Yeah, fencing off part of the ponds is not an option. The ponds exist for the cattle.
I did size all of the ponds last night using an app. The smallest ponds are right at an acre with most being in the 2-3 acre range other than the one large lake. Most of the ponds are in heavily wooded areas where the cows and people can not access 90% of the bank. I will have to do a lot of fishing from a boat or kayak. The cows can only get to a small "beach" area of each pond and it slopes off pretty quick so they can't get very far out either. So, the impact of the cows, other than the extra nutrients, is limited to a small "corner" of each pond.
I have caught some very nice fish out of some of these ponds. I don't know how they got in there or when/if they were ever officially stocked. Since they are in heavily wooded areas most of them have standing tree stumps in them and are fairly deep. Verifying depth will be a part of my ongoing evaluation of each pond. The cows are also rotated around the ranch pretty often from pasture to pasture so the ponds do have periods of time to "recover."
I know it will be a constant struggle to do anything around the cows. But it could be a fun research project. Would the grass carp be of any use to help with vegetation or would they be a waste of money? I will try to get some pictures of each of the ponds next time I am in town checking on the house build. Any more advice would be appreciated. Just know on this ranch the cows come first.
Last edited by N.TexasHalfAcre; 01/31/23 10:08 AM.
