The Sealy News (Sealy, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 44, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 5, 1995 Page: 22 of 38
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Page 8
Gulf Coast Farmer-Rancher
January 1995
Calves
Continued from Page 7
proper rate, and don't get
sick as often.
Preconditioning involves
weaning calves at least 45
days before they are
shipped, vaccinating for dis-
eases, and "teaching" them
how to eat feed.
"It's much more cost-effi-
cient at the ranch," Herring
said.
Preconditioning saves him
from $70 to $80 in medical
and other expenses over a
calf that is not.
Preconditioning data gath-
ered from an earlier Ranch
to Rail program directly re-
sulted in Extension's new
Value Added Calf (VAC)
health management pro-
gram.
If ranchers precondition
their calves at least two to
four weeks before shipping
and give two rounds of vac-
cinations for respiratory dis-
eases, their animals have
fewer health problems.
"We don't need to be vac-
cinating calves for where
they've been but where
they’re going," McNeill
said.
"If the .calves are weaned
at home, they don't get sick,
they're under less stress,
they know how to eat and
drink out of a trough." said
Clyde Williams, who
ranches in north Brazos
County near Hearne and con-
tracts his calves directly
with a feedlot.
"It's like comparing
freshmen and seniors at col-
lege."
A ranch-based health pro-
gram not only gives calves a
head start, but it also in-
creases profit margins to ev-
eryone up the beef produc-
tion line. Williams spends
about $10 per calf to vacci-
nate at the ranch; Herring
said drug bills can amount to
$40 per calf in a pen.
Preconditioning can add to
a calf's value to a buyer.
At a recent VAC-45 sale at
the Bryan Livestock Com-
mission Co., even in a de-
pressed market, the VAC-45
calves sold for two to eight
cents per pound higher than
their counterparts at the
sale.
Also, Friona Industries
will pay a premium of $8
per hundredweight for the
weaned and preconditioned
calves they buy directly
from the rancher, the first
feedyard to do so.
"If more people would
change their ways and cor-
rect their management pro-
grams, it would help the
whole industry be more com-
petitive," said Nancy Holt,
a Ranch to Rail participant
who ranches with her hus-
band, E.M., near Navasota
in Grimes County.
"They need to look beyond
me and mine," Holt said.
McNeill agrees. "Looking
at this data makes cow/calf
producer realize they are in
the food business. They're
producing food, not a com-
modity"
Expert: Hybrid sunfish don't pan out for Texas pond owners
Writer: Robert Burns, (903) 834 6191
Contact: Dr. Joe Lock (903) 834 6191
OVERTON — Texas pond
owners should just /say no to
dealers who try to sell them
hybrid mixes of bluegill and
sunfish, according to a Texas
A&M University fisheries
expert.
Coppernose bluegill are a
much better choice for Texas
ponds and lakes, according to
Joe Lock, fisheries specialist
with the Texas Agricultural
Extension Service in Overton.
Out-of-state dealers typi-
cally advertise that the hy-
brid panfish will reach
weights of 2 1/2 to 3 pounds,
but this claim rarely pans
out, Lock said.
"I guess it's theoretically
possible, but I've never seen
it happen except where they
are intensively fed. In the
ordinary pond situation
maybe one in 10,000 will get
that large."
If not fed, the hybrids
typically grow to about 1/4
pound. Some may reach a
pound if the pond owner reg-
ularly feeds them, he said.
Another drawback is the
stocked sunfish hybrid's first
and subsequent spawns result
in degenerate, off-type sun-
fish.
"Like any hybrid, they're
what you might call re-pro-
ductivity hindered," Lock
said.
The reverted sunfish are
predators and will compete
with young bass for food..
Coppernose bluegill, on the
other hand, if stocked with
bass, will grow to the same
size as the hybrid sunfish,
but will breed true and serve
as a food supply for the
bass.
Plus, there are many Texas
fish dealers who supply
coppernose bluegills at a
price comparable to that of
the out-of-state hybrid sun-
fish.
Many pond owners are re-
luctant to stock ponds with
bluegill because the species
not only will spawn in the
spring but also in the fall
and summer.
Pond owners fear bluegills
will overpopulate the pond
and crowd out bass and other
fish by sheer weight of num-
bers.
Pond owners can easily
avoid this scenario by fol-
lowing a few simple man-
agement rules, Lock said,
such as not over harvesting
bass during the first season
of fishing and stocking the
right number of bluegill in
the beginning.
If both species are stocked
and managed correctly, the
result is vastly improved
sport fishing of both.
The bass will grow to
"keeper" size while they
thin out the bluegills. The
surviving bluegill population
will be larger and health-
ier.
"Bluegill are the only na-
tive fish species that can
sustain the large numbers
needed to provide food for
bass. Without them, a qual-
ity bass population will
probably not develop," Lock
said.
Ironically, coppernose
bluegill can be stocked for
about the same price as the
hybrid sunfish. Production
costs are similar.
The out-of-state dealers
aren't stupid. They can grow
coppernose bluegills, too,
They market bluegill/green
sunfish because the first-
cross' hybrid is hardier than
either side of its family tree
and survives the long haul
across state borders in truck
tanks, Lock said.
To find a supplier of qual-
ity coppernose bluegill, Lock
recommends pond owners
look to members of one of the
two major producer organiza-
tions in Texas, the Texas
Family Fish Farmers Asso-
ciation and the Texas Aqua-
culture Association.
The two organizations rep-
resent about 70 dealers, lo-
cated across the state, from
Odessa to Tyler.
For membership lists of
both organizations, contact
Lock at the Texas A&M
Agricultural Research and
Extension Center, P.O. Box
38, Overton, TX 75684. Phone
(903) 834-6191.
HARVEST LEASE PURCHASE SPECIALS
CO DID 2420 40 PTO Horse power, K-1
UAL 020U Single Remote Valve .
LIST PRICE $19,651
WINTER BUYER DIVIDEND -$500
DEALER DISCOUNT -$5901
CASH SELLING
PRICE
$13,250*
FORD 5640S
66 PTO Horsepower, 386
Hours, KA Single
Remote Hydraulic
Valve .#
SAVE
$10,367
Cash Selling List Price $28,362
Price $17,995"
FORD 3930
: SAVE
; $8930
CASH SELLING
- PRICE
F STARTING AT:
$20,900*
76 PTO Horsepower, K-A
Single Remote Valve
LIST PRICE $29,830
45 PTO Horsepower, K-1
Single Remote Valve
LIST PRICE $20,694
WINTER BUYER DIVIDEND -$500
DEALER DISCOUNT -$5944
CASH SELLING
PRICE
$14,250*
FORD 6610S
4WD, 76 PTO HP, 134 Hours, KB
Double Remote
Hydraulic Valve,
14.9x24 Front &
18.4x34 Rear Tires
— List Price $33,100
Cash Selling 4op OE
Price $23,850"
FORD
FORD 7810S
4WD, 90 PTO HP, 6 Cyl., 105
hours, KB Double
Remote Hydraulic
Valve, 14.9X24 Front
& 18.4x34 Rear Tires
Cash Sellins List Price $37,067
Cash o€46 ger euni
Price $26,500"
FORD 7810S
2WD, 90 PTO HP, 6 Cyl., 91
hours, KB Double she
Remote Hydraulic 3
Valve, 10X16 Front
& 18.4x34 Rear Tires
SAVE
S8259
Cash Calling List Price $30,359
Cash selling arr k
Price $22,100"
FORD 7810S
4WD, 86 PTO HP, 1 hour, KB
Double Remote
Hydraulic
Valve, 14.9X24 Front
& 18.4x34 Rear Tires
SAVE 3
; S8364 :
Cash calling List Price $34,864
Cash selling 44/ Elik
Price $26,500"
Many Wishes
Prosperous
f^W Year.
STANDARD WARRANTY APPLIES LESS HOURS OF USE (2 YEAR LIMITEDWARRANTY)
"Prices reflect
application of
Winter Buyer
Dividend
WASHINGTON CO. TRACTOR, INC.
HWY. 290 AND SOUTH MARKET. BRENHAM
(409)836-4591 LOCAL • (713)463-4242 HOUSTON • 1800 256 5655
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Petrusek, Wilma. The Sealy News (Sealy, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 44, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 5, 1995, newspaper, January 5, 1995; Sealy, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1702742/m1/22/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Virgil and Josephine Gordon Memorial Library.