You won’t have to be a member of NCBA or
the pork producers or any other group to participate in the system. You won’t have to belong to
any special package or program,’’ cattlemen’s
lobbyist Jay Truitt said. ‘‘We needed a place for
people to start parking information that would
coincide with what USDA is doing.’’
The group is hoping to persuade the government to use the cattlemen’s system instead of its
own. Many producers worry about giving the
government or the public access to closely held
business information and would prefer a private-
ly run system that would give the Agriculture
Department to have limited access.
Truitt said the goal is to sign up 80 percent of
producers in the first few years. The system originally was projected to cost $10 million to $13
million, but will be considerably less expensive,
he said, meaning a few cents for every head of
cattle.
Its contractor is a group led by the McLean,
Va.-based consulting firm BearingPoint Inc.
Tracking is being done on a limited basis now
in the U.S., but not by the government. For example, the National Dairy Herd Improvement Association maintains records on 4.5 million dairy
cows, roughly half the nation’s dairy herd.
Private companies also have data on livestock
movements. Digital Angel Corp., which makes
radio frequency ear tags, intends to have a database running within six months. Micro Beef
Technologies Ltd. announced in late June it has
started its own database.
‘‘We don’t view ours as a competitor of
NCBA or a competitor of USDA,’’ said Digital
Angel’s president and chief executive, Kevin
McGrath. ‘‘But it’s not clear everybody is going
to use the NCBA system, and it’s not clear when
the USDA system is going to be there. We
already provide systems like this to customers
who buy our tags and buy our scanners. We
already do this.’’
Agriculture Department spokesman Ed Loyd
said the department welcomes input from producers and the industry. The department plans to
assign unique identifiers to livestock, ranches and
feedlots by 2008; a mandatory identification system would kick in the next year.
‘‘We want this ultimately to be a user-friendly
system that isn’t burdensome to producers so that
it will garner wide participation and be effective
at meeting our needs,’’ Loyd said.
Anthrax found on Texas ranches
SONORA, Texas (AP) —
Two Sutton County ranches are
under quarantine after the discovery of anthrax in several
head of cattle, horses and deer,
state authorities said July 6.
Pascual Hernandez, an agent
with the Texas Cooperative
Extension Service in Sonora,
said several other ranches have
reported livestock and deer
deaths and are being investigated. The ranches where the
anthrax has been found will be
under quarantine until veterinarians can determine that no other
animals are infected, a process
that could take six months to
complete.
Sonora veterinarian Mike
Keller said in a story in the July
7 San Angelo Standard-Times
that no infected animals are
known to have entered the
human food supply because the
animals were found dead and no
animals have left those ranches
recently.
Keller sent samples to the
Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in College
Station after discovering the suspected cases of anthrax.
The disease associated with
grazing animals is not normally
transmitted to humans, except
by eating tainted meat or
through exposure, via open
wounds, to infected material. In
rare situations, anthrax can
become airborne and be inhaled.
Texas quarantine
for VS ends
The Vesicular Stomatitis
(VS) quarantine on two horses
on a Travis County premises
has been released, according
to Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC). Currently,
Texas has no animals or
premises under quarantine for
the sporadically occurring blistering disease that can affect
horses, cattle, swine and a
number of other species.
Until the threat of VS ceases to exist, Dr. Bob Hillman,
TAHC executive director, has
directed all Texas accredited
veterinarians to provide a certificate of veterinary inspection
for any livestock moving interstate from Texas.
Furthermore, animals enter-
Thurman Fancher, West
Texas area director and veterinarian for the Texas Animal
Health Commission, said it is
important to notify the public of
an outbreak. He said livestock
on infected property must be
vaccinated and neighboring
ranchers also must be notified of
the need to vaccinate their herds.
‘‘Anthrax is kind of like a
coiled-up rattlesnake,’’ Fancher,
ing Texas from a state affected
by VS must have a current certificate of veterinary inspection
with this statement.
Although the Texas VS
quarantine has been released,
it is still a good idea to call the
state of destination prior to
travel to ensure the animals to
be transported have met all
entry requirements.
Information about VS and
case counts in affected states
may be accessed through the
TAHC
website
(www.tahc.state.tx.us).
The latest report indicates
Arizona has 19 premises under
quarantine, and New Mexico
and Utah have two premises
each under quarantine.
of Lampasas, told the newspaper. ‘‘You don’t need to be
afraid of it as long as you know
it’s there, but you sure need to
respect it.’’
Officials wouldn’t say how
many animals were affected nor
identify the quarantined ranches. Outbreaks rarely spread
beyond a certain area.
Sonora is about 150 miles
west of San Antonio.
★ TSCRA work theft r eports
horse-processing plants in Texas
for stolen livestock.
These inspectors have been
protecting ranch property for
more than 60 years—since the
program was first authorized by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture through an act of Congress
in 1942.
They inspect every animal
that goes through the auctions
— five million to six million
head each year — meticulously
recording identifying characteristics such as brands, sex, color, tags, horns and ear marks.
They also document the shipper’s name, address and vehicle
license number.
All of this information is sent
to TSCRA’s Fort Worth headquarters where it is entered into
the largest centralized, computer
brand recording and retrieval
system in the nation. When cattle are reported missing, their
descriptions are matched against
those in TSCRA’s database.
“It’s a lot easier to find cattle
if they’re branded,” Gray
advised. “A hot iron brand is
still the best form of identifica-
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TIMBER
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Fred Sanders, District Forester
903-383-2579
Mobile 903-576-1014
903-885-7561
Sul. Spgs., TX 75482
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E-mail: [email protected]
By EDDIE BAGGS
Denton County
Extension Agent
Beef cattle producers and
horse owners should be on the
watch for two types of poisoning often associated with
dry/drought conditions, which
we have right now. The potential for nitrate and prussic acid
poisoning of livestock (cattle
and horses) grazing or eating
hay (prussic acid poisoning is
not an issue in hay) is most
often associated with dry conditions and drought.
Livestock owners should be
taking precautions with their
animals, including testing forage, if they have an abundance
of Johnson grass in pastures
(prussic acid risk) or have highly-managed pasture with fertility
(nitrate risk).
Both conditions can cause
death and should be taken very
seriously. However, this does
not necessarily mean this is a
problem in your particular pasture. It is a condition to be
aware of, and depending on risk
factors, forage tests may be merited.
Symptoms of animals affected might include staggering,
gasping, salivation, trembling,
and rapid pulse may be
observed. Death would be the
most acute result.
Even as the outward signs
are the same for both nitrate and
prussic acid poisoning, each
affects cattle and horses in different ways. Nitrate poisoning
inhibits the ability of blood to
transport oxygen. Mucous membranes turn dark blue and blood
becomes chocolate brown. Prussic acid inhibits the ability of
cells to take oxygen from the
blood. Mucous membranes, in
this case, become bright pink
and the blood is cherry red in
color.
Nitrate accumulation can
occur in virtually any plant with
the ability to grow rapidly and
use soil nitrogen efficiently.
Small grains, millet, bermudagrass, and fescue are forages
common to North Texas area
that can potentially cause nitrate
poisoning problems. The most
infamous, however, for both
nitrate and prussic acid problems are the sorghums: forage
sorghum,
sorghum-sudan
hybrids, sudangrass, and johnsongrass. Many weeds also can
cause poisoning, including pigweed, dock, lamb’s quarters,
Russian thistle, and nightshade,
to list a few.
Under normal conditions,
nitrate in the soil is absorbed by
plant roots, transport through the
stems, and converted in leaves
to proteins and other substances
that are useable by the animal.
Nitrate typically is used by the
plant about as fast as it is
absorbed from the soil. Any
condition hindering plant
growth, however, can cause
nitrate accumulation, mostly in
plant stems. Nitrate poisoning
occurs when this excessive
nitrate is consumed and converted to nitrite faster than the animal can use it. Free nitrite in the
rumen is readily absorbed into
the blood stream, where it
destroys the blood’s ability to
absorb and carry oxygen.
Nitrate poisoning is usually
treated by intravenous injection
of methylene blue. A veterinarian should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of livestock.
Prussic acid is usually
attached to a larger sugar molecule and is part of the normal
growth process in problem
plants. In this form it is not
harmful to the animal. Problems
occur when environmental conditions slow plant growth, causing the sugar molecules to accumulate in the plant. Accumulation is mostly in younger leaves
and new growth, and the slowing down of plant growth, like
in dry conditions, is the cause
of poisoning.
A common treatment is intravenous injection of sodium thiosulfate and sodium nitrite, but a
veterinarian should be contacted
for diagnosis and treatment.
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Weir d pond sightings e xplained, repor ts increase
Call it the pond owner’s version of the X-Files: reports of
floating brains and jellyfish in
freshwater.
Dr. Billy Higginbotham, a
Texas Cooperative Extension
fisheries and wildlife specialist,
simply files such reports – along
with those of snakes, leeches and
mysterious fish kills – under
“weird pond problems.”
During the summertime, the
recreational use of the more than
1 million Texas farm ponds
reaches its annual peak. And as
more people visit more ponds,
“Apparently the ants were
falling into the water from shoreline vegetation and the sunfish
were picking them off as they
floated on the surface,” Higginbotham said.
Higginbotham believes, the
fire ant toxin did the fish in as
they enjoyed their final meal.
“Control of fire ants around
ponds is possible using approved
insecticides and baits, but read
the product labels carefully as
not all controls can be used adjacent to bodies of water,” he said.
Not weird enough? Consider
Higginbotham’s “weird pond
problems” file grows thicker.
For example, a Smith County
woman called about her big
beautiful sunfish dying for no
apparent reason. A standard
water chemical analysis gave the
pond a clean bill of health. Neither did the pond host any disease pathogens capable of killing
1-pound and larger sunfish, Higginbotham said.
Finally, an autopsy of one of
the fishy victims revealed its
stomach to be packed with fire
ants.
Alligator tales turn out to be big fish story
The alligators in tiny Gee Lake at Texas
A&M University-Commerce have now been
more accurately identified as alligator snapping
turtles, but not before providing some excitement and even a little fun on the campus.
A professional wildlife biologist cleared the
mystery when he trapped two alligator snapping
turtles weighing about 25 and 40 pounds apiece
in the campus pond, which is adjacent to Highway 50 and University Drive in Commerce.
Biologist Mark McDonald, who happens to
have been a student at the university in 1975,
was called in by University Police after several
reported sightings in late June of an alligator in
Gee Lake.
But the only gator he ever spotted, McDonald
reported on July 6, was a toy version that a
prankster had floated onto the pond after the
alligator rumor started.
Laughingly McDonald remarked: “We
caught that one.”
“That plastic alligator was full of about as
much hot air as some of the stories I’ve been
hearing,” he joked.
The chances of an alligator wandering into
Gee Lake, which is only about two feet deep in
most places, and remaining hidden for days on
end were slim, he said. “It’s too manicured
around there,” he said, “for an alligator to stay
out of sight.”
Just to be on the safe side, police had put out
signs warning passers-by to stay back from the
lake. The signs have since been removed.
It’s easy to mistake an alligator snapping turtle for its namesake, McDonald pointed out,
because of the turtle’s large head, its broad,
spiny back, and its long, primitive-looking tail.
The larger of the two turtles he caught in Gee
Lake had a head that measured about 4 inches
across.
Though a turtle may not carry the mystery
that an alligator does, it is not an animal to be
taken lightly. Alligator snapping turtles are the
largest freshwater turtles in the world. With its
powerful jaws, it is a deadly hunter, and the
ducklings in Gee Lake must always beware-or
be lunch.
Alligator snapping turtles are a protected
species, McDonald noted, and he released the
two he caught back into Gee Lake, which makes
it likely there will be enduring reports of gators
there.
During the several days McDonald stood
watch over the pond, he was approached several
times by curious onlookers who asked, “Are
there alligators in there?”
His dry reply was: “Yeah, there used to be,
but the white rhino in there ate him.”
the moss animal, Higginbotham
said.
Higginbotham gets calls from
pond owners panicking at the
sight of round jelly-like blobs
floating or attached to submerged tree branches or dock
pilings.
“These unusual blobs may
range in size from a softball to a
basketball and are actually freshwater invertebrates,” Higginbotham said.
These blobs are not an individual creatures; each is a colony
of millions of tiny organisms
called “zooids.” The colony
exudes a protective gelatinous
material that makes it resemble a
big ball of jelly; some describe
it as a floating brain.
“Also called ‘moss animals,’
they are a sign of good water
quality and do no harm,” Higginbotham said.
A rarer sighting in Texas is
the freshwater jellyfish, he said.
Bell-shaped and translucent
with tinges of white or green,
and an inch or less in diameter,
the creature appears in swarms
in ponds and lakes. Like saltwater jellyfish, it has stingers it uses
to immobilize prey. But freshwater jellyfish stingers cannot penetrate human skin, and they do
not harm fish, Higginbotham
said.
However, there are pond critters that affect fish, he said.
“As fishing activity picks up
in Texas farm ponds, so will the
reports of strange-looking
‘worms’ found in a variety of
fish species,” Higginbotham
said. “These worms are actually
‘grubs’ or trematodes, and their
life cycles and association with
fish are quite interesting.”
Reavis Reviews
‘Moving On’
“I’m gonna miss this place,” I
said to the Hunting Club members beside me. We stood for the
last time under the wide live oak
tree between the trailer and the
deep water creek behind us.
“We’ve had a lot of fun here,”
Doc said.
Our days on the Brownwood
lease are over and the Membership met for the last weekend to
collect our stands, feeders and
belongings.
As we’ve aged, our availability for hunting and fishing as a
group has decreased. Kids, grandkids, retirement obligations and
family trips have taken such a toll
on our time that we find it hard
for all of us to get together at the
same time.
Not that we’ve given up altogether. As groups go, we’re a fluid bunch. Sometimes one, two or
three of us join up for a hunting
or fishing trip.
Also, Billy Roy, the rancher
who owns our deer lease, has given in to family pressure to rent
the property to other family mem-
www.countryworldnews.com
COUNTRY WORLD (USPS 680-610) is a weekly newspaper published by Echo Publishing Company, Inc., 401 Church Street, Sulphur Springs, Texas 75482.
Subscription rates are $24 for a year, $43 for two years, or $61 for three years.
Periodicals postage paid at Sulphur Springs, Texas, 75482. POSTMASTER: Send
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COUNTRY WORLD East Texas Edition is an independent, rural oriented, agricultural
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Hewitt Dr. #9, Hewitt, Texas 76643. COUNTRY WORLD South Central Texas Edition is
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(Sulphur Springs), 254-666-5227 (Hewitt), and 979-249-2198 (LaGrange).
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__________________________________________________________
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Jim [email protected] ...................Advertising Director
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Rick Hollers .........................................................................Production Director
HOW TO REACH US
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ACROSS
1 football equipment:
shoulder ____
5 Confederate's
Robert _ ___
6 TXism: "he camps
out in the ____
corner" (religious)
7 TXism: "worthless
as a four-____
flush"
8 TX billionaire
Hughes (init.)
9 TX Willie's father
12 potentially dangerous Gulf fish
17 newspaper name
in Clyde or
Commerce
19 country of TX
immigrant Morris
Zale who started
jewelry company
21 this Strauss was
Dallas' 1st elected
female mayor
22 TX Buck sang "I've
Got _ _____ by
the Tail"
23 Independence, TX
site: "___ ___
Houston House"
28 TXism: "____
your own horn"
29 zoo primates
30 patio soaker?
(2 wds.)
31 TXism: "there's
more of them than
_____ in Texas"
35 this TX Jones
pioneered theaterin-the-round
36 Astro Grand Slam
prerequisite
(2 wds.)
42 TX Tanya's
"What's ____
_____ Name"
The Original
44 TX anchorman Chip
Moody had a _____
role in "Talk Radio"
46 solid turf? (2 wds.)
48 this Earle was Dallas
mayor at time of
JFK assassination
49 color Easter eggs
50 TXism: "it's ____
bout"
51 TXism: "that's _
____ how do you do"
1
2
3
4
5
TEXAS
CROSSWORD
23
24
25
9
8
17
10
11
12
27
28
37
13
32
33
14
15
16
34
39
43
40
41
45
44
47
49
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50
51
52
53
54
P-706
55
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09/30/05*
57
10 TXism: "scary as
a __________ __
_ sleeping bag"
11 TX eatery:
Steak and ___
12 relaxin' tub
13 TXism: "___ __
_ ____ griddle"
(hot)
14 TXism: "best I ever
wrapped _ ___
around" (delicious)
15 TX rancher Norris
film "Silent ____"
16 Fairfield, TX FM
18 antique auto
20 __ Pepper
23 this Holley wrote
1st TX history
(init.)
58
24 a computer abbr.
25 execution delays
26 this Don was in
Buddy Holly film
27 omen
32 TXism: "turn about
__ fair play"
33 Neiman of TX
Neiman-Marcus
34 TX Orbison (init.)
36 TX ___-B-Que
2 yrs ... $43;
Save
$5
0.90%
36 mos
56
37 "Cowtown" newspaper man Carter
38 TX "Germanfest"
staple ____kraut
39 TXism: "smack
___ __ the
middle"
40 improve by editing
41 editorial abbr.
43 TX honky tonker
Gilley (init.)
45 "good __' boy"
47 TXism: "wet as a
_______ rat"
48 TX singer Vikki
55 TXism: "tie up the
loose ____"
Send a Country World Gift Subscription
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to cool down.
“A lot happened on this old
place,” Doc said, looking around.
“I’ll miss sitting around the
campfire down here by the creek
and listening to the frogs.”
I looked past the trailer at the
truck and flatbed loaded with deer
feeders and stands. “I’m parked
right where New Wally almost
scared me to death one night,” I
said.
The boys cackled at that one.
I always slept in my conversion van, to get away from all the
snoring in the trailer. At around 3
in the morning, the crunching of
gravel woke me up when a pickup with the engine off rolled quietly down the hill and parked
right beside the van.
When I peeked out the window to see a figure sitting upright
behind the wheel, apparently staring directly at my van. For the
next three hours I watched the
silent truck, expecting an ax murderer to climb out and chop me
into kindling.
At dawn, the sun angled
through the side window of the
truck to illuminate New Wally,
sitting upright and sound asleep.
He’d turned the engine off so as
not to wake anyone in the trailer
and coasted to a stop beside what
he thought was my empty van.
We found out later that he’d been
up for nearly 48 hours and was
so tired he just went to sleep as
soon as he arrived.
“Hey Rev,” Doc said. “Do you
realize all of the weird and funny
things we can remember about
this place happened to you? Wonder why that is?”
20
38
46
DOWN
him.
“You guys weren’t much help
that night, either,” I reminded
him.
They laughed again.
The boys put me on the couch
that night and then put a pot of
beef stew on the stove to re-heat.
It was the beef stew that I’d
thrown up for the previous six
hours and it didn’t help my condition at all.
I thought I was gonna die.
“That was the same day you
saw the big buck,” Willie said.
“Even though you were sick, you
still should have shot him. I’d
have cleaned him for you.”
“I was so sick there were two
identical deer looking at me at the
same time. I didn’t know which
one to shoot.”
“This old place has been fun,”
Woodrow said. “Rev, you remember the cow that knocked over
your feeder right after you poured
300 pounds of corn into it?”
How could I forget? After filling the feeder, I realized I had
nothing with which to anchor the
legs, so we drove back to the
trailer for some re-bar. We
returned just as a herd of cattle,
led by an bony range cow licked
up the last of the corn.
I felt like shooting her and
telling Billy Roy she died from
old age.
“Then you insisted that we
move your stand that summer and
you almost died from a heat
stroke,” Woodrow remembered.
We moved the tower stand the
next year, in August. I got so hot I
had to crawl into a mesquite
shade and put ice in my straw hat
29
31
36
1 Stonewall's June
festival (2 wds.)
2 this Dickenson
had his wife &
baby in the Alamo
3 what many TXns
go on the 1st Sat.
in Nov. (2 wds.)
4 transmit
9 TXism: "he couldn't
drive a nail ____
a snow bank"
(incompetent)
But there are ways to control
leeches, and without using chemicals which may kill fish, he
said..
“An alternative control
method involves using a coffee
can and lid and a piece of raw
meat for bait,” Higginbotham
said. “Drill 50 or so 1/4-inch
holes in the can and put 1/4 cup
of the raw beef, chicken or
turkey inside. Place a small rock
in the can to allow it to sit
upright, replace the lid, and submerge it in the pond.
“The leeches are attracted to
the bait and enter the can through
the holes, but are unable to leave
afer gorging on the meat.
Last, there’s everyone’s
favorite: water snakes, he said.
Most water snakes are nonpoisonous, but may still deliver a
painful bite. And Texas is home
to the water mocassin, whose
venom is highly poisonous.
“Water snakes populate those
farm ponds that provide them
with cover and food,” Higginbotham said. “Since eliminating
the food source such as small
fish and frogs is impractical,
elimination of cover is the best
choice for controlling their numbers. Heavy weed growth and
brush in and around the pond
provide cover that attracts
snakes, so cleaning up these
areas reduces places for them to
hide.”
22
35
52 TX Ginger made
films for this co.
53 split apart
54 decorative pitcher
56 TX eatery:
Pizza ___
57 this Beatty was in
"Big Bad John"
with TX Dean
58 commercials
12
19
18
30
42
The grubs, either black, yellow or white, develop in the
mouth and digestive system of a
fish-eating bird such as a heron.
As the bird wades, eggs fall into
the water and, after hatching,
burrow into aquatic snails. After
further development, the freeswimming larvae leave the snails
and attach themselves to fish.
Grubs can appear under the skin,
or in the flesh, fins or internal
organs of the fish.
Chemical control of the grubs
without killing fish in the process
is a “tricky proposition,” he said.
As the grubs can live within the
fish for two years or more, waiting them out is not an option
either. The best means of control
is to disrupt the grub’s life cycle.
“Since the wading birds are
protected by law, the best control methods are to decrease the
snail population present by
removing the food supply –
algae — or remove the snails
themselves,” Higginbotham said.
And the easiest way to reduce
the snail population is to stock
redear sunfish, he said. The
species earned its nickname of
“shellcracker” because it loves to
eat snails.
Then there’s leeches. Many
swimmers have made the disconcerting discovery that their
favorite swimming hole is a
home to the little bloodsuckers,
Higginbotham said.
Copyright 2005 by Orbison Bros.
7
26
bers for hunting. We understand.
It’s time to move on.
“Quite a few good stories
came out of this place,” Willie
said.
We grinned, each recalling a
particular episode from the past
10 years.
“Like that old black cow who
decided to die right here where
we’re standing,” Willie said.
“Good lord she stunk.”
The cow had swelled considerably before we found her. The
smell almost drove us away, but
we knew that there was no
option. We had to move her.
“It wasn’t dragging her off that
was so bad,” I said. “Even though
I was afraid she’d pull apart after
I tied that chain to her leg and
you took off with the Jeep. But
when we dropped her off in the
pasture and I didn’t realize she
was less than 200 yards from my
stand. I can still smell her.”
We laughed.
“If I’m not mistaken, that’s
where I found you puking in the
middle of the road the next year.”
Wrong Willie recalled.
“Yeah,” I said. “It wasn’t from
the black cow, though. I was just
sick.”
I apparently came down with a
raging case of food poisoning that
day. I made it to the road before
losing control of my stomach.
About the time Willie drove over
the hill, I pulled an Exorcist on
- Billy Higginbotham
TCE fisheries and wildlife specialist
by Charley & Guy Orbison
6
21
24
BY REAVIS Z. WORTHAM
“These unusual blobs may range
in size from a softball to a
basketball and are actually
freshwater invertebrates.”
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Safety is top concern for dairy producers
By JOHN COWAN
from
livelihood.
Commentary directly
Executive Director
the cow and
Therefore,
Texas Association of Dairymen farmers want to
placed into a
ensure their herd is healthy and refrigerated holding tank to preWith recent news reports their product is safe and of the serve both freshness and ensure
about “mad cow” disease and highest quality.
its safety.
theoretical bioterrorism scenarFrom the time the milk
Milk safety begins with the
ios, should consumers feel in cow herself. New state importa- leaves the cow, through transdanger when they visit the dairy tion rules guard against the out- portation to the processing cenaisle of their local supermarket? break of tuberculosis and other ter, until it is finally bottled, the
The answer is a resounding diseases on the farm. Strict stan- milk undergoes pasteurization
“no.”
dards govern how the herd is and other processes designed to
So far consumers don’t seem housed and what it can be fed. kill bacteria and protect quality.
to be concerned about the safety
The herd is frequently and It is repeatedly and rigorously
of America’s food supply, and thoroughly evaluated by trained tested and monitored.
that’s as it should be. Dairy veterinarians. Illnesses or other
Dairy products are among the
farmers take extremely seriously problems are quickly diagnosed most tested and regulated foods
their responsibility to provide a and addressed before other cows in this country, and American
safe and secure food supply. are affected or the food supply dairy products are among the
Still – if only for reassurance – I is compromised.
safest in the world.
think it’s important for conWhile most food safety meaVigilance continues in the
sumers to understand how the milking barn, which must meet sures have been in place for a
dairy industry is accomplishing strict sanitation standards and number of years, farmers in
this goal.
pass regular health inspections. recent years also have been
Food safety and security A cow’s udder is disinfected pri- focusing on the security of the
aren’t just a farmer’s desire to or to each time she is milked, milk supply.
do his job well. The herd and and milking equipment is thorSince the events of Sept. 11,
the farm are also a significant oughly cleaned both before and 2001, the dairy industry has
investment and a source of after each use. The milk is taken been working closely with the
U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, the Food and Drug
Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other
government agencies to safeguard the milk supply from a
variety of possible threats.
The industry has adopted
measures to secure both the
milk supply and the processing
facilities. For example, new
methods to seal milk tankers
make it evident if one is opened,
unauthorized, before it arrives
at a processing plant.
On the farm, dairy producers
are more vigilant than ever
about monitoring access to the
farm, its facilities and the herd.
Milk and dairy products have
been a vital part of the American diet since our country was
founded. And generations of
dairy farmers have made sure
the food they produce is both
healthy and safe. Today’s dairy
farmers, more than ever, are
committed to continuing that
tradition.
Give young producers a chance to buy land Panama bans U.S. beef
By BEN BOYD
AFBF YF&R Chairman
Along with worrying about earning a
profit, young farmers and ranchers are concerned about obtaining enough land to
establish an appropriately-sized farming
operation.
Land availability was a front-runner concern in the annual survey of American Farm
Bureau Federation Young Farmer and
Rancher (YF&R) members earlier this year.
It’s obvious that the economies of scale are
a concern because young farmers and
ranchers realize that in the future they cannot produce a living income on a small
acreage. They need land before they are
able to make a profit growing crops or raising livestock.
Farm Bureau members can provide
examples of farmers and ranchers, both
young and old, who have lost out to commercial developers in trying to buy agricultural land.
Young farmers and ranchers cannot outbid developers, but if the original landowner selling the land would get a tax break
for selling to a beginning producer, rather
than a commercial property developer, then
the land could be sold for less without the
landowner losing.
As we have seen, once developers get
their hands on land, it isn’t likely to stay in
agricultural production for very long.
If the American public wants continued
affordable food, a new generation of farmers and ranchers must be given the opportunity to become more competitive by buying productive land.
For this basic reason, YF&R members
have lined up to support the Beginning
Farmers and Ranchers Act of 2005 (H.R.
2034), introduced in the House by Reps.
Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Earl Pomeroy (DN.D.). Young Farm Bureau members are
also pushing for similar legislation to be
introduced in the Senate.
The most important aspect of the legislation would eliminate capital gains taxes
for farmers and ranchers who sell their agricultural land to a beginning producer. If the
land is sold to an established farmer, the
seller would earn a 50 percent capital gains
exemption. In both cases, the land is to stay
in agricultural production for 10 years from
the time of purchase. The maximum capital
gains exemption allowed would be
$500,000 per year.
As noted by the North Dakota Farm
Bureau, “Because farmers and ranchers
tend to own property for long periods of
time, the tax paid on the increase in land
value can be significant. This threatens the
transfer of farm land between agricultural
producers.”
Of special note is that the bill was introduced by two legislators from rural states,
Nebraska and North Dakota. These are not
states where we commonly think of urban
expansion rapidly displacing agricultural
operations. But urban sprawl is not limited
to a few states; it is occurring nationwide.
Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Penn.) notes that
agriculture is Pennsylvania’s leading industry, but the state is continually losing family farms. He says farmland preservation
programs are necessary, “but limitations
presented by the federal tax code present a
glass ceiling, hindering the effectiveness of
such programs.”
Young farmers and ranchers need House
and Senate support to give a new generation of producers a chance to earn a living
off the land.
Moving on at 50
By ALAN GUEBERT
Commentar y
Food and File column
Hemingway went to Paris to
discover, he once explained, if
“I could write two good sentences.” While there, however,
Papa wrote two good books, The
Sun Also Rises and Farewell to
Arms.
James Michener wrote several of his epic novels holed up
for months in the same Bangkok
hotel room. Sinclair Lewis
found Babbitt and Main Street
first in Italy.
Me, I came to central Illinois
and the spacious, white-walled
office hideaway above the backyard carriage house that doubles
as a garage. It’s been my idyllic
workshop since 1988 after a
tedious, two-year renovation of
what once was the hay mow and
oat bin for the horses below.
On July 8, however, it, and
the gorgeous, two-and-a-half
story white home that has been
the family’s sanctuary since
Sept. 1986, passes to a new
owner. Yep, the very lovely
Catherine and I are rounding a
corner in our now-50-year-old
lives; the smaller, simpler corner.
That means this office, this
quiet, 800-square-foot crow’s
nest of books, desks, computers,
golf clubs, pictures, poker chips
and paper, will shortly be traded
for 300-square-feet of uncluttered modernity.
Did I mention the view of the
(fish-holding) lake the new
office affords?
The move has been months
in the works. It takes months to
winnow the contents of nine file
cabinets to just
two; to choose
which of the 37
framed pictures
and plaques now looking down
on me here will look down on
me there; to sell or give away
45 of the 53 antique cameras
collected over the last 20 years.
It also takes time to find a
home for the 9-ft.-by-4-ft., handmade, 100-year-old library table
that has served as my desk since
the late ‘80s. I bought it (for
about a $1 per pound) when a
local library auctioned it off to
keep their lights on.
When I telephoned the
library to offer it back last
month, a deal was quickly
struck so off it goes, back to its
original and rightful owners.
Gone too are the four long
shelves and all the tottering
stacks of background material
they held for the several books I
planned to write but never did.
Recycling paper is very easy
because writing a book is very
hard.
Two weeks ago I owned six
computers. This week I own
four. Next week I’ll own two. Is
there any reason whatsoever to
hang onto – and move for the
third time – a 1984 Compaq
portable computer; a portable
that weighs 26 pounds?
Making the move, however,
will be the memories.
Like my mother-in-law graciously loaning me the money
to renovate this barn into an
office; then quietly turning away
as I sawed three huge holes into
its painted, redwood siding to
accommodate upper floor windows.
Then there’s the impossibly
hot June day in 1988 when I toted 41 sheets of heavy drywall
up the building’s 15 steps. The
only thing worse was the impossibly hot June day a year later
when I wrestled two, 25-footlong rolls of 12-foot-wide carpet up here to lay.
One day could have been
worse; the time a hulking local
farmer well-known for his bluntness climbed my stairway to
heaven with a tablet of complaints in-hand. The impromptu
meeting was interrupted five
minutes later when my neighbor, then the chief of police,
telephoned to see if I was still
alive.
Over the years this office has
served the family as well as
readers and editors. It was slumber party headquarters for
daughter Gracie; a warm, dry
place for son Paul when he’d
scoot home from college or law
school without warning to find
the house locked; a conference
room to plan numerous fishing
and canoeing trips with the
Bowling, Boats and Bait Boys.
What it never was, however,
was permanent. Few things ever
are. This huge, quiet oasis is
simply being swapped for a
smaller, even quieter oasis. An
oasis – have I mentioned? – that
overlooks a fish-holding lake.
And, yes, for a while, I’ll
miss it, but then I’ll move on
because around the corner await
after second BSE case
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) — Panama banned the importation of U.S. beef after the second case of bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) was discovered, officials said July 5.
The Agriculture Ministry said it notified U.S. officials of the
ban on July 5, and it took effect immediately.
Late last month, U.S. officials announced the nation’s first
homegrown case of BSE, tracing it to a 12-year-old Texas-born
cow.
Panama banned U.S. beef after the first case of BSE was
detected in the United States, but lifted the ban in October,
allowing the importation of products originating from animals no
more than 30 months old.
Although Panama raises most of its own beef, it does import
some, and the United States is one of the main suppliers.
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a new office, new stories and the
never-changing Catherine.
Outside starts at 6 P.M. Includes vehicles, farm equipment, misc.
Inside starts at 7 P. M. (air conditioned) Includes Antiques & Collectibles.
Saltillo Fast Stop
Fish Fry & Auction
(Alan Guebert’s “Farm and Food
File” column is published weekly in
more than 75 newspapers in North
America. He can be contacted at
[email protected].) © 2005 ag
comm
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Make the most of your irrigation dollar
If your soil will not absorb one inch of water
before it runs off, shut the water off, and resume
watering after the initial application has had time
to soak in. If you have an automatic sprinkler
system you can run through your cycles several
times to deliver the full amount. ON hard-to-wet
areas, such as heavy clays on slopes, dry spots
can develop so you may need to set a soaker
hose for a slower application rate. Set it at the top
of the slope and let it trickle down.
The best time to water is when air temperatures, solar radiation, and wind speeds are down,
and relative humidity is up. Tees conditions usually occur during late-evening through earlymorning hours. One caution on timing is that
night watering can incite fungal disease problems if you water more often than every four
days. If you have to water during the day, follow
the shade patterns across your yard. Temperatures are cooler, humidity is higher, and solar
radiation is significantly reduced in the shade so evaporative losses
are kept to a minimum.
Use low trajectory, large droplet sprinklers. The finer the droplet,
and the longer it stays in the air, the greater the loss to evaporation.
Avoid sprinklers that produce a fine mist which evaporate more
water and can blow off course more easily, resulting in dry spots.
Ground covers, trees, flowers, vegetables, and shrubbery borders,
virtually everything except turf, can be mulched and irrigated with
drip irrigation. Losses to evaporation during irrigation are reduced
to virtually zero regardless of the time of day or night. Drip irrigation kits provide instructions for application rates to be made
according to the specifications of the system used.
By JOHN N. COOPER
Denton County Extension Agent-Horticulture
During the summer, when water demand is
at its peak, up to two-thirds of the domestic
water supply is used to irrigate landscapes. Subsoil moisture remains adequate from a wet winter but with a drier than normal spring, we are
already seeing an increase in demand for irrigation water this year.
Saving a dollar on water is like putting money in your pocket. Since people water their
landscapes for only one reason, to keep their
plants healthy, knowing the watering needs of
your plants is your key to making the most of
the water you buy.
You waste water when your plants don’t
need to be watered but you water anyway.
Some plants need to be watered more often than
others but all are conditioned to need less water
when they are stressed by extended watering intervals.
During the summer, when the subsoil moisture us done, roots
only grow to the depth you water so, regardless of the plant, you
always need to water through the bottom of the root system. This
maximizes root volume and the capacity of your plants to standup to
the summer heat.
One inch of water goes down six inches into the soil. Since lawn
grasses need to root down six inches deep, they should receive a full
inch of water per application. Lawn grasses wilt in the afternoon
heat everyday but recover in the cool of the night. The day your turf
is wilted in the morning, is the day it should be watered. If you are
applying a full inch of water at a time, each application to lawns
should be sufficient for a week or so in the summer.
To determine how long to run your irrigation system to deliver
one inch of water, set five coffee cans at various points throughout
the area to be irrigated. Turn your system on. Record the time it
Thinking about planting or
takes for each can to catch one inch of water and set the run-time for transplanting a tree? Forget it each zone accordingly.
the weather is far too hot. Better
to do that between October and
February.
Trimming trees is OK, so
long as you don’t take off too
much. But since conditions are
so hot and dry in Texas, the best
thing for trees is to make sure
they’re getting enough water.
That’s the advice from Paul
Johnson, an urban forester with
the Texas Forest Service who
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“It’s been very dry,” Johnson
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> We offer SBA and FSA (guaranteed) loans
we’re about 7-8 inches behind
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normal rainfall for the year, so
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it’s very important that we provide trees with the moisture they
We believe in making the loan process
need to remain healthy.”
as simple and easy as possible.
How much is enough? Johnson said about an inch of water
To find out more about a particular loan program or
once every week or two is good
which one will maximize your financial circumstances, contact
for most mature trees.
one of our experienced, professional agri-loan officers.
Fried Green Tomatoes
Green tomatoes
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. pepper
Slice firm green tomatoes into 1/2
inch slices. Discard the core and
any hard spots. Dampen slices
and dip in the mixture of
cornmeal, flour and pepper
(salt optional). Fry in a small
amount of peanut oil until
golden brown. Turn and
fry on the other side.
Drain well and
serve hot.
7/14/05
Tree health care necessary in hot weather
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CARTHAGE,TX
903-693-3801
A landmark study of one the
most agonizing decisions faced
by men with early prostate cancer — Should I have surgery?
Or should I wait and see if it
spreads? — found that for those
With New-Process Soy Best ®
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lawn then manually turn on the
sprinkler system, he said. However long it takes to fill that can
with 1 inch of water is how long
your system should run once a
week.
“One good, deep soaking of
an inch of water per week is best
for landscape lawns, plants and
trees,” Johnson said. “It promotes a larger and deeper root
system and you’re training your
landscape to be drought tolerant.”
But a word of caution: Don’t
abruptly switch from several
irrigations per week to only one
per week. Wean your yard slowly from frequent watering, Johnson said. If watering every other
day, go to a half-inch of water
twice weekly for a few weeks
before watering only once weekly.
“If it’s really, really hot,
water twice a week,” he said.
“And if your lawn slopes, water
until it begins to run off. Stop,
then restart. Or if you have a
high clay content soil that won’t
hold much water, water a halfinch on two consecutive days.”
At his own home, Johnson
prefers to use a soaker hose for
several hours once a week.
“If you use a 50-foot soaker
hose,” he said, “you need to run
about 100 gallons through it to
equal 1 inch of water. It is better
to water longer and less often.
An hour once a week is better
than 15 minutes every day. You
can actually have a tree die from
drought even though you water
it every day.”
Finally, Johnson said, do not
water at the tree trunk. Water out
at the drip line, or the edge of
the foliage all around the tree.
Let the soaker hose run for several hours to thoroughly soak the
soil to a depth of 12-18 inches,
he says.
For more information, contact the county Extension agent
or call Johnson at 956-969-5654.
Study finds prostate surgery for men over 65 is best
By LINDA A. JOHNSON
CENTER,TX
936-598-3311
But don’t be fooled into
thinking a brief rain is an excuse
not to water, he said.
“The brief, scattered showers
we’ve been getting provide only
minuscule amounts of water,
about a tenth of an inch or so,”
he said. “That’s not anywhere
near what trees need.”
If you’re watering your lawn
properly, that should be sufficient for any trees growing in
the area. The key word being
“properly,” Johnson said.
“Unfortunately, many homeowners don’t know how much
water their automatic sprinkler
systems are delivering or how to
adjust the amount of water it
delivers,” he said. “It’s kind of
like VCRs. People just never
learn how to program these systems. They tend to leave their
sprinkler systems on the settings
the installer set them at.”
To determine how much
water your system delivers, set
an empty tuna fish can on your
under 65, operating clearly
saves lives, cutting the death
rate by more than half.
For men over 65, however,
the jury is still out. These men
account for the vast majority of
prostate cancer patients.
Because of the findings,
younger men ‘‘are much less
likely to be encouraged to
watch and wait,’’ said Dr. Durado Brooks, director of prostate
cancer at the American Cancer
Society.
Prostate cancer is the second-most common type of cancer in American men, after skin
cancer. About 232,000 new cases and 30,000 deaths are
expected this year in the United
States, according to the cancer
society.
Often, doctors recommend
‘‘watchful waiting,’’ because in
many men, the tumor grows so
slowly that they die of something else before the cancer
ever kills them. Also, surgery
to remove the diseased prostate
carries its own risks: impotence
and incontinence.
The latest study, published in
the May 12 New England Journal of Medicine, followed
Scandinavian men under age 75
for a decade after surgery, an
unusually long period for such
research. Overall, it found that
surgery reduces deaths from
any cause — not just cancer of
the prostate — by nearly half.
About 9.5 percent of those
who got surgery and 15 percent
of those in the watchful waiting group died within 10 years
of being diagnosed. But all the
benefit appeared to be among
men under 65, where the
watchful waiting group had
more than double the death rate
of the surgery group.
The lead author of the study,
Dr. Anna Bill-Axelson of University Hospital in Uppsala,
Sweden, said urologists who
favor surgery over watchful
waiting will now be able to say
that in younger men, ‘‘there is
finally proof it saves lives.’’
Surgery ‘‘is ideal for the
patient who is curable and
going to live a long time,’’ said
Dr. Patrick Walsh, a professor
of urology at Johns Hopkins
Medical Institutions who in
1982 invented a nerve-sparing
type of prostate surgery that
sharply reduces chances of
impotence and incontinence.
Prostate cancer strikes one in
six American men during their
lifetime, killing one in 33.
About 60,000 Americans
undergo prostate cancer surgery
each year. A man’s age, his
overall health, how advanced
the cancer is and how aggressive it appears under the microscope are among the factors
doctors use in deciding whether
to recommend surgery.
But some recent research has
shown that even slow-growing
tumors can become more lethal
after 15 years.
On
the
Net:
http://www.nejm.org
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Kansas State University Dairy Day Report 1997
2
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Ph: 940-726-3203
Toll Free: 800-366-9584
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Territory Managers
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940-733-2971
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Gene Dunham, Southwest Dair y Museum pioneer, retires
by KARI KRAMER
Gene Dunham has spent his last
23 years establishing and working
with the Southwest Dairy Museum in
Hopkins County.
On June 25, a reception was held
in his honor as he stepped down as
the museum’s president and general
manager.
During the early 1980s, Dunham
served as the Federal Milk Market
Administrator for North Texas. He
began working with Phil Porter to
develop a museum devoted to the
dairy industry of the region. Porter
named Dunham president of the corporation responsible for establishing
the museum.
Dunham spent countless hours
seeking bonds and donations to fund
the museum. In addition, he was
involved in the development of the
mobile dairy classrooms.
At the reception, Porter spoke of
the lives Dunham has touched. “Gene
can and should be deeply proud that
this work has given more meaning to
his life than almost any other thing he
could have done,” said Porter. “Young
children all over the Southwest will
have healthier, stronger bodies and
A public relations nightmare
was pretty much avoided recently,
according to the International
Dairy Foods Association’s (IDFA)
Susan Ruland.
Speaking in IDFA’s monthly
“Processor’s Perspective” on the
July 6 DairyLine, Ruland pointed
to the Physician’s Committee for
Responsible Medicine’s (PCRM)
challenge to the link between
dairy product consumption and
weight management and an analysis by a business professor at
Stanford University that raised
concern about the possible bio-terrorist threat to the nation’s milk
supply.
Ruland said you would have
had to live in a cave to not have
heard about dairy in the news. The
point she wanted to make was that
the industry responded with one
voice and how well IDFA, DMI,
and National Milk worked together.
“The checkoff programs
really makes that possible,”
Ruland said, “by funding these
efforts.” She said the cooperation between processors and
producers has been in the making for about five years to “deal
with attacks on milk and dairy
products,” and she emphasized
that, “when it comes to the safety or reputation of dairy products, we’re all on the same page
and that came through last
week.”
Ruland reported that they
responded quickly with “solid science and facts,” and said the three
“work together on a daily basis on
the messages and how to coordinate and monitor these kinds of
issues.” She added that, while
there are negative issues in the
media, “the positive media is out
there and is extremely strong.”
Consumer research shows that
people will mention that they
heard positive stories about dairy
at about three times the level of
anything negative.
“Milk and dairy products will
always be in the news,” she said,
“because people love our products
and they’re virtually in every
household in America every day.”
National Milk’s Chris Galen
asked in his weekly DairyLine
report, on July 7, why this Stanford professor needed to publish
his research in the National
Academy of Sciences (NAS)
journal. He said the dairy
industry has been well aware, as
are federal food authorities and
law enforcement, of the potential for contamination of the
milk supply. He said the effort
to reduce or eliminate those
risks was one of the things that
NMPF has been working on for
some time with processors as
well as national security authorities.
“This professor certainly could
have come to us directly and
shared his concerns,” Galen said,
“as opposed to trying to make a
big deal out of it,” because it was
“The employees put together an album of pictures, each
one wrote something to me about work and what we’d
been able to do. That was my most important gift
and one that I’ll always treasure.”
-- Gene Dunham
better lives than they would if it were
not for the dedicated and creative
work of Gene Dunham.”
Dunham not only helped establish
the Southwest Dairy Museum, he has
worked with various groups in several
other states, all in the name of dairy.
In 2004, Dunham and members of
the Southwest Dairy Museum’s board
of directors traveled to Indiana to tour
a new dairy museum.
Porter recalled the end of the tour.
The group was taken to the front of
the building where a cast bronze
image of the person the building was
named after stood.
“It was the Gene Dunham Building,” said Porter. “In honor of all the
help, ideas, and support Gene had given them in the development and
design of their dairy museum.”
More than 100 people attended the
June 25 reception at the Southwest
Dairy Museum. Guests from around
not only published in the NAS
journal. The New York Times
reported it, he said, plus it
received a lot of other major
media attention.
As to how vulnerable we are,
Galen said the industry has been
doing several things with processors, the FDA, and state authorities the past two years, well before
this paper was written, in examining the vulnerabilities in the food
supply.
One key factor is a voluntary
system being widely used that
tags milk tankers as they leave
the farm with temper evident
seals so that if anything was
introduced by opening the
tanker, it would be known when
it arrives at the milk plant.
Another preventative measure,
he said, is adjusting pasteurization
temperatures to better inactivate
any germ or toxin introduced in
the milk, another procedure that
has been widely adopted. Galen
said, “We have been ahead of the
curve even before this paper came
out in addressing a lot of these
security issues.”
Meanwhile, the anti dairy, animal rights group, PCRM,
announced at a June 28 press conference a lawsuit to stop what it
called “false and misleading
claims by dairy product manufacturers that milk consumption promotes weight and fat loss.” They
also called for dairy products to
be labeled with a warning to lactose intolerant consumers.
The National Dairy Council’s
Vice President for Nutrition and
Health Promotion, Ann Marie
Krautheim, said in the July 4
“DMI Update” that the checkoff responded aggressively by
communicating the evidence
they have supporting these
claims. She added the dairy
industry and other independent
groups have funded research
regarding the role that dairy
plays in weight management
and said “there’s an extensive
body of evidence backing the
connection.” They are also
working with the USDA, nutrition experts, and health professional organizations to “accurately communicate this science
to the public.”
The issue of lactose intolerance
has some truth to it but Krautheim
called it a “big myth,” the idea
that lactose intolerance requires
dairy avoidance. Lactose intolerant consumers can and should still
consume dairy products, she said,
and reminded us that the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans recommends that the lactose intolerant
still choose dairy foods to meet
calcium requirements as well as
other nutrient needs. Aged cheese
and yogurt can be tolerated, she
said, because they are naturally
low in lactose and lactose free
milk is available.
Checking the markets for the
Fourth of July holiday-shortened
week; cash block cheese inched
the country gathered to pay tribute to
a friend and colleague.
The museum provided Dunham
with some large parting gifts, including two Jersey cows. In addition, that
very morning, the board had voted to
dedicate the Southwest Dairy Museum in honor of Gene Dunham and his
wife, Dorothy.
Porter went on to praise his colleague. “Untold numbers of people
may not know and never have heard
of Dunham, but he can retire and take
pleasure in the knowledge that his life
has had meaning and significance in
making the world a better place.”
up a quarter cent and closed at
$1.55 per pound, 19 cents above a
year ago. Barrel held all week at
$1.5075, 15 cents above a year
ago. Twelve cars of block traded
hands and none of barrel. The
NASS-surveyed U.S. average
block price hit $1.4893, up 0.8
cent. Barrel averaged $1.4525,
down 0.4 cent. Class III futures
were down. Insiders blamed the
terrorist bombings in London.
Butter closed at $1.6325, down
5 1/4 on the week and 23 cents
below a year ago. Thirty-five cars
were sold. NASS butter averaged
$1.5766, up 7.9 cents.
Preliminary data from USDA’s
Dairy Products report pegs May
butter production at 120.3 million
pounds, up 4.6 million pounds or
4 percent from April, and 10.2
million or 9.2 percent above a
year ago. Nonfat dry milk production totaled 122.5 million
pounds, up 10.1 percent from
April, but 19 percent below a year
ago.
American-type cheese totaled
333.4 million pounds, up 5 million pounds or 1.5 percent from
April, and 900,000 pounds or 0.3
percent above a year ago. Total
cheese, at 782.5 million pounds,
was up 25.6 million or 3.4 percent
from April, and 30.5 million or 4
percent above a year ago.
Cheddar production was up 2.7
percent from a year ago in Wisconsin while California output
was down 2.9 percent. Minnesota
was down 4.2 percent. California
butter production was down 2 percent from a year ago however
Wisconsin was up a churning 44.8
percent.
Nothing unusual is happening in the dairy markets,
according to Jim Tillison, executive director of the Alliance of
Western Milk Producers.
Speaking in his monthly DairyLine report on July 5, Tillison
said some were surprised at the
strength in butter but he
reminded us that, “we are in the
summer months and when it
Left: A cake, complete with the Southwest Dairy Museum’s logo, at the
June 25 reception read, “Gene Dunham, Look at what you have built.”
Above: Gene Dunham, (left in hat), talks with Calvin Prince. Prince was on
the Hopkins County Commissioner’s Court when the orginal bond for the
musuem was approved.
-- Photos courtesy of Southwest Dairy Museum
gets hot like it is right now, ice
cream sales take off and milk
production goes down so there
is a squeeze on the amount of
butterfat available.”
He advised dairymen to enjoy
the stable prices we’ve seen the
last several months and credited
in part National Milk’s CWT supply management program. Looking to 2006, Tillison said most
people predict a substantial
increase in milk production but
quickly adds that the CWT is
watching the market indicators
closely and is poised to launch
another herd retirement program
when needed.
Meanwhile; two critical
USDA crop reports were
released in late June, but it’s the
weather that’s driving grain
prices higher and that could
affect dairy profitability and
expansion, according to Dairy
Profit Weekly Editor Dave
Natzke.
Speaking in his weekly DairyLine report, on July 8, Natkze said
the USDA’s June Crop Acreage
Outlook estimated corn acreage at
81.6 million acres, the highest level since 1985. And, while farmers
increased corn plantings from
their previous intentions, the
increase was less than expected
by many grain traders, according
to Natzke, as fewer acres were
switched from soybeans to corn.
USDA estimated 2005 soybean
plantings at 73.3 million acres,
down 3 percent from last year’s
record high and below the estimate issued earlier this spring. A
second USDA report found that
2004 corn and soybeans remaining in storage is well above a year
ago but less than what many analysts expected.
Corn stocks in all positions on
June 1 totaled 4.32 billion
bushels, up 45 percent from a year
ago and the highest June 1 level
since 1988. Soybeans stored in all
positions totaled 700 million
bushels, up 70 percent from June
1, 2004.
“On the heels of these reports
is a forecast for a continuation of
hot and dry growing conditions in
some major corn and soybean
states,” Natzke reported, “and
corn especially is beginning to
feel the stress in some rain-shorted areas.”
Grain futures prices at the
Chicago Board of Trade were
sharply higher early in the week
of July 4, he said, although they
declined somewhat after USDA’s
weekly crop weather report
showed conditions weren’t as bad
as some thought.
“As we approach the critical
crop pollination periods of July
and early August,” Natzke
warned, “we may see markets
fluctuate a great deal based on
weather reports and, if current
conditions continue to push prices
higher, it could mean tighter profit margins for many dairy producers buying feed.”
A slight decline in June milk
prices combined with higher
prices for corn and soybeans
sent the milk-feed price ratio to
its lowest level in 15 months, he
said. The ratio is the pounds of
16 percent mixed dairy feed
equal in value to one pound of
whole milk, and is an indicator
of milk income compared to
costs. A ratio of 3.0 or higher is
considered positive for dairy
expansion. Based on latest
USDA estimates, the June 2005
ratio of 2.91 is the lowest since
March 2004.
One interesting aspect of the
report, Natzke said, is that about
52 percent of the U.S. corn
acreage and 87 percent of the soybeans planted are varieties resistant to insects or herbicides,
developed through biotechnology.
Another important component
of dairy producer feed costs is hay
and the USDA said that producers expect to harvest 61.7 million
acres in 2005, down fractionally
from 2004. Harvested alfalfa and
alfalfa mixtures are forecast at
22.1 million acres, up 2 percent
from last year. All other hay is
expected to total 39.6 million
acres, down 2 percent.
Declines in alfalfa hay acres
are expected in states along the
Pacific coast and in the Central
Great Plains. Alfalfa hay acreage
in Nebraska, Wisconsin, and
Kansas is expected to decrease by
50,000 acres from 2004. However, large increases are expected in
Montana, up 300,000, and North
Dakota, up 150,000.
The largest decrease of all
other hay acreage is in Texas
where expected acreage is down
500,000 acres from last year.
This decline is attributed to
many growers grazing out their
hay fields instead of cutting this
year, Natzke said, due to large
amounts of hay stocks and dry
weather conditions.
Have a “dairy” good week!
© 2005 Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited by international law.
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Texas Master Naturalist fall training classes offered
Fourteen chapters of the
Texas Master Naturalist program
will be conducting fall training
classes for volunteers who want
to help conserve natural
resources.
The Texas Master Naturalist
program, which has 33 chapters
statewide, develops a local corps
of well-informed citizen volunteers who educate their communities about the management of
natural resources.
The main qualification needed to become a Certified Texas
Master Naturalist is an interest
in learning and playing an active
part in conservation. Volunteers
will receive a minimum 40
hours of training from educators
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from universities, state and federal agencies, nature centers and
museums. Training topics
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ecological concepts, eco-regions
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expected to give 40 hours of service a year in community education, demonstration and habitat
enhancement projects. They are
also expected to pursue a minimum of eight hours of advanced
training in areas of personal
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Texas Master Naturalist
Chapters in North and East
Texas offering volunteer training this fall are listed below.
Enrollment is limited in most
chapters. Some registration
deadlines have passed, but contact the chapter to see if seating
is still available.
• Athens – Post Oak Chapter.
Training starts on Oct. 1. The
registration deadline is Sept. 17.
For information, call 903-8875061.
• Denton – Elm Fork Chap-
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and the registration deadline is
Aug. 25. Training begins Sept.
6. For more information, phone
940-349-2883 or e-mail [email protected]
• Fort Worth – Cross Timbers Chapter. Orientation begins
on Aug. 30. For more information, phone 817-355-4832 or email [email protected]
Texas Parks and Wildlife
By BRIAN TRIPLETT
Smith County Extension Agent
In an effort to help educate forest landowners about the profitable and wise use of their forest land, the Texas Cooperative
Extension is offering a series entitled “Evening of Forestry” starting this month and continuing through December.
Thee series, based upon the award winning, Master Tree Farmer
program, is geared toward landowners and persons considering
landownership who are interested in managing their land. The
series will cover the topics of sustainable forestry, managing the
land to meet your objectives and communicating with professional foresters. The series host is Dr. Eric Taylor, Extension forestry
specialist.
Dates and topics for the series are: July 26, Managing the Forest
Denton County
Angelina County
Bowie County
Aug. 3 - Bowie County Row Crop Tour, 10 a.m., Keller Farm. For more
details, contact the Extension office, (903)628-6702.
Aug. 17-20 - 35th Annual Pioneer Days, New Boston. (903)628-2581.
Cherokee County
thru July 16 - Western Week, Jacksonville. Contests, parade, rodeo and
more. For more information, call (903)586-2217.
Gregg County
July 18 - Salsa Contest, Gregg County Extension office, 405 E. Marshall,
Longview. Salsa with recipe card and entrant’s information should be brought to
the office between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. Youth and adult divisions. Prizes will be
awarded. (903)843-4019.
July 22-24 - Parade of Homes, Longview. Repeats July 29-31. For more
information call (903)758-6416.
July 30-31 - Longview Kennel Club Dog Show, 9 a.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. Sunday, Maude Cobb Activity Center, Longview. (903)984-5042.
Aug. 5-6 - Gun and Knife Show, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, Maude Cobb Activity Center, Longview. (985)624-8577.
Henderson County
July 15 - Preregistration deadline for the July 19 Private Applicator Training
and Testing sset for Trinity Valley Community College, Athens. To sign up,
request the new training manuel, and for more details, contact the Extension
office, (903)675-6130.
Hopkins County
Collin County
July 21 - North Texas Crops Field Day, Prosper Research Farm on FM
1461, Prosper. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m., view of research plots and
speakers begin at 8 a.m. Lunch served at 12:15 p.m. 3 CEUs available.
(972)548-4233.
Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
July 14 - Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy public input meeting, 7-9 p.m., Dallas Zoo. For more information, call (214)670-5656.
Aug. 2 - Biotechnology Educators Conference, 8:30 a.m., Texas A&M
Research and Extension Center, 17360 Coit Road, Dallas. For more information, call (972) 952-9255.
July 23 - Sheep and Goat Parasite Clinic, 9 to 3 p.m., Sulphur Springs High
School Ag Science building. Registration, $30, begins at 8 a.m. Clinic will provide hands-on instruction by Dr. Steve Hart, of the Goat Research Center in
Langston, Okla. Contact the Extension office for details, (903)885-3443.
Hunt County
July 14-17 - Hunt County Rodeo and Festival, Hunt County fairgrounds,
Greenville. Event includes UPRA rodeo, motorcycle rally, car show, ranch
rodeo, horsemanship clinics, carnival, barrel racing and horse show, exhibits,
entertainment, and lots more. (903)543-6470 or (903)413-0263.
Kaufman County
July 20-21 - Food Manager Certification Training, Terrell Sub Courthouse,
Terrell. $79 includes materials and certification examination. (972)563-0233.
Lamar County
July 14 - Cancellation of the regularly-scheduled “Paris office day” conducted by the USDA Rural Development staff from Mount Pleasant. Regular
office days will resume the second Thursday in August (Aug. 11) from 9 a.m. to
noon, at the USDA Service Center, 1201 N. Collegiate, Suite 500, Paris.
(903)572-5411, ext. 4.
Aug. 30-Sept. 3 - Red River Valley Fair, county fairgrounds, Paris.
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July 29-30 - Naples Watermelon Festival, the Melon Patch, Naples.
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July 14 - Rains County Extension Program Council and Rains County Fair
Association meeting, 7 p.m., county fairgrounds, Emory. (903)473-2412.
July 19 - 4-H Club Day Camp, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Rains County Fairgrounds,
Emory. $5 per child. (903)473-2412.
Red River County
July 16 - Third Saturday Trades Day, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., on the square,
Clarksville. Rain or shine. Lots of new, used, unique, and homemade items.
Booth rentals ($10) available. (903)427-2645.
Rusk County
1-903-572-2629
July 18 - “Living Well with Diabetes” class on medications, noon, Rusk
County Extension office, Henderson. (903)657-0376.
July 26 - First in a series of six monthly “Evening of Forestry” educational
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tact Sonny Arnold, assistant program coordinator, 111 Nagle
Hall, 2258, TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-2258, or email [email protected] or
phone 979-458-1099.
‘Evening of Forestry’ series to begin this month
July 22 - Deadline for entering samples for the Aug. 25 Annual Denton
County Hay Show. $5 per sample (square bale or 10-15 pound sample from
round bale in a sturdy, non-plastic sack). For complete rules and drop-off locations, contact the Extension office, (940)349-2880 or email [email protected].
Aug. 19-27 - 76th Annual North Texas State Fair, Denton. (940)387-2632.
Aug. 25 - Annual Denton County Hay Show and Judging Contest, in conjunction with the North Texas State Fair. (940)349-2880.
July 18 - Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy public input meeting, 7-9 p.m., Ellen Trout Zoo, Lufkin. (936)633-0399.
July 26 - Pesticide license recertification meeting, 6:30 p.m., Extension
office, Lufkin. 3 CEUs available. (936)634-6414.
Aug. 2 - Required meeting for all Angelina County 4-H clubs representatives, 6 p.m., Extension office, Lufkin. (936)634-6414.
Aug. 10 - Morning Pasture Discussion, 7 a.m., IHOP, Lufkin. 1 CEU available. Contact the Extension office for details, (936)634-6414, ext. 102.
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Site; Aug. 23, Silviculture Prescriptions (the art and science of
growing forest trees); Sept. 20, Controlling Unwanted Vegetation;
Oct. 27. Forest Health; Nov. 24, An Introduction to Best Management Practices; and, Dec. 13, Forest Measurements and Forest
Products. For a detailed agenda, visit the Extension Forestry site at
http://extensionforestry.tamu.edu.
Each of these programs will take place at Texas A&M Research
and Extension Center at Overton, Program time each evening will
be from 6 to 9 p.m. The gee to attend is $15 per person per evening
(fee includes speaker notes, handouts and refreshments). Interested parties may attend as many or as few sessions as desired.
For more information on this program contact Crystal Littlefield
at 903-834-6191 or [email protected]. For directions to the
Overton Center, visit their website http://overton.tamu.edu and
click on “maps.”
meetings, 6 to 9 p.m., Texas A&M Research and Extension Center, Overton.
Series, hosted by Extension Forestry Specialist Dr. Eric Taylor, will cover the
topics of sustainable forestry, managing the land to meet your objectives, and
communicating with professional foresters. Cost is $15 per person per evening.
Attend one or all meetings. Other meetings are Aug. 23, Sept. 20, Oct. 27, Nov.
24, and Dec. 13. For a detailed agenda, visit online at http:///extensionforestry.tamu.edu or call Crystal Littlefield at (903)834-6191.
Sept. 10 - Royal “B” Fall Round-up Brahman Sale, Rusk County Ag Center,
Henderson. For more information, call sale manager Don Brightwell (903)8632196.
Titus County
Aug. 17 - North East Texas Regional Water Planning Group meeting, 1
p.m., Extension office, Mount Pleasant.
Upshur County
Aug. 2 - Public comment hearing on the NETRWPG’s recommendation to
remove Marvin Nichols Reservoir from any region’s water plan, 7 p.m., civic
center, Gilmer.
Van Zandt County
Aug. 8 - Van Zandt County 4-H Awards Banquet, 6:30 p.m., First Baptist
Church, Canton.
Aug. 12 - Deadline to contact Tommy to show lambs, goats, or hogs at
major shows. Call (903)567-4149.
Aug. 18 - 4-H Fall Shows Sign Up Meeting, 6 p.m. Call (903)567-4149 for
more information.
Wood County
July 18 - 4-H Fun Day at Mill Creek Farm, 9:15 a.m., meet at the Extension
office. Sing up by July 15. For more information, call (903)763-2924.
Aug. 9 - 4-H Back to School Cook-Out, Black Oak Ranch, Mineola.
Aug. 22 - Texas Hunter Safety Course, 6 p.m., Winnsboro High School,
Winnsboro. Must attend all three dates, Aug. 22, 25, 26. $10 fee. For more
information, call (903)629-3539.
In the Lone Star State
July 14 - Public comment hearing for Region I water plan, 6 p.m., Jefferson
County Courthouse, 6 p.m., 1125 Pearl St., Beaumont.
July 14-16 - Managing Deer Habitat Workshop, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station near Sonora. $395 fee. To register, or to learn more about the
programs, go to http://rangeland.tamu.edu/research/arm/, or call (979) 8455580.
July 14-16 - Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association Annual Meeting,
Kerrville. (325)655-7388.
July 17-20 - 2005 Texas Pecan Growers Annual Conference and Trade
Show, Renaissance Hotel at the Arboretum, Austin. (979)846-3285.
July 18 - Preregistration deadline for the July 23 Texas Pork Producers
Association’s Annual Convention, Inn of the Hills Resort, Kerrville. The convention will feature concurrent programs – one on show pigs, and the other on
commercial pork production. $20 registration includes dinner buffet. (512)4530615.
July 18-20 - Gathering of Goat Producers IV, Guadalupe County Fairgrounds, Seguin. (830) 620-3440.
July 23 - Harris County Equine Health Workshop, 8:30 a.m., Sam Houston
Race Park, 7575 N. Sam Houston Parkway W, Houston. The pre-registration
fee of $10, which includes lunch, is due by July 20. Registration at the door is
$20. For more information call Reese at (281)855-5620.
July 23-27 - 2005 Southwestern Fertilizer Conference, Marriott Rivercenter
Hotel, San Antonio. www.SWFertilizer.org.
July 28 - High Plains Vegetable Field Day and Farm Tour, 9 a.m., Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Lubbock. Call (806)746-6101 by July 20
to register.
July 28 - Homeland Security Issues for Small Water Systems Workshop, 8
a.m., Lower Colorado River Authority’s McKinney Roughs Nature Park Center,
Cedar Creek. Call the Texas Water Resources Institute at (979) 845-1851 or go
to http://water-workshop.tamu.edu.
July 30 - American Phytopathological Society mold seminar, 8 a.m., Austin
Convention Center. For more information, call (651)994-3802.
July 30-31 - Texas Junior Charolais Association leadership retreat, Camp
Cooley Ranch, Franklin. Cost is $20 for members. (800)251-0305.
Aug. 1-5 - Texas Tech’s Feed Manufacturing Short Course, Lubbock. For
more information, call (806)742-2492.
Aug. 3-4 - Ranch Estate Planning Seminar, College Station. Cost is
$100/person. For more information, call (979)845-2226.
Aug. 10-12 - Texas Produce Convention, Sheraton Beach Hotel, South
Padre Island.
Aug. 20 - Equestrian Market Day, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Texas A&M Louis Pearce
Pavilion, College Station. For more information, call (979)776-2817 or
(979)589-2949.
Aug. 20 - First Annual Oil Country Classic ABGA Sanctioned Open Junior
and Senior Boer Goat Shows, Navarro County Youth Expo Center, Corsicana.
Entry fee is $20 per head per show. For show order and more details, contact
Tony Barlow, (903)872-3613 or (903)641-3499.
Aug. 31 - Free “Beef Quality Assurance” Training, Levels I and II, Muncy. For
more information call (800)242-7820, ext. 118, ask for Mark Perrier.
Other States
July 24 - American Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting, Cincinnati,
Ohio. Call (419)495-2993 for more information.
Aug. 13 - Southern Plains Beef Symposium, hosted by Noble Foundation
and Carter Co. Oklahoma Cooperative Extension, at the convention center in
Ardmore, Okla. Experts will cover a wide range of topics, from herd health and
biosecurity to retail beef targets and profitability. Ribeye steak lunch and trade
show included with $20 pre-registration ($25 at the door). (580)223-5810.
Settling dust around feed yards a matter of management
Cattle move, dirt stirs, dust
rises – it’s an inevitable part of
the livestock industry.
But it’s something feedlot
management and researchers are
working to minimize and control.
The Texas Beef Cattle Air
Quality Emphasis, administered
by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service as a part of the
Environmental Quality Incentives Program, is a partnership
with Texas A&M University and
Texas Cattle Feeders Association.
“We believe in our industry
and want to be more progressive,
to be better stewards,” said
Kevin Bunch at the Bar G Feedyard near Hereford during a
recent tour by the Agricultural
Air Quality Task Force.
“We have procedures and
policies in place that are doable
and we want to present these
things to the legislature, so they
see we are doing the things that
should be done,” Bunch said.
At Bar G, he said, dust is
managed through frequent
manure removal, as well as a
sprinkler system.
Greg Sokora, a conservation
service civil engineer from Lubbock, said the sprinkler system
is designed to put out one-eighth
inch of water per day across the
yard. The system takes 2.5 hours
to make a complete cycle
through the yard, spending six
minutes per pen. It rotates across
the yard throughout the day,
except for a short period in the
afternoon, he said.
Computer controlled and
based on golf course irrigation,
the solid-set sprinkler system
pumps 2,100 gallons per minute
with 80-90 pounds per square
inch of pressure at the nozzles,
Scraping the top loose mixture of manure and dirt from
feedlot pens controls some dust.
Sokora said.
Four such systems were
installed in feed yards last year.
This year is the first for monitoring and logging how much
water is needed to keep the
manure packed and somewhere
between 20 and 30 percent moisture, he said.
Meteorological conditions –
wind speed, temperature and
moisture – are figured into the
system, Sokora said, because
“our water is very precious. As a
general rule, we’re going to stay
as close to the dry side as we
can.”
The system should help keep
odors down and can be used to
help control flies by putting
insecticides in with the water, he
said.
Dr. Brent Auvermann, Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station
associate professor of agricultural engineering in Amarillo, said
corn at its peak water usage
takes more than one-half inch of
water per day.
Comparatively, cool season
data this year shows the sprinkler systems require less than
one-quarter inch per day to
replace evaporation from the
feedlot surface, he said.
The solid-set sprinkler systems are one method of dust
control; however, feed yard
operators have found no one
solution is right for every location.
Older yards that sprawl along
the topography of the land are
difficult to retrofit with solid-set
sprinkler systems, Auvermann
said.
A water curtain is an option
Solid-set sprinkler system nozzles are capable of shooting water across feedlot pens to
help settle dust.
-- Texas Agricultural Experiment Station photo by Kay Ledbetter
for these yards where dust control may be critical, he said. A
pilot-scale
water
curtain
designed for a Hereford-area
feed yard uses about the same
amount of water, or less, as a
sprinkler system to suppress dust
at the corral boundary.
Spraying about 1-2 gallons
per minute per foot, the 270-foot
long, 43-foot high booms put out
300-320 gallons per minute of
water each evening. That’s when
dust concentrations are highest
and atmospheric conditions are
stable, he said.
The prototype’s effectiveness
is being tested using monitors
and samplers downwind, with
initial results showing about a 40
percent reduction in dust concentrations, Auvermann said.
It is not advantageous to operate the water curtain in the afternoon when there is too much turbulence in the air or after midnight when the cattle activity
drops off, Auvermann said.
In feed yards where the water
is not available or sprinkler systems have not been installed, frequent manure harvesting is the
key to dust control, he said.
For years, university agricultural engineers in Texas have
advocated “harvesting manure”
as a measure of dust control.
Harvesting manure means scraping the pens in a way that will
yield better quality manure,
reduce mud, dust and odor, and
improve pen drainage.
Manure harvesting scrapes
the loose mixture of manure and
dirt on top, but does not disturb
the compacted layer underneath,
Auvermann said. The goal is to
leave a hard, smooth uniform
and well-drained pen, he said.
Most beef feedlots conduct at
least one annual pen cleaning,
but the environmental incentive
plan requires yards to make three
manure harvests per year in
order to qualify for cost-share
payments, Sokora said.
Ben Weinheimer, Texas Cattle
Feeders Association regulation
manager in Amarillo, said for 20
years the industry has been sponsoring research to get to this
point and is now working to
build these programs.
“We’re making big progress
as far as dust control,” Weinheimer said.
Techniques available to detect soil that inhibits destructive soybean pest
Identification of soils that
inhibit a tiny soybean-destroying
organism is an important tool in
reducing yield losses, according
to a Purdue University plant
pathologist.
Soybean cyst nematodes
cause between $800 million and
$1 billion annually in crop losses
in the United States, according
the American Phytopathological
Society. However, techniques are
available to find soils that specifically suppress these microscopic
roundworms, said Andreas Westphal, assistant professor of plant
pathology. The female nematodes
are white, lemon-shaped parasites that become dead brown
shells filled with maturing eggs.
Some soils have as yet notunderstood characteristics that
don’t foster development of the
pests.
Westphal, whose research
focuses on soybean cyst nematodes and ways to thwart them,
said that using nematode-suppressive soils is an easily implemented, environmentally friendly
weapon in fighting the parasites,
which are found worldwide in
soybean-producing areas.
“Using plants bred to resist
pests is not the complete answer,
so it’s important to find suppressive mechanisms,” Westphal
said. “Bio-control is much more
desirable than using chemicals in
order to limit damage to the environment.”
In a paper published in the
just-released March 2005 issue
of the Journal of Nematology,
Westphal summarizes the techniques for identifying soil that
specifically suppresses soybean
cyst nematodes. He also discusses how to use nematode-suppressive soils to battle the rootdwelling pests and the limitations
of the techniques.
In previous research on a different cyst nematode, Westphal
and his colleagues determined
that mixing 1 percent to 10 percent of nematode-suppressive
soil into the top layer of a soybean field plot effectively
decreased nematode activity. In
addition, they know that viability
of plants and soil richness, moisture and temperature can affect
how active and numerous soybean cyst nematodes are in particular fields.
“A key find was that a small
amount of suppressive soil or a
cyst from a suppressive soil can
lower nematode numbers,” Westphal said. “We promote conditions in soil to suppress the
nematode, and we also study the
soil so that we can determine the
★ Aid tar geted
‘‘For us, the president’s challenge is right on target,’’ Johanns
said. ‘‘Let’s move together, and let’s eliminate subsidies. We’re
ready to do that.’’
He noted that China has become a major buyer of U.S. crops
since joining the WTO in 2002, with Chinese purchases of U.S.
cotton growing from $68 million to $1.7 billion in 2004.
When they say ‘‘subsidies,’’ administration officials do not
mean all government aid to farmers. They mean some programs
that help farmers export their crops and other subsidies defined by
WTO as trade-distorting.
For example, Step-2, the U.S. cotton marketing program cited
by the WTO, accounts for only about 10 percent of the $3.5 billion
the government expects to spend this year on marketing loans,
payments to growers and other cotton programs. Step-2 compensates exporters and domestic mills for buying higher-priced U.S.
cotton.
The National Cotton Council said July 6, that repealing the
program would hurt an industry in the midst of its marketing season. The group’s chairman, Woods Eastland, said sales of this
year’s crop have begun in earnest and the harvest will begin well
before Congress considers a repeal.
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Left: Female soybean cyst
nematodes, attached to the
roots of the plants and
filled with eggs, are white.
The nematodes turn brown
as their bodies become
cysts harboring the eggs
that hatch into juveniles,
which continue the cycle of
stealing nutrients from the
plants.
mechanisms that create suppression.”
Some types of fungi and other
organisms help keep the soil
healthy by feeding on nematodes.
Whether a field is tilled can
affect nematode population density, but it’s not yet known
whether this is related to a
change in the number of nematode-eating microbes, Westphal
said. Further study is needed on
how microbial communities
function in order to determine
conditions that contribute to
nematode development.
Westphal was able to confirm
the nematode supressiveness of
soil by using treatments to eliminate soil organisms and other elements that inhibit nematode
development. Another confirmation technique was to add suppressive soil to soils conducive
to nematode development. The
researchers also were able to
document reduced nematode
reproduction, population density,
and whether certain types of soil
were suppressive to specific
pathogens.
“Currently, we are extending
this research to finding ways to
create more nematode suppression in soil,” Westphal said.
“This is important because nematode populations constantly
change so they can overcome
certain types of resistance,
including even plants that are
bred to be resistant to the organisms.”
Westphal and his research
team conducted a survey
throughout Indiana to locate
nematode-suppressive soils in an
effort to make this tool more
available and to further study the
mechanisms that create its effectiveness against the pathogen.
Soybean cyst nematodes, one
of a large, diverse group of multicellular organisms, are the most
destructive soybean pathogen in
the United States. The nematodes
were first documented in Japan
in the early 20th century and first
reported in the United States in
1954. However, evolutionary
biologists believe the pests were
probably present in both areas as
much as thousands of years earlier.
The females of the species use
a short, hypodermic needle-like
mouth to pierce soybean roots
and suck out the nutrients. As the
adult female ages, she fills with
eggs, turns yellow and then
brown to become the nematode
cyst. At that point her body is a
case to protect hundreds of eggs
while they mature, hatch into
juveniles and leave the cyst to
further attack the plant roots.
Swollen females can be seen
with the naked eye, but wormlike juveniles and males can best
be seen with a microscope.
As nematodes steal nutrients
from the roots, the plants are
weakened and don’t grow well.
Subsequently, plants may be
more vulnerable to attack by other stresses, such as insects, diseases and drought.
There are no pesticides that
will eradicate soybean cyst
nematode, which also preys on
other legumes and some grasses.
The USDA is providing funding
for Westphal’s study of the soybean cyst nematode.
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Dead, or alive, skunk was trouble for Upshur Co. resident
DSHS veterinarian offers
words of caution
skunk’s tooth penetrated through the lady’s
fingernail.
“The lady quickly grabbed the skunk’s
back legs and tail, and smacked its head
against the house,” he said.
The unconscious skunk was then placed
into the Wal-Mart bags, and set into her
pickup’s bed, before the woman drove off to
seek emergency medical attention.
Because of the circumstances surrounding the bite incident, the doctor started the
rabies post-exposure series immediately.
(The plan was to stop the series of shots if
the skunk was not rabid.)
Upon leaving the doctor’s office, the
woman “poked the bagged skunk with a
stick. It was still alive,” Wright cited.
The woman drove to a local veterinary
clinic where the veterinarian humanely
destroyed the skunk and submitted it for
A recent incident involving a rabid skunk
prompted a state health official to issue a
few words of caution about handling seemingly dead animals.
Dr. James Wright, veterinarian with
Department of State Health Services in
Tyler, recanted the incident which occurred
in late June. A resident, who lives northeast
of Gilmer in Upshur County, noticed a
skunk lying on its side near her home’s front
steps.
“Assuming the skunk was dead, the lady
took a couple of Wal-Mart bags to protect
her hands while she picked up the skunk
carcass to discard it,” Wright said. “As soon
as she touched the skunk, it came to life,
whirling and biting her on the finger. The
rabies testing. Laboratory testing determined
that the skunk was rabid.
The words of caution: “Before picking
up ‘dead’ animals, nudge them with a stick
or other object to be sure they are actually
dead,” Wright said.
Red fox in Smith County
confirmed to have rabies
In related news, a rabid fox was reported
in Smith County, just southeast of Upshur
County, on June 30. A resident reported seeing her dogs chase, then fight with, an animal in the pasture. The animal turned out to
be a red fox.
Wright said the fox was submitted for
rabies testing, which came back positive.
Additional laboratory testing indicated the
fox had the variant of rabies that is carried
in the skunk population.
No tornado deaths in April-May-June
for first time since 1950, records show
WASHINGTON (AP) — For
the first time since record-keeping started in 1950 no one was
killed by a tornado in April,
May or June.
Normally those are the top
months for tornadoes with an
average of 52 fatalities, sometimes many more.
‘‘That is prime tornado time,
so it’s amazing,’’ said Joe Schaefer, director of NOAA’s Storm
Prediction Center in Norman,
Okla.
It was an unusual tornado
season, when the storms never
really formed over the major
cities in the area known as Tornado Alley, Schaefer said. Tornado Alley starts in central and
northern Texas and stretches
north into Oklahoma, Kansas,
Nebraska and South Dakota.
April was about average with
137 tornadoes but they were primarily in southern areas, Schaefer said. May was way below
average with 134 tornadoes.
While there were 299 twisters in
June, they mainly occurred in
northern regions such as Wisconsin and Minnesota.
‘‘The important thing nobody
was killed,’’ he said, citing a
combination of improved storm
warnings and the unusual year
with no tornadoes in large Midwestern cities.
Dan McCarthy, a warning
meteorologist at the center,
called it ‘‘truly a unique situation and one that we are very
happy to report.’’
The previous low mark for
tornado deaths in April-June was
one in 1992. There were 17
fatalities in that three-month
period last year and 43 in 2003.
There have been five tornado deaths altogether this year,
four in January and one in
March.
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
officials stressed that killer tornadoes remain possible under
certain atmospheric conditions.
‘‘We are entering the prime
time of year for tropical storms.
We had 300 tornadoes last year
during the tropical season, so be
prepared, pay attention to weather forecasts and be safe,’’
McCarthy advised.
Tornadoes often occur as
these storms come ashore. Trop-
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heading toward the Gulf Coast
and Tropical Storm Dennis is in
the Caribbean moving northwest.
For this year so far there have
been 665 reports of tornadoes,
close to normal but well below
the record 964 tornadoes from
January through June last year.
A study published last month
in the journal Weather and Forecasting calculated that new
radars installed by the National
Weather Service in the 1990s are
saving nearly 80 lives a year that
would otherwise be lost to tornadoes.
The new equipment allowed
forecasters to issue warnings for
60 percent of tornadoes, up from
35 percent before the instru-
The Rockwall Youth Fair awarded its annual scholarship of $500 to Cassie Curtis (left). Cassie is a recent
graduate of Rockwall High School. She will be attending Tarleton State University this fall and plans to pursue a degree in agriculture. In high school, Cassie was
a member of FFA and showed at the Youth Fair for two
years in addition to some of the major shows. Pictured
with Cassie is Stanley Springer, Rockwall High School
— Courtesy photo
ag science teacher.
4-H’ers elected to
County Council
Eight Van Zandt County 4-H’ers were recently elected to serve
their County 4-H Council for 2005-06, reported Tommy Phillips,
Van Zandt County Extension agent for 4-H and Youth Development.
Kearby Wilkerson will serve as president; Lauren Teel, first
vice president; Luke Lyness, third vice president; Lindsay Garrett,
secretary; Lauren Foley, treasurer; Lela Read, reporter; Megan
Ahearn, parliamentarian; and Darlene Davis, historian.
Club officers from each of the county’s 4-H clubs, and new
County Council members, spent June 21 in training; focusing on
goals and objectives for the upcoming 4-H year, as well as engaging in team-building activities.
Wichita Falls Area CattleWomen
seek scholarship applications
The Wichita Falls Area Cattle
Women will award two $750
scholarships to area college students with an agricultural-related major. To be considered, a
student must meet the following
criteria:
The applicant must be a resident of Texas and a graduate of
a high school in one of the following counties: Archer, Baylor,
Clay, Montague, Wichita, or
Young.
Students must be classified as
a sophomore or above with a
grade point average of at least
2.5, and must be entering or
returning to an agriculturalrelated career.
Previous one-time winners
may apply, but second time winners of any scholarship awarded by Wichita Falls Area Cattle
Women are ineligible.
No eligible applicant will be
denied the scholarship because
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Scholarship winners will be
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Disaster
relief sought
AUSTIN (AP) — Texas is
seeking federal disaster relief
for Matagorda and Knox counties, where farms and ranches
suffered crop and structural
damage from high winds, heavy
rains and tornadoes in May.
Gov. Rick Perry recently
asked the USDA’s Farm Service
Agency for assistance. If the
request is approved, qualified
farm operators would be eligible for low-interest emergency
loans.
Matagorda County, in the
Coastal Bend region, was struck
by high winds and tornadoes
May 29.
Knox County, in the Rolling
Plains, had excessive rain, hail,
and high winds on May 31.
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★ Peas, beans are big niche market
East Texas harvest is
just beginning for the
Sides, with the peak
season being July.
“People come from all over,” Virginia
said after a phone call from a person who
was over 300 miles away. “I have customers
from San Antonio, Austin, Houston ... all
over.”
Most of the buyers are repeat customers
and have followed Virginia from her days
spent at the Dallas Farmers Market.
“I had stalls at the Dallas Farmers Market for 33 years. I lived there the last part
(of those years) but July 3, five years ago, I
walked off the market and started working
here,” said the farmer known simply as “the
pea lady.”
“I’m proud to be called the pea lady. It’s
a good nickname,” she said.
The nickname and the reputation of
Continued
from Page 1a
This summer, the Sides’ grandson
Brandon (foreground) is working at
their farm and market in Canton. The
various peas and beans are shipped
to Dallas by truck for distribution.
-- Staff photo by Montgomery
Sides Pea is greatly known. Each week on
Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Brandon
delivers fresh peas to companies in the
metroplex.
“We have no trash in our shelled peas. I
never let a pea go out of here with trash. If
you find something in our peas, let me
know and I will make it correct,” she stated
matter-of-factly.
Peas are sold in two-pint bags or a
bushel-and-a-half bag. The larger bag retails
for $30.
Demand for the families’ peas is great, so
individuals are asked to call (903-56772330) and be put on the waiting list. During
the interview for this story, orders where
already being taken for the next week.
Busy from February until almost frost,
the Sides enjoy what they do and don’t plan
on retiring any time soon. And with the
company motto, “We Aim to Please,” the
Sides family will continue pleasing with the
next generation.
“I have a good time with my customers
and a real good relationship. I wouldn’t
trade my life with anybody,” Virginia concluded.
Winford Sides has proved to be a good
farmer, as well as businessman. The
Sides Pea Farm in Canton carries the
peas and beans produced on the Sides’
farms, as well as produce from area
growers.
-- Staff photo by Montgomery
★ Fly alert noted
of Biotype B should encourage
greenhouse growers to improve
their overall whitefly management practices.
“If after growers have implemented the proper insecticide
rotations and they still see an
increase of whitefly activity,
they should contact us,” he said.
Early detection of Biotype Q
whiteflies would help manage
populations before they spread
and alert growers to new management strategies, including
the use of new insecticides.
“We could also get a jumpstart on applying for state and
federal funds for research and
the implementation of new technologies,” he said.
Liu and Ludwig are part of a
technical advisory committee of
entomologists from several
states who meet electronically
to keep each other informed of
the latest news on Biotype Q.
“Now more than ever it’s
important that growers maintain
their scouting activities, good
cultural practices and insecticide
rotations. And if they see anything unusual in whitefly activity, please report it immediately
to a Texas Cooperative Extension county agent,” Liu said.
Liu can be contacted at 956968-5585, or via e-mail at [email protected].
Dr. T-X Liu, a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station vegetable entomologist, urges Texas farmers to be on the lookout for Biotype Q whiteflies. They are more destructive than
the more common Biotype B whitefly and will require new
management controls.
-- Texas Agricultural Experiment Station photo
See Your Farmtrac Dealer Today
ANGLETON
D.E.R. Equipment Company
979-849-2325
Bowie
County
Equipment
E. B.
Holman
DeKalb, Texas
Emory
Texas
Longview
Vermeer Baler
Sales
BALCH SPRINGS (DALLAS)
Lake June Equipment
972-286-2800
BASTROP
Cowboy’s Custom Trailers
512-303-6111
BAYTOWN
WOWCO Equipment Company
281-383-3100
BRENHAM
M&C
979-830-0692
CARTHAGE
Anderson Tractor Sales
903-693-6628
CLARKESVILLE
Van Deaver Equipment
903-427-1528
CLEVELAND
G.W.’s Construction Equip.
281-659-9525
CLYDE (ABILENE)
Happy Trails Tractors
325-893-3739
CORPUS CHRISTI
Coastal Plains Equipment
361-241-3211
CROCKETT
Wallace Garden Ctr. & Equip.
936-544-2127
EDINBURG
Valley Tractor Sales
956-318-1115
FREDERICKSBURG
Turner Tractors & Trailers
830-990-6600
GAINESVILLE
S & W Tractor Company
940-665-2441
GILMER
T & S Tractor
903-797-2736
GRANBURY
Schafer Tractor Company
817-573-6553
LA MARQUE
AAA Tractor Supply
409-938-1288
LUFKIN
Southern Tractor
936-632-5222
PALESTINE
Rucker Equipment
903-729-6951
POTEET
Tuttle Motor Company
830-742-3515
QUEEN CITY
Cass County Equipment
903-796-9594
SAN ANTONIO
DeWinne Equipment
210-684-5296
SAN AUGUSTINE
San Augustine Tractor
936-275-9703
SEALY
Sealy Tractor
979-885-3549
SEGUIN
Dietz Tractor Company
830-401-0000
SHINER
Boehm Tractor Sales
361-594-3123
SULPHUR SPRINGS
Dairyland Tractor Co.
903-885-0037
TYLER
Coker Enterprises
903-597-2658
TYLER
Rose Country Tractor Equip.
903-593-5337
VICTORIA
Farm Industrial Company
361-575-0461
VIDOR
Rockwood Tractor
409-786-1411
HENDERSON
JACKSONVILLE
Lowe Tractor & Equipment Ezell Tractor & Equipment
903-657-3538
903-586-5718
Longview, Texas
903-667-2584
903-663-0282
903-473-2416
800-622-3728
903-736-0997
Hunt County
Farm Supply
AUSTIN
Capitol City Oliver Company
512-385-2127
Mitchell
Bourland, Inc.
Campbell, Texas
Terrell, Texas
903-862-2273
972-563-2171
WACO
Johnson Equipment
254-857-3020
WILLIS
J & L Agricultural
936-856-1565
WILLS POINT
Canton Tractors & Equip.
903-567-2721
WOODVILLE
Tyler County Tractor
409-283-5222
COUNTRY KIDS
July is National
Anti-Boredom Month
!
y
a
l
p
s
’
t
so le
Boredom is described as “the state of being
Playing Jacks
can be simply fun
weary and restless through lack of interest.”
As summer vacation continues for children, familiar phrases
“I’m bored” or “There’s
nothing to do!”
are likely to be
If you’ve never played Jacks, bets are your parents or grandparents have. And
they can tell you “it’s fun!” The ball and six-sided Jacks can be bought for just
a few dollars at a discount store.
During these summer months both young and old can participate in a variety of activities in and around their communities
that can keep them physically and mentally active.
The game of Jacks was originally played with Jack stones. Jacks have been used in gambling
games and magical performances, according to historical reports.
So whether you are out of school for the summer, or an
The “basic” game: Toss the ball up, pick up one Jack, and after just one bounce, catch the ball in
the same hand. Transfer the Jack to your other hand. Then, toss the ball up again, and pick up the rest
of the Jacks in one hand, and catch the ball after just one bounce.
adult taking a break, you will be less likely to feel bored if you
get active, learn something
new, pick up a new hobby, or
even volunteer. You will be too busy
learning new things or meeting new people to feel
bored.
Seek and Find
FIND THESE WORDS:
Walrus
Whale
Wombat
Warthog
Woodpecker
Weasel
Wolf
Wren
The game continues as you pick up two, then all Jacks; three and all Jacks; etc. This continues until
you pick up all the Jacks in just the first attempt.
Once a player makes a mistake, it is the
opponent’s turn.
Like most games, Jacks has rules:
1. Only one hand can be used to catch and pick
up Jacks.
2. The ball may only bounce once is a single
play.
3. The ball and Jacks cannot touch your other
hand, body or clothes, while in play.
4. Each game denotes the number of Jacks to be
picked up with each play.
5. Only one attempt can be made at each turn.
Once the player makes a mistake, it’s the opponent’s
turn.
6. The player cannot touch other Jacks while
attempting to pick up a jack or group of Jacks.
7. You cannot drop the ball or Jacks until each
play is completed.
8. You must take turns and keep the same order
of play.
9. You can create new games/rules.
Other games ... “Eggs in the Basket” is where you make a “basket” of the hand not used to
catch the ball and pick up the Jacks. You place the Jacks in the “basket” in the same order as above.
“Crack the Eggs” is where you pick up the Jacks and “crack” them on the playing surface before
putting it/them in your other hand.
Write a
When you have your story
written, read it out loud.
Can you add to it to make
it more exciting?
Story
Now, gather your
friends and family
and read it to
them. After reading the story, show
the picture (at left)
and see if your
story helped them
see the picture
clearly in their
imaginations.
Study the picture on
the right. What’s
going on? Who are
the
dogs
(their
names)? Why are they
fishing? Where are
they (such as a
friend’s pond or a big
lake)? When were
they fishing?
Add to the story, if
needed, so the
words create a
clear mental picture. Use words
that describe the
colors,
smells,
sounds, and sights.
Why did one catch a
big fish, and the other
catch a little fish?
What are all the characters’ feelings and
why do they feel that
way?
S U B S C R I B E T O
Country World... The rural newspaper of Texas
Each issue includes...
• National and international farm news
• Agricultural news from across the state
• Calendar of events
• Dairyline column featuring the latest update
in the dairy industry
• Political humor for rural residents
• Texas Crossword Puzzle
• Outdoor news and humor column
• Country Cookin’ recipes featured in our
Lifestyle page
• Country Classifieds containing items from
farm equipment to beef cattle; tractors for
sale to horses
• Country Markets containing sale price
information from livestock barns around the
state
PLUS THESE SPECIAL EDITIONS: Crop, Hay & Forage - February; Beef - March & October;
Equine - May & November; Hunting & Fishing - August
Subscribe today by calling 1-800-245-2149 or 903-885-2030
1 YEAR - $24 ◆ 2 YEARS - $43 ◆ 3 YEARS - $61
We accept Visa, MasterCard & Discover
COUNTRY WORLD NEWSPAPER
P.O. Box 596 • Sulphur Springs, TX 75483
WWW.COUNTRYWORLDNEWS.COM
Delivered to your mailbox weekly!
Delivered to your mailbox weekly!
It sometimes takes several “drafts” to create a great story.
Keep trying until you get the “best” story you can write.
A - B - C List Game
Take a piece of notebook paper and list the ABCs down the lefthand side. Choose a “category,” such as foods, names, animals.
Write the category at the top of the paper. Now, think of a word for
that category that begins with each letter of the alphabet.
For instance, if you choose Foods, the list would begin
Apple
Bread
Cookie
Food names hints:
It may be hard to think of a word
for some letters, such as K or Q.
How about Kiwi for K
and Quail for Q (we eat quail,
but the word can also be used if
your category is Animals).
If you choose Names, the list can be broken into sub-categories, such as
for boy names, and girl names
Adam or Ashley
Brad or Becky
Caleb or Candice
Names hints:
Names for Q and
Z can be hard to
think of. How
about Quinton for
a boy and Queen
Latifah? How
about Zack for a
boy and Zoe for a
girl?
If you choose Animals, think of all kinds -- from farm and ranch animals to those
seen in the zoo. Here are two, starting and ending with the alphabet letters.
Ape
Zebra
Mental A-B-C Lists:
Kids, young and old – Ever been scared while lying in bed
during a storm; or bored while having to sit quietly? .... Play the ABC
game in your mind. Before you know it, the storm will pass and you
will be asleep, or the time to be quiet will be over.

Prosperity With Peas

Transcription

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