Water concerns rising as cattle die in dry Texas

[Forkboy]

The unrelenting Texas drought has produced a cruelly ironic twist: cattle dying from too much water.

Agriculture officials in parched Texas said Wednesday there are no hard numbers on how many head of cattle have died but reports of deaths from too much water or too little are showing up across the nation's leading cattle production state.

"They over drink because they're thirsty," said Dr. Robert Sprowls of the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in Amarillo. "Once they fill up on water it happens pretty quickly."

Producers are losing cattle after moving them from withered pastures where water tanks have dried up. Once in new pastures, cattle that die take in too much water too quickly. The animals die within minutes and their carcasses are found near the stock tanks from which they were drinking, Ted McCollum, a beef cattle specialist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Amarillo, said.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9OFE3A03.htm

[aquart]

1. Texas.

This never happened before? They couldn't figure it out and share information? You know, socialisticly, communally?

[tammywammy]

7. "Texas is coming off its driest nine-month period ever and its hottest June on record." n/t

[krispos42]

2. Wow, that Global Steady-State Climate is a real pain in the ass.

Now watch the price of beef skyrocket.

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. s'Okay!

Perry's gonna get a bunch of people to pray it away real soon.

[seabeyond]

4. it is really bad here. i have live in az, calif, and now texas. i have never seen anything like

this summer.

people are not watering grass. i do once a week. it hasnt decided to live or die yet. no one ahs flowers ect. just an amazing, never seen, dry.

we didnt have snow either in the winter. record lows. 20, 25 below. but no snow.

odd odd

and

dry

[tammywammy]

8. I just noticed tonight that the crepe myrtle in my front yard is dying.

:(

[seabeyond]

9. i went thru a newish neighborhood with littler lawns than my neighborhood. where yard is

important. so sirprised the number that flat out looked like NO water has been taken to it.

i am sorry for you crepe myrtle. the few flowers i planted, well... pretty much done.

[ellenfl]

5. now's their chance to show us their every-man-for-himself,

can-do spirit. surely they won't be asking for fed help or dollars. :shrug:

ellen fl

[neverforget]

6. C'mon Perry! Pray away the drought!

[blogslut]

10. It's the worst I've ever seen in all my 50 years

And for all you folks who think it appropriate to pass blame and smirk, well, you're not worth my time.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[seabeyond]

12. it is ugly. i agree. nt

[WCGreen]

13. Isn't Texas always on the verge of drought?

I mean, outside of a few green patches, the rest is pretty much low rainfall areas.

It boggles my mind that so many people would move to a place where there is a defined amount of water.

Now this isn't a republican democrat thing, it's about unchecked development of which, I suppose, both parties are guilty of promoting.

So more and more people are moving to Texas and yet the normal climate can barely serve the the people that are already there.

[seabeyond]

14. texas is big. all different kinds of weather. where i live, we get snow

(except this year) and average rain is 20".

we had a couple years with so much rain i did little watering and really green. each year is different. some more. some less. never like this

southern tx much wetter

[tammywammy]

15. It depends on where you're at

Texas is big. We had a lot of snow and some good thunderstorms this winter/spring. Right now though, we haven't had rain in 3 weeks and Sunday is day 16 of 100+ degree weather.

:)

[blogslut]

16. No

The entire state is not "always on the verge of drought". The state of Texas encompasses nearly 270,000 miles of land. There are coastal regions, mountainous regions, prairie regions, forest regions and desert regions. The Panhandle is the dry part. The rest of the state is suffering drought conditions this year and that is not common.

As for the Panhandle, we figured out this wacky thing called "irrigation" and we dug some big holes and found this mystery thing the called the Ogallala Aquifer (biggest in the nation) and as long as we can keep T. Boone Pickens from selling our water to parched California under the ruse of "clean energy", we'll be just fine.

[WCGreen]

17. That was one of the things i was thinking about when I wrote the post...

At some time, that aquifer will take out more than seeps in and that can only be caused by over use of that resource...

[blogslut]

18. That aquifer covers five states

So, if one is going to assign blame, there's plenty to go around.

[onethatcares]

19. if and when that happens

perhaps you can be the test state of pumping raw sewerage into the aquifier and returning the blend to the residential water systems as is being proposed

here in sunny and hot Floriduh.

It seems mr good hair and prickbaldscott have a thing for each other, in a manly way of course.

[newfie11]

20. yeah, your water and ours up here in Nebraska.

TBoon needs to go away, far far away!

[Angry Dragon]

22. The east side looks like northern Minnesota

West Texas, in parts, looks like a wasteland
Then you have the Hill Country

[bluestate10]

21. Where is Governor Goodhair. Shouldn't he be about leading prayers

for rain. Secede from the union already, you dumbasses.