Welcome to the Ranch!

Rain, glorious rain!  It started raining last night and I believe I heard it still raining early into the morning.  At about 8 o’clock this morning it began again.  We are so excited here at Cross Creek Cattle Company.

It is the perfect rain, too.  It is not accompanied with a storm system.  We were not under a tornado watch.  We did not lose our electricity due to high winds.  We were not kept awake with thunder and lightning.  It is a steady rain.

Not only is this rain steady, but it is a soaking rain.  The water is doing exactly what we need it to do; the water is seeping into the soil nourishing the roots of our plants and grass.  It is not running off our pastures into creeks that eventually flow into the Gulf of Mexico.  It is not flooding our pastures and putting our herd in peril.  As I said before, we consider ourselves blessed with this perfect rain.

As you would expect rain plays an important role on a grass fed ranch.  Grass has to have sufficient rainfall to thrive.  I know that our cattle and grass fed operation did well despite a drought last summer, but two back to back droughts would have been tough to pull through without many problems, which is why this rain is absolutely glorious.

I have a more selfish need for the rain that goes beyond the pasture conditions.  I have a big, organic vegetable garden that badly needs the rain, too.  Despite my seemingly constant watering, the plants are turning yellow.  The soil is never muddy; the soil has been soaking up all the water.  For some reason, watering with a sprinkler is not as good as rain falling from the sky for your garden.

I don’t know the reason, but I have made this observation countless times.  The garden always seems refreshed after a rain like this, but not when I water it myself.  Maybe it has something to do with the rain bringing cooler temperatures and overcast skies.  Whereas when I water, the skies are clear and the sun is still baking the plants.  Evaporation of the water might be a key issue as well.  Regardless of the reason, I am celebrating the fact that my garden is being refreshed and soaked by rain.

We want the rain to stay, but obviously we don’t want it to rain forever.  That would be unhealthy for our grass fed operation and my garden.  We want the rain to continue treating us with its blessings throughout the summer.  We definitely don’t want to endure another drought.  This great rainfall is a good sign that we will not.

After an incredibly dry spring and summer, we are experiencing a very wet autumn.  It started raining, and it feels like it has not stopped.  As a rancher, I am not complaining.  We have to adjust to either drought or deluge.  Fortunately, nothing is flooding even after inches and inches of rainfall, which demonstrates how dry our land was.

Immediately following the first few inches of rain, the grass turned a deep and brilliant green color.  The pastures are beautiful.  Luckily through the drought, our pasture grasses did not dry up and die like many ranches in our area.  We count ourselves fortunate and thank God.  Our pastures fed the cattle, and will continue to feed them a little while longer.

Where the ground had cracked from extreme dryness, the soil is dark with moisture.  As the rain fell for days and days, the soil just soaked up the rain.  No rain even ran off.  The ground was like a huge sponge soaking up all the moisture it could get.  After even more rain, walking through the pastures at Cross Creek Cattle Company is like walking on supersaturated sponges.  “Squish, squish.”  The roads are also beginning to get muddy, but they are not impassable yet.

Now that the ground is saturated, the rain is beginning to run-off.  Our ponds and our lake are finally starting to fill up after lowering to worrisome levels.  I do not remember the water in the lake ever being that low before.  I am sure the fish are happier with more room to swim.  A good supply of fresh drinking water is critical for raising healthy cattle.

With rain, comes mosquitoes.  They are everywhere.  All the little eggs have hatched and the little mosquitoes are hungry for blood.  If you plan on spending any time out-of-doors, make sure you have something to repel the pests.

Despite the mosquitos, the rain has really freshened up the place.  It has washed away the dust from the county road that used to lay thick on the perimeter trees and bushes.  The pastures and trees alike are well-nourished.  The rain has also brought a coolness with it that broke the seemingly constant 100 degree streak we were having.  The air itself smells clean.  Because of the rain, it feels like there has been a rebirth of nature on the ranch.  We are seeing more wildlife out and about, even snakes.  Rain is good.  We are enjoying the fall season at Cross Creek Cattle Company.