Rick Kellison’s Silver Creek Farm

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Phone: 806-652-3504

 

Email: silvercreekfarm@nts-online.net

 

Rick Kellison's

Silver Creek Farm

P.O. Box 369

Lockney, Texas

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Rancher Looks

 

 Ranchers, the same as farmers, must get bigger to stay profitable in today’s economic times.  That means feeding more cattle and buying more land isn’t always the answer.  “A rancher is nothing more than a grass farmer,” said Billy Paul Vinson, manager of the Dixon Creek division of the 6666 Ranch, headquartered in Carson County.  “You market your grass through your cattle.  If you don’t have any grass, you’re out of the cow business,” Vinson said.  His answer to getting bigger has not been to purchase more land, but to break some of the native prairie land out and plant it to WW-B. Dahl grass under irrigation and fertilization.  “Our game plan is to up our numbers,” Vinson said.  “The more cattle you run, the more money you make, I hope.  “We have 110,000 acres and we can only run so many cattle on it now.  We had the irrigation water we were not using, so we took advantage of it,” he said.  The variety was released in 1994 by the Plains Range Research Station in Woodward, Okla., along with Texas Tech University, Texas Agricultural Extension Service and the Soil Conservation Service.

 

Taken from the Amarillo Globe-News by Kay Ledbetter for more information contact the Amarillo Globe at www.amarillonet.com

Yield, Morphology, and Forage Quality of

Warm-Season Perennial Grasses in Central Texas

 

 Many of the improved grasses used for hay and pasture in Texas are introduced species.  The objective of this study was to evaluate several warm-season perennial grasses for yield, morphological traits, and forage quality in central Texas.  ‘Ermelo’ weeping lovegrass and ‘WW-B. Dahl’ old world bluestem were the highest yielding grasses at both locations in both years.  Buffelgrass, ‘Carostan’ flaccidgrass, and Oriental penisetum performed poorly and were invaded by weeds.  Tufted digitgrass produced as much forage as keingrass.  WW-B. Dahl old world bluestem matured about 1 month later in spring relative to other old world bluestems such as WW-Spar and WW-Ironmaster.  These date indicate that WW-B. Dahl old world bluestem should be useful in forage-livestock systems in central Texas because of its later maturity and good yields.  Tufted digitgrass may also be of value, however, additional evaluations are necessary.

 

Taken from the USDA Agricultural Research Service for more information contact USDA at www.usda.gov/ttic/tektran/data/000008/02/0000080258.html

Bluestem, bermudagrass varieties checked

During Eastland crop tour

 

B. Dahl, a warm-season, tufted, perennial bunchgrass, is being tested on the Jim Wright Farm at Lake Leon.  At this stop, Daryl Eckert, a United States Department of Agriculture conservation agronomist, discussed grass establishment and management.

Eckert listed several positive aspects of B. Dahl, including high yields, high palatability and growth in dry climates.  In field tests at Texas Tech, B. Dahl consistently produced twice as much forage as other bluestems.  Cattle seemed to prefer it to other highly palatable plants such as sideoats grama, seldom leaving a B. Dahl field to graze adjacent pastures.

Dahl stayed green on the Wright farm into August during dry climates.

 

Taken from Reporter-News for more information contact Reporter News at www.reprorter-news.com/1998/1999/biz/agri0709.html