Do you want to capture all the water that is on / under your land? Do you know if you can legally do that? None of us have enough water so whatever we do in the near future needs to be done right. If you really want to find out what your rights are then mark your calendars for Tuesday evening September 27th. That is the date of the Water Rights Program which will be held at the Brown County Fair Grounds on Hwy 377 S. The program will start at 6:00p.m. it is open to anyone interested. There will be a $10 registration fee at the door. The speaker will be Judon Fambrough, Senior Lecturer and Attorney at Law with the Texas Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
Mr. Fambrough will talk on The Ownership and Usage of Water on Your Property. He will cover such topics as: Do you own the water on and under your property? What uses can you make of the water without getting a permit? Who owns the streambeds and dry gulleys on your property? What’s the difference between a stream that is navigable in fact and one navigable in law? What impact does navigability have on your minerals interests? What rights do oil companies have to use surface and groundwater on your property? How did the new statute that became effective 9/1/11 affect your water rights? Must you get a permit to build a pond or lake on your property? If you need more information or have questions you can contact the Extension Office.
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WEST TEXAS COWS GET BEANS MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT DURING DROUGHT
As the record-setting drought strengthens its sinewy grip across Texas, one may wonder what the remaining livestock and wildlife are eating. Across the western half of the state, mesquite beans most likely are a big part of the answer, according to a pair of Texas AgriLife Extension Service experts at Fort Stockton. Dr. Bruce Carpenter, AgriLife Extension livestock specialist, and Dr. Alyson McDonald, AgriLife Extension range specialist, said while mesquite beans do have good feed value, it takes an awful lot of them to really make much of a difference to a hungry cow. The dry beans have a moisture content of one percent. There were some green beans picked from a tree and they jumped to 50 percent moisture. For a cow to meet her daily dry matter intake by eating beans alone, she’d have to eat about four 5-gallon buckets of dry beans or eight buckets of green beans. That’s an awful lot of beans.
Problems can arise when cattle eat mesquite beans for more than 60 percent of their diet continuously for two months or more. This usually happens when other forages become limited due to drought or when drought-stricken forage lacks enough protein to meet the animal’s needs. The protein content of mesquite beans drops from 28 percent in young beans to about 12 percent at maturity while fat increases from about two to three percent and fiber increases from 17 to 30 percent. Many parts of Texas have seen a bumper bean crop this year and some areas even got a second crop, so mesquite beans are definitely on the menu. As with anything else, too much of a good thing can be bad. The beans have a high sugar content of 65 percent to 80 percent. Too much sugar can cause increased acidity in the cow’s rumen, killing the micro flora needed to digest course fibrous plant material. This causes a digestive slowdown, leading to an impaction of the digestive tract that can be fatal.
Under normal circumstances this high fiber would be broken down and digested or passed out as undigested material. Impacted animals essentially begin to starve. Severe weight loss is the most obvious sign, but other symptoms include swelling under the jaw, partial tongue or jaw paralysis, excessive salivation and constant chewing. Affected animals can recover if placed on a high-quality ration. Inoculation of the rumen with fluid from a healthy animal is also reported to help. Watch your saddle horses too. Although horses aren’t ruminants, they are susceptible to mesquite bean impaction problems. Colic may result causing horses to hump-up and kick at their abdomens or roll violently. Death is a real possibility in severe cases.
Goats are fairly resistant to over-consumption problems, and sheep seem to be the most resistant of all common livestock. Most ranchers want less mesquite, so how much mesquite is actually spread through bean-eating animals? Not as much as many may think.
It’s true that ingestion is an important dispersal mechanism and that exposure to digestion does increase germination, because the seed is able to more quickly absorb moisture. However, seedling establishment is dependent on the seed being in contact with the soil and covered slightly. That soil must also receive adequate moisture within days of germination for the plant to live, which hasn’t been much of a factor this year. Even in a good year, many seeds may germinate, but only a fraction, 20 percent or less, will become established. And if after one year the seeds haven’t germinated, as few as five percent will even be viable.
