Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Managing Cattle Impact

I've got my land leased for cattle grazing. From the looks of stock tanks in the area, the cattle will keep the banks eaten back, and potentially damage the dam and add to erosion problems. A positive to this is that the exposed barren soils are a draw to doves which I plan to hunt in the fall. However, lots of good thick marshy grasses and aquatic vegetation would be nice for spawning fish and waterfowl in the winter. I've read that most of the pond could be fenced off from the cows and only provide a single point of entry. Who has experience with this and what have you done with it? Pics would be great! Thanks in advance.

PJ,

I've always had cows with ponds and have never had any problems. I do fence them out of the pond which provides the fish for the table, however. Seems like it wouldn't be too difficult to make a lane for the cows to use for watering purposes. That fence would have to extend into the pond however, to be effective and that might limit your ability to easily move around the pond. A siphon system attached to an automatic float value external to the pond might be a better approach for watering livestock. Maybe someone has tried that?

PJ I too graze cattle on both my ponds. In my opinion the pond maintance they do far out ways any damages. They have made a trail across the back of one of my ponds but it took several years to become an issue. I repaired it in one afternoon with the tractor and loader. When they get real hungry say bye bye cattails. For my new project thou I do plan to prevent them from having access to the dam. I used the weld panels and "T" post to extend my fense out into the water far enough they want walk around it at my my home place. This can be done even after the pond has water in it. My back yard backs up to the pond edge. Belief me they can damage your bosses srubs and flower beds. Mine have managed to open the gate a few times and have there way in the yard. They did there on version of tree trimming. Not a pretty picture. Longhorns make the best pond maintance cows cause they eat just about anything a goat will. Even poision IVY.

RT,

I've been considering switching over to Longhorns and may when I live there permanently. For now, I need the independence and heartiness of the Brahma bloodlines. A mix just might be the perfect breed for East Texas.

Meadowlark I'll share this with you.

Longhorn cattle benefits

1.They can survive on anything, other breeds can't.

2. There are no issues with predators eating your calfs. The mommy longhorns don't put up with that, they don't run from coyotes they run them off.

Now the down side

1.Their Hard on fences
2. No real market value unless your in the longhorn "CLICK" and growing horns,not meat.


I breed my red brangus bull to solid brown colored longhorns. When I take my calfs to the local market I get a good price because the buyers don't know they are buying half long horn and they gain weight fairly well. I have one Longhorn Mother who is white with brown and black spots. All of her off spring come out the same way and spell longhorn at first sight. I usally try to bucher her off spring because They don't bring the money at sale.

I forgot, if your feeding watch out for the horns. They go to swat flies and your in the way well it hurts a little.

Yes, if you don't have some Brahma bloodlines showing around here, you get significant discounts at sale. It's funny, however, too much Brahma showing will also result in discount. A lot of guys sell their Longhorn calves around here for roping, which is very big in these parts.

The going price is 300$ for roping calfs around here. The last time I took cattle to sale the price was around a 1.20 lb even for 600+ feed lot calfs. I hope it is still up when I go to market in the fall.

Around these parts you get better prices if there is the Angus influence, black. I sold some cattle last week and was geting 1.37 lb.