HOT

[Jenny]

It got ugly..............


http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=118385

 

[DLD]

DLD, I feel your pain.  We're in Altus & it's been 100 or hotter here for somewhere around 50 days now.  It's getting harder to find hay.  Unfortunately, dad can't just haul his cow herd to the sale barn if it gets too tough.  He's gotta stick it out.  That's alright, I sure wouldn't want to miss this calf crop anyway.  Monopoly, Smiling Bob, Bojo, and Bullicious calves will start popping out regularly in about a month.  I can't wait.  My dad seems to think this will be the set of calves we've been waiting for.

The sale barns around here are starting to turn some folks away.  They simply can't hold all the cattle that're showing up.  It's a tough deal.  I keep thinking with all the cattle being sold, we might have a better shot at buying some hay, at least.  Maybe that'll be a bright spot.

Oh, I don't have any intention of selling my cows either.  We did some major refinancing last winter and culled down pretty hard to help make all that work.  I only got a few cows bought back before it started getting scarey dry here, so I'm stocked pretty light and I've got hay, so I'm in it to stay, too.  But I work at the sale barn at Clinton, and I get to see the toll this is all taking on lots of folks.  We're running 10 times the number of cows and 5 times as many calves as normal for this time of year.  It's easy to get discouraged...

 

[OKshorthorn]

DLD, I heard a story that last week in Elk City they had a line 2.5 miles long trying to unload cattle, said that they lost 63 head from the heat before they got everything unloaded. I heard a similar story about the sale barn in Cherokee.

 

[Simmgal]

It's so hot here too, but I don't think it's as hot as where y'all are! The worst part is, it's not really cooling off at night, and there's NO breeze. All the show heifers are laying under the fans, but its just so hot and humid that they don't do much but blow hot air... they line up at the gate to be sprayed with the hose!

 

[Jenny]

another story of cattle losses....


http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/54926/

 

[pjkjr4]

DLD, I heard a story that last week in Elk City they had a line 2.5 miles long trying to unload cattle, said that they lost 63 head from the heat before they got everything unloaded. I heard a similar story about the sale barn in Cherokee.

Cherokee wasn't that bad; however don't plan on buying cattle in load lots expecting to find trucks. They just aren't there. People in E. Okla and Ks pulling yearlings off of grass at the same time.

 

[Will]

Last night at 10:00 when I finished turning the calves out of the barn  to the lots it was still 100 degrees at 6:00 this morning when I was putting them in the barn it was 88 degrees.  Today we are supposed to be 114.  The calves never have a chance to cool off.  We start calving our fall Born's in about two weeks.  I hope it breaks by then. We have been hauling water to some tanks for a couple weeks.  It just wears a person out.  The good part is my son loves swimming in the creek while we fill the tank.  We are lucky to still have some grass but if it does not rain in the next few days we will have to start feeding hay.  All of the barns here are running way ahead of numbers compared to a normal year.  Only in Oklahoma can it be -22 and 5 months later it be 114 degree's.  That is a whoping 136 degree change. 

 

[wrc]

Its 109 right now at 12:47pm. This is crazy. We also have cows that will start calving within the next 2 weeks. I have only been able to find half of the hay I need for this winter and have spent as much for that as I normally would pay for all my hay. I think I'm going to be forced to sell all of my spring calving cows just to get my fall calvers thru this winter. Thing is I've already culled down as far as I wanted to go.

 

[Will]

We are short on hay as well.  We have almost exactly half of what we would like to have for winter.  The other thing is we may have to start feeding hay in a few weeks.  We also sold several cows his spring.  I hate to sell anything because I have worked very hard to put togather a nice set of cows.  I reall think we are getting close to having the cows like we want them.