It’s been a tough couple of years for Texas ranchers, but as the rain falls, financial clouds are begining to clear. Increased rainfall has improved conditions for livestock production after ranches were devastated in the 2011 drought. But despite the improvement, ranchers remain hesitant to start replenishing their herds, according to the latest crop and […]
The Texas quail are back – sort of. Experts say the Texas quail population has notably increased this fall compared to last year’s dismal numbers. However, it seems this season’s increase won’t be enough to reverse the 5-year trend of diminishing quail numbers in Texas. According to Texas A&M Professor and Wildlife expert Dr. Dale […]
A new report by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service says that only a few smart irrigation systems worked right during the drought. What’s a smart irrigation system? Normal sprinkler systems require their owners to manually set irrigation schedules. But, smart irrigation controllers use an array of sensors to determine just how much water is needed […]
How the extreme heat and drought made trees vulnerable to attack.
Texas is cattle country, an image known the world over. What’s perhaps not so well known is the primacy of the other big C: Cotton. In fact, Texas has led the country in cotton production for over a century. The fate of the state’s cattle industry as it recovers from last year’s drought is well […]
Ranchers across Texas are talking.
Congratulations, McMullen County, Texas. You officially have the highest number of farmers per capita in the United States. More than half of the population there are farmers (374 out of 707 people). The data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau and you can visualize it all in a new interactive map built by Slate, Agriculture […]
Curious how you can have a healthy landscape in West Texas, a land besieged by drought and heat? Well, the Agrilife Extension Service wants to help. They’re holding a Landscape Drought Management Workshop on June 23. Speaking will be Dr. Dotty Woodson, AgriLife Extension water resources specialist at Dallas. “The purpose of this program is to help […]
Scientists may have found something more than just rings in the heart of Texas’ Juniper and Mesquite trees – more than 8,000 Btu in renewable bioenergy per pound, according to experts at Texas Agrilife Research. That’s roughly equivalent to “medium grade subbituminous coal,” according to Agrilife. The Juniper and Mesquite trees now covering more than sixty […]
Summer is almost here, and that means hurricanes are just around the corner, too. To help prepare for evacuations, a new digital billboard system went into action today in three counties in and around Houston at the start of Texas’Â Hurricane Preparedness Week. The billboards will usually carry ads (they were paid for by Clear Channel […]
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