Texas Cup Grass

It is interesting to note the different plants and how they are reacting to the awesome rainfall received this past week. (3” in two different rains 6 days apart)

The prickly pear, which was shriveled to the point that one rancher commented that he thought if we had a wildfire it would burn like grass, has ‘fluffed out’ and greened up amazingly in just a few days, as its shallow roots quickly absorbed the moisture. The amazing pear apple crop was the result of the last rain event in May. Pear is certainly well adapted to drought conditions.

Black Walnuts, which appeared to be drought killed have already begun putting on new leaf growth, even at this late date in the growing season. Many dead limbs and stems are evidence of the lack of moisture through the exceptionally hot-dry summer. The Lords plan with natures resiliency is awesome, and only needs the help of man to move the process forward.

Grasses are very slow to show any green up as the moisture conditions were strikingly poor, being the result of a long drought period only offset by the May rain event that provided excellent recovery from prior drought conditions, however that rain event did not provide any deep moisture for long term recovery. (Take note that this rainfall event does not mean the end of the drought, but it is an excellent start.) Thus, the grass was in a dormant condition, and it takes time for the growth process to begin again. Even the deeper-rooted dense stands of grasses that traditionally fare much better than the sparsely spaced grass plants of heavy-continuous grazed programs, are dormant from this current dry spell. Yet having said all this, some grass plants recover much more quickly from extended drought-heat than others.

The picture below is of a Texas Cupgrass plant, while every other grass in the pasture is struggling to show any green at all even at the base of the plant, the Texas Cup is already making very positive new growth of leaf structure. For a review of past discussions, Texas Cup under continuous grazing is a rare find and will almost always be found growing within a protected area from grazing like a bush. Being one of the first to green up in spring, the last of the summer grasses to brown out in fall and in many years will retain some green in the stems through the winter much like Black Grama. With the timely initiation of a dedicated graze-rest program utilizing an extended rest period the Texas Cup will increase at a dramatic rate as the seed source is allowed to expand. While not known as one of the ‘tall’ grasses this mid grass is one of the better indicators of rangeland improvement and is a key plant in putting the grazing manager in a position of profitable ranching on a consistent basis.

                            THE BETTER IT GETS THE FASTER IT GETS BETTER