Last month at an Angelina County Extension seminar, our local vet, Dr. Bradley Clary, spoke about the common thieves of cattle growth, flies and internal parasites. It was an excellent talk about the losses each could incur on the herd and the steps necessary to put them at bay.
Looking ahead at the upcoming hay and grazing season, there is growing concern among the cattlemen with whom I have been visiting. While regions to the west of us are in a drought and facing harsh times, we are also short on rain and anticipating a difficult summer. Fertilizer prices are taking their predicted upward rise and causing an increase in the cost of hay.
While we cannot control the weather or input costs, we can control loss of cattle as well as loss of a calf crop from disease. A good vaccination program is a must during normal years and is of the utmost importance when herds and bottom lines are stressed.
This Tuesday, June 21, the Angelina County Extension office will host a program at 6:30 p.m. called “Cattle Herd Management”. The featured speaker is Dr. Bradley Clary, a local veterinarian. He’ll be covering issues that he’s seen in his years of experience as a local vet, working for cattle producers in this region.
Following his talk, I will be discussing a new hog trap. For years, folks have fought against the non-native, invasive, destructive feral hogs. There is a new trap on the market that is called the Pig Brig. Look it up online and I bet you’ll be impressed with their results. It is made from heavy duty netting that, when set up correctly, will have hogs rooting under the net and into the circular trap to feed on the corn placed there. After they are done feeding, the round pen with the tapered net in the middle does an incredibly effective job of keeping them in.
It does take a little pre-baiting for this net-trap, but almost any other good trap requires the same attention. The real key is that more and more hogs can continue to enter the trap and then are not able to get out. My best so far is 15 hogs in one set.
There is no fee for the program. Topics such as those above on basic herd health, fertility, trapping feral hogs, and overall profitability will be the focus of the program. We’ll have a demonstration trap set up for you to inspect.
Cary Sims is the County Extension Agent for agriculture and natural resources for Angelina County. His email address is cw-sims@carysimms.
Educational programs of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, national origin, genetic information, or veteran status.
