TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE EXTENSION April 2, 2014 Kinney County Ag/ Wildlife Newsletter 2014 Kinney Co. Jr. Livestock Show A Huge Success The 59th Annual Kinney Co. Jr. Livestock Show took place on Jan. 10th & 11th at the Kinney Co. Civic Center. We had 56 4-H & FFA youth with livestock or Ag Mechanics projects this year. Some only competed here at the County level while others went on to represent Kinney Co. at Odessa, Kerrville, Ft. Worth, San Antonio, San Angelo, Houston & Austin. Kinney Co. was competitive at every show. We had a 1st place finewool @ Odessa, several top 10 s @ Kerrville, Champion FWX & Res. Champion FW along with all other lambs placing in the Top 10 @ Ft. Worth, 2nd Place FWX-3rd Place MW-5th Place FW @ San Antonio, 4th Place Goat & 6th Place MW @ San Angelo, 4th Place FWX and 7th Place FW @ Austin, and to finish out with a 9th Place FWX 9th Place MW 4th Place MW and a 4th Place Goat @ Houston. I want to congratulate all of our youth that participated locally and across the state and although our seniors will be missed, we are looking forward to our new showers in 2014-15. The show and the Ag Mechanics Projects were a huge success and I would like to THANK everyone that either contributed their time or financial support to our local youth. We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at the show next year! Kaili Price ( Left ) 2014 Yoey Key York Winner Jeyson Price ( Right ) - High Point Lamb Winner Both Pictured With Shelby Schuster Senior and 2013-14 4-H Sweetheart
Page 2 Some of This Years Success at the Major Livestock Shows Kaili Price 2nd FWX Jeyson Price 5th FW Cooper Newsom 3rd MW FFA Cooper Newsom 4th Meat Goat Kaili Price 9th MW Jeyson Price 9th FWX Cooper Newsom 4th MW
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Page 4 Wildlife Water & Rainwater Harvesting More Important Than Ever As the drought continues, more landowners are faced with reducing their livestock numbers or in many cases selling out, thus increasing their reliance on wildlife and hunting income to maintain their ranches and sustain their operations. Also with increased absentee land ownership, many wells and water systems are not maintained on a regular basis. The water tables have dropped in certain areas or even worse have gone dry due to lack of recharge over the last 6-7 years. Hunting is big business these days and with the investment in equipment, feed, time and labor hunters expect more and are willing to pay more if they feel reasonably certain that they will eventually benefit from their efforts. For all these reasons and more it is easy to see how important water has become. Wildlife watering facilities and harvesting methods are nothing new but they have yet to really take hold as long as traditional livestock watering facilities were maintained regularly & with sufficient rainfall to sustain ponds. In the past couple of years there has been a trend among our hunters to want to provide water at their feeding and hunting stations, whether it be a permanent water source if available or in some cases a mobile source and even several attempts to capture whatever mother nature throws at us, which hasn t been much. So here are some different methods that can have a drastic impact on wildlife. PERMANENT WATER SOURCE AND FACILITY This is an example of a permanent wildlife water facility that is tied into a gravity flow system. This location was already mostly rock so with a little hard work, sweat, some quick mix concrete and some rocks, pipe and a float and a half days labor I created this virtually indestructible pond that supplies water to all of Gods creatures. Costs of this facility is under $150 and has been in place for over 10 years and has been maintenance free.
Page 5 PERMANENT WATER SOURCE CONT. Here is another example of a permanent installation that is ties into an existing gravity flow system. This installation consisted of approx. 500 of 1 1/4 poly pipe, trough and float and fittings. Many hunters will gladly pay for a system like this to add water to their feeding and hunting areas. This installation has also been in place for 10 years and has also been relatively maintenance free. Installation cost for this system was approx. $350. There are no livestock here and as you can see by the bare ground, there is an enormous amount of traffic here. This past year, there were over 30 bucks photographed at this location and it has produced the ranch record whitetail at 184 and currently has a typical 19pt buck that could break that in the next year or too. These deer can eat 1000 lbs. of deer feed a week and a 1000 lbs. of alfalfa in 6 weeks. Having water readily available helps increase the digestibility of feed and thus increase antler growth.
MOBILE WATER Page 6 This system requires that water be hauled in periodically. This remote location is approx. 1/2-3/4 mile from a permanent water source. This installation is a 550 gallon tank, 50 feet of 1 1/4 poly pipe, trough, float and fittings. This installation requires an additional tank in the back of a truck or trailer to fill it periodically. This installation has been lasting 6 weeks and the amount of deer traffic is ridiculous. We have plans to convert this system to a rainwater harvest system this year by building a roof over the tank. There will also be a large deer blind within 25 ft. with an extra large roof that will also be guttered and piped into the storage tank. This installation cost approx. Plus an additional $25-30 per fill up every 6 weeks. Here is another example of a mobile system that is filled with another tank in the back of a Polaris Ranger. This individual has an electric pump that runs off the battery of the ranger. He goes to the nearest permanent water source, pumps the water then hauls it to his feeding and hunting area. These systems have produced deer in the 160 s. They are a little more labor intensive but are still relatively cheap.
Page 7 Rainwater Harvesting Systems These systems are the last resort but none the less have great value. They can be used to enhance or assist the mobile systems when mother nature chooses to do so. They tend to be a little more costly up front due to the materials, labor needed to construct one but from then on are relatively cost free or reduce the cost of hauling water to the mobile systems. This particular unit was originally built as a 3 tank unit which may be overkill for our area because we would rarely have enough rainfall to fill all three from the roof catchment area which is approx. 9X20. However, a two tank system could be filled with an 8 inch rainfall event. I can easily think of some other options that the additional space under the roof could be used for and will hopefully have a prototype to display by fall. The retail cost of this system was originally around $1500 as a 3 tank system but could be relatively cheaper as a 1 or 2.
Page 8 Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Presentation on Aging & Managing Whitetails on the Hoof & The Effects of Predation & Wildlife Watering Facilities @ West Nueces Las Moras Soil & Water Conservation District Annual Program and Luncheon April 23 @ Kinney CO. Civic Center from 9-3, Lunch served, Cost $15 at the door-3 General Private Applicator C.E.U. s will be given. This presentation is approx. 45 min. of the days events by David W. Price Kinney CEA/Ag-NR From This to This I have put together a power point presentation based off deer management on our ranch here in Kinney Co. over the past 15 years. Currently I am able to give the presentation personally or to groups if anyone is interested. I gave the presentation to a group of hunters at a deer camp over Thanksgiving on Sat. evening outdoors on a big screen and they thought that it was very helpful in their decision making and educational to the young hunters. *************************CEU s*************************** For those of you needing CEU s (Continuing Education Units) for your pesticide applicators licenses, please contact our office and we will try to assist you. We do have the option of providing some CEU s through online trainings here at the office. There is the option for CEU s online and we will try to keep you informed of local opportunities as well as those in adjacent counties.
Page 9 FUTURE LEADERS LIVESTOCK LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT MANAGEMENT HORTICULTURE WILDLIGE MANAGEMENT NATURAL RESOURCE MGT. Give us a call if we can be of service to you or if you d like to see any topics of particular interest included in the newsletter. WE Would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter! David W. Price Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent-Kinney Co. Phone: 830-563-2442 Fax: 830-563-3114 Mobile: 830-703-0350 Email: David.Price@agnet.tamu.edu Kathryn Gose Administrative Assistant Phone: 830-563-2442 Email: kcletsinger@ag.tamu.edu Educational Programs of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age or national origin, genetic information or veteran status. Come See Us! Check us out on the web http://kinney-co.tamu.edu For More Up to Date Information and Important Upcoming Workshops and Projects, LIKE us on Facebook at Kinney AgriLife Exten-