By managing stressed pastures, supplemental nutrition and
overall animal health, an East Texas ranch manager maintained a
90 percent or more calving rate and a strong calf crop during
the worst drought in decades. Wayne Cockrell is like thousands
of ranchers and ranch managers who battled dreadful drought this
year and in 2011. Close to 1 million cows have been liquidated,
mostly in the Southwest, due to dried up pastures and water
sources and high costs of supplemental forages and other feed.
But Cockrell got a drop on drought early enough to manage
through the worst of it without major losses. He manages the
Carter Ranch at Oakwood, Texas. On average, it maintains about
16,000 acres of native grass and wheat pasture, with a 60
percent cow-calf, 40 percent stocker ratio. Cows are Brangus-
baldy-cross bred to Angus bulls. Coastal Bermuda is the primary
pasture grass. A late winter-early spring fertilizer program
along with timely rains help generate solid grazing and good
cattle performance. However, after the