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During July, relief from the heat and lack of moisture came in only a few places. Those that had been getting moisture continued to get it while the whole country experienced elevated, and in many cases, extreme temperatures during the month....

Executive Director’s Report...

published: August 5th 2011 by: Bill Hyman source: ICA of Texas

Last week I was invited to lunch by Agriculture Commissioner Todd Sta-ples to celebrate the kickoff of the Go Texan restaurant program for this year. The affair was held at an upscale Austin establishment and featured a menu of products and foods produced in Texas....

Chapter Happenings Around The Lone Star State

published: August 5th 2011 source: ICA of Texas

Colorado Valley ICA By Les Mallory CVICA is pleased to announce the four winners of this year’s scholarships who graduated from Fayette County High Schools; (L to R) CVICA Scholarship Chairman Dave Derrick and scholarship recipient Takona Tipton of Flatonia will be attending Texas A&M University....

President’s Address

published: August 5th 2011 by: Robert L. Bruner

It’s that time of year when each of us begins to assess how we are doing in the cattle business. This year has been especially challenging due to the drought and all that has accompanied it – empty ponds, low or nonexistent grass and unbelievable heat, which is not good for neither man nor beast....

The Texas Side Of Things...

published: July 22nd 2011 by: Jim Banner

I remember as a boy, a song that Tex Ritter recorded called “I Dreamed of a Hillbilly Heaven”; in the song he describes a dream where he goes to heaven and sees all of the legends of country and western music....

Texas Tales

published: July 22nd 2011 by: Mike Cox

Judging from old photographs, it didn’t look like much, but back in 1923 a hybrid machine invented in San Angelo generated a lot of attention in the Texas telephone industry. With the discovery of oil in West Texas, demand for telephone service shot as high as any gusher....

The Texas Side Of Things

published: June 10th 2011 by: Jim Banner

It appears that the long, hot days of summer have arrived and although the official start of summer doesn’t begin until June 21st, I’m wondering what happened to spring? Now for most of us native Texans, summer is a period we’ve all learned to endure just to have the opportunity to enjoy the fall and winter seasons, but I’m starting to wonder if I can hold out that long this year! As all of you know this spring has been extremely hot, dry and windy for just about every region of Texas and its times like this that can really test the stamina or intellect of anyone thinking about becoming a rancher or farmer....

Texas Tales

published: June 10th 2011 by: Mike Cox

Edgar Stephens and Robert “Sunshine” Stub-blefield spent most of their lives on the road traveling from town to town in Texas with the Bill Hames carnival. Back in 1913, Stephens hoped to make a living as a farmer near Pilot Point, a small community north of Denton....

AgriLife Tips

published: June 10th 2011 source: Texas AgriLife Extension Service

NEW LANDOWNER SERIES TO FOCUS ON BEEF CATTLE PRODUCTION So you always dreamed about having your own acreage with a few cows, yet you have often wondered what it really takes to be in the cattle business....

The Texas Side Of Things

published: May 13th 2011 by: Jim Banner

I’ll be honest with you…if you would’ve asked me a couple of weeks ago to list at least a few positive things going on in the world I’m not for sure I could have even listed one....

Texas Tales

published: May 13th 2011 by: Mike Cox

A buffalo wasn’t the only critter that could get skinned on the High Plains if he wasn’t careful. In 1877, when the Panhandle still teemed with hundreds of thousands of shaggy-haired bison, a young traveling salesman checked in with his home office at Galve-ston by telegraph from Henrietta....

AgriLife Tips

published: May 13th 2011 source: Texas AgriLife Extension Service

DROUGHT AND WILDFIRES DEVASTATING TO AGRICULTURE When it gets dry in the spring, Ag producers in south Texas will remark, we sure need to get that "Cinco De Mayo Rain," and that is certainly an understatement this year....

Over My Shoulder

published: May 13th 2011 by: J.D. Sartwelle, Jr.

April was just one more month that started dry, provided very little moisture, and departed dry; that is, in the southwest, across Texas and to the southeast. In other places the rain didn’t know how to stop....

Just Your Standard Bull

published: April 29th 2011 by: Michael Sturgess

This week marks the reporting of the first interval (Jan/Feb) for the Pasture Rangeland Forage (PRF) drought insurance policies. In case you had forgotten or didn’t know, my partner Jim Banner and I are also licensed agents and have offered this coverage since it begin with the 2007 crop year....

Texas Tales

published: April 29th 2011 by: Mike Cox

A broken piece of sandstone can’t tell a story, but Edna (Snooks) Collett sure can. Collett is curator of the museum in the still-booming old boom town of Iraan, in the middle of the storied Yates Field, which is well past its billionth barrel of oil and still producing....

AgriLife Tips

published: April 29th 2011 source: Texas AgriLife Extension Service

SOUTH TEXAS RANGE MANAGERS SHOULD ALWAYS PLAN FOR DROUGHT The dry conditions of South Texas are becoming far too familiar for us, but you know this unfortunately seems to be the normal for us. Yes, our South Texas climate is recognized as unique, because it is the only subtropical prairie on earth, located downwind of a large water body like the Gulf of Mexico, that has a semiarid climate....

Executive Director’s Report...

published: April 29th 2011 by: Bill Hyman source: ICA of Texas

Well it is almost May and our Texas Legislators are still trying to adopt a budget for 2011-2013. The proposed budget approved by the House called for major cuts for almost all state agencies. However, when the agency chiefs met with the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) they were encouraged to identify new fee income that could supplement the projected lower general revenue estimates....

President’s Address

published: April 29th 2011 by: Rosalee Coleman source: ICA of Texas

Our biennial trip to the Legislature is over for another session, and I am glad I had the privilege of going along. It’s easy to gripe about government, both federal and state, but it is also hard to be in the legislature and try to please your constituency....

The Texas Side Of Things

published: April 15th 2011 by: Jim Banner

I don’t know about you but I just cringe when I see a headline in the newspapers such as the one recently in the San Antonio Express that read: Groceries Taking A Bigger Bite! Now you might ask yourself why would this headline bother me? It’s my opinion but the average reader might see the headline and not read the entire article, he or she might misunderstand and believe the fat cat farmers and ranchers are taking advantage of the consumer and gauging them during this time of economic unrest....

Texas Tales

published: April 15th 2011 by: Mike Cox

Once upon a time, a shower of shiny gold coins fell from the sky over Palo Duro Canyon State Park south of Amarillo. No, really. This isn’t a fairy tale. That actually happened one Saturday in the late spring of 1949, a decade and a half after the scenic and history-rich Panhandle park opened to the public on July 4, 1934....