EAST TEXAS — Though some parts of East Texas received scattered showers recently, pastures remain dry, dryland horticultural crops remain at risk and fish die-offs are being reported in heavily stocked ponds and lakes, according to reports from faculty with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service.
In Gregg County, scattered showers throughout the county only greened up pastures and whetted the appetites of cattle, said Rex Youngblood, Gregg County Extension agent for agriculture. Youngblood recommended producers consider selling calves early and to cull low- producing animals now.
Selling calves early will take a load off the mother cows and allow the producer to more easily maintain their body condition and rebreed for the next season.
“They also might make plans to use alternative feeds, such as chicken litter, rice hulls, all those byproducts we don’t usually fool with,” Youngblood said.
Marty Baker, Extension horticulture specialist at Overton, reports that blossom end rot has set in on many dryland watermelon fields south of Rusk County, while to the north, rains gave growers another week to two weeks of grace.
Blossom end-rot occurs from a combination of calcium deficiency and drought stress. The end of the melon first becomes soft and wrinkly, then turns black. A grower’s only recourse is to pull the melon off the vine and hope that those remaining will be favored with more moisture.
As for fruit, expect high quality but short fruit season. The dry conditions mean fewer problems with plant diseases but a shorter growing season. Also expect smaller-sized fruit. This is particularly true of a crop such as non-irrigated peaches when not properly thinned, Baker said.
Baker noted that those growers who had the foresight to install drip irrigation will make good crops regardless of the rainfall. The same holds true for vegetable growers. The situation can be an opportunity for those with irrigation to make good profits later this year, he said.
“I like to look for the positive side to all things. There’s a real opportunity for those with irrigation systems to make good money with a fall harvest of vine crops such as watermelons and pumpkins and vegetable crops like tomatoes and peppers. Produce prices usually start out high and then level off through the summer. With shorter growing seasons and smaller harvests, I think we can expect prices to stay high. Remember, growers in the Rio Grande Valley are having a drought, too,” Baker said.
In farm ponds, the dry, hot conditions were compounded by haze from Mexican brush fires, according to Dr. Billy Higginbotham, Extension wildlife and fisheries specialist. Phytoplankton, which are tiny free-floating plants, produce much of the oxygen in a typical pond through photosynthesis. Hazy, cloudy days reduce the amount of oxygen produced by these and other aquatic plants. Also, warmer water will not hold as much oxygen as cooler water.
The situation becomes critical when total fish weight nears or exceeds 1,000 pounds per surface acre, or when ponds become low and fish become crowded.
“Add several consecutive hot, still, cloudy days to this formula and the stage is set for a major fish die-off,” Higginbotham said.
An indication that a pond is in trouble is fish that swim sluggishly at the surface of the water early in the morning, when oxygen is generally at its lowest level. If pond owners take quick action to increase oxygen levels at this time, they can sometimes save the fish. Common methods to increase oxygen include running a boat with an outboard motor in place or using a small pump with the intake set near the pond surface.
Higginbotham emphasized that both these measures are temporary and that pond owners should take immediate steps to decrease the total poundage of fish, preferably taking the large fish first.
“Remember that gill nets and slat traps are perfectly legal to use in private waters,” Higginbotham said.
If pond levels decline to two feet or less, all fish should be harvested, Higginbotham said. In catfish ponds, an alternative is to reduce the amount and frequency of food provided.
“By temporarily placing fish on a maintenance diet of 1 percent body weight, or no more than five pounds of feed per surface acre per day, fish growth will be slowed and waste products reduced, which should help maintain water quality,” Higginbotham said.
For those with web browsers, more drought management strategies can be found on a Texas A&M University WWW site. Collated during the drought of 1995-1996, the web page includes such information as “Tax Rules for Drought Sales of Livestock,” “Feeding Management When Pasture is Scarce,” “Pasture Management During a Drought,” “The Effect of Hay Quality on Supplemental Feed Costs,” “Feeding Whole Cottonseed to Dairy Cows and Replacements Nitrates in Dairy Cattle Feeds,” “Dairy Rations with Limited Forage,” and much more. Once at the web page’s address (http://agnews.tamu.edu/drought/) scroll down the page to the link titled “Texas Drought Management Strategies– Summer 1996.”
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