Welcome to the Ranch!

I am all for natural alternatives to pretty much anything.  However, I get a little skeptical when the natural alternative requires releasing another animal/insect.  There have historically been some major mistakes in this area. 

For example, Hawaii has a large rodent population.  In an attempt to control the number of rodents, they imported many mongooses.  Unfortunately, the mongoose are active during the day while rodents are more nocturnal.  Mongooses have actually created more problems for the small native fauna than they have eliminated the rodent problem since they were introduced in 1883. 

At Cross Creek Cattle Company we own many horses.  At night they are stalled in a barn.  Needless to say, during the hot summer months, the fly population around the barn can be unbelievable.  Keeping the stalls as clean as possible did not help as much as you would think.  Flies were a nuisance to both man and beast. 

Cathey Holliday researched and found Fly Eliminators from Arbico.  She decided to order them and give them a try.  They soon arrived in the mail and we began Operation Fly Be Gone.  We have now put out four or five packages of the fly elimators, which are fly parasites, in and around the horse barn. 

Last week I was cleaning stalls.  By the time I was in my sixth stall of the day, I realized that the fly eliminators were really working.  It dawned on me that I had not been pestered by one fly that entire afternoon.  I kept my eyes peeled for flies for the remainder of the horse stalls.  I saw maybe three. 

Unbelievable!! Fly Eliminators really work.  If you are looking for a natural alternative to controlling flies, check into these fly parasites.  Even a skeptic like myself, sees major improvement.  Considering that the flies torment animals and residents in Texas from the end of February to mid November, I am looking forward to a virtually fly-free horse barn for months to come.   

Unlike Hawaii, we have not experienced any ill effects from releasing the fly parasites.  They do their job well.  We could not be more happy with the product.

Clayton and Jake cleaning hogs.

As I have written about several times on “Welcome to the Ranch,” feral hogs are an invasive species that have found their way at times on Cross Creek Cattle Company.  I say at times because they can do not stick to one specific area for long.  Instead they travel as necessary for their food needs. 

The one thing that wild hogs do that can be devastating to ranchers is to destroy pastures.  With their snouts, the hogs break the ground up looking for food like roots, earthworms, etc.  They also like to make wallows to lay in the coolness of the ground.  In one night, a group of wild hogs, called sounders, can “disk” up an entire pasture.  Obviously this is not good, especially when you are raising grass fed beef. 

And when you are a rancher facing an exceptional drought scenario, wild hogs are not invited guests on your ranch.  We cannot afford to lose any pastures to these feral animals.  Therefore, we have been setting our hog traps in an attempt to manage the wild hog population on our ranch. 

One recent Saturday morning, my dad called us early in the morning.  He could hear snorting and squealing in the direction of the trap.  Immediately all of my boys and husband jumped into the pick-up truck and raced to the trap.  There was a sow and five younger hogs in the trap.  Outside of the trap were a few small piglets. 

My family easily killed the wild hogs in the trap.  Meanwhile, our dog, Maggie, took off chasing one of the piglets.  She got it by the ear and my father killed it.  We cannot decide if Maggie is really brave or really stupid.  I personally lean more to the latter. 

Needless to say, we had a lot of cleaning and processing to do that day.  Luckily my boys enjoy bringing home the bacon literally.  So it was a joy for me to watch them work side-by-side with their dad.  We used the bucket on our tractor to hang several pigs at one time in order to be as efficient as possible.  It also allowed my husband to hang the hogs at a good height for him. 

We now have about a year’s supply of pork for our family.  My husband has smoked a ham as well as the whole piglet.  We deboned the majority of the pork for both link and pan sausage.  We have packaged the pork loins, some hams, and one shoulder. 

Wild pork tastes great.  It is darker and leaner than domesticated pork.  It also has a stronger flavor than traditional pork.  If you handle the meat properly, it will not taste “gamey.” 

Cleaning the animal immediately after it dies is key.  Preferably this can be done in the shade or the coolness of the morning or evening.  Icing down the meat as quickly as possible helps the meat cool down. 

Most people do not eat the boars.  They claim that the meat is too tough and/or rank tasting.  I have not tried it myself.  My husband prefers processing the young hogs that weigh around 70 pounds, but he did decide to also process the sow, which was much larger.  I read somewhere that boar meat is actually wonderful if prepared properly.  Apparently restaurants that serve wild boar will only purchase the meat of a wild hog boar over 200 pounds. 

I don’t know myself which group is correct; however, I am willing to try almost anything once.  If you have not tried feral hog, go for it at your first opportunity.  It really is tasty meat for a great price–free.  To find out more about feral hogs, visit  Texas Parks and Wildlife for information including how to build a hog trap.  Who knows, you might go hog wild for pork, too.

Our new pier at the lake.

I have already written about the exceptional drought we are experiencing here in Texas.  One indication was a sign on a local nursery.  It read:

“New Shipment
Drought Resistant Plants
Now Available.”

The drought is so bad that the nursery is adapting what it carries in stock.  We have adapted, too.  We are feeding hay and alfalfa cubes, which I wrote about in the article, “Exceptional Drought.” 

Today we were blessed with 0.7″ of rainfall.  It might not sound like much; however, it rained for about two hours at a good rate.  It was a good soaking rain.  And, we are so thankful. 

Optimism runs high here at Cross Creek Cattle Company.  We decided to make the best of the lower water level in our largest tank.  We call it the lake because it encompasses about a three acre area.  Our family loves to fish in this stocked watering hole.  We have a row boat that we use for fishing and for fun.  Occassionally we will swim in the lake also.  Despite all we do at the lake, we did not have a pier. 

Well all that has changed.  My husband and I along with our boys have constructed a 30′ long pier.  When the water is at its highest level, it will come just under the platform.  We are looking forward to spending hours with our family enjoying the ranch even more with the help of this pier. 

Because of the drought, we have not seen many rain clouds, but we are still looking for the silver lining.  We seized the opportunity to build a pier for years of enjoyment.  Hopefully we will continue to get rain until we have caught up to our average rainfall.  We know that the drought will eventually break, and our lake will be full once again.  When that happens, I will be the first to run and jump off of our new pier.

I watched with horror the following video by Australia’s Today Tonight Show and thought it worthy to share.  I personally was completely unfamiliar with transglutaminase a.k.a. meat glue.  Unfortunately in the United States, there are no regulations prohibiting the use of meat glue or laws to require transglutaminase to be on the label.  It is just another reason to seek grass-fed meats and unprocessed foods.