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This article provides management guidelines to benefit from ryegrass while encouraging bermudagrass recovery. While the focus is on ryegrass in bermudagrass, the same principles apply to other cool-season annuals in other warm-season perennial grasses.

Agricultural producers are confronted with persistent production problems that cost much time and money. We often attack symptoms and never get to the nitty-gritty of the land resource management that's causing the problem.

There are probably many producers who are under financial strain because of drought, high hay cost, low cattle prices and low crop prices. Our advice would be to address your problem head-on. Admit you need help and go get it. If you need help from us, please call and let us know.

One of the most damaging diseases in pecans is pecan scab, caused by the fungus Fusicladium effusum. It infects actively growing tissue, such as stems, leaves and nut shucks, when temperatures are above 70 degrees Fahrenheit and relative humidity is above 90 percent.

Random thoughts while wondering who will be the cattle-persons of the 21st century?

Lack of forage (quantity and quality) is the cause of many cattle being in less-than-desirable body condition going into the winter - the next few months are going to be critical, regardless of whether your cows calve in the fall or spring, due to bull turn-out and calving season rapidly approaching.

A calf will always prefer its mother's milk first and will consume all she produces each day. Creep feeding won't help the cow, but it still can be an option for some producers.

The longevity of farm and ranch operations can be determined partially by the manager's ability to develop a farm business plan, implement it, and monitor the outcome. The first step in developing the plan is to list the goals of the business. However, you should first devise the vision and mission statement to provide direction

Around the middle of July forage quality generally declines. When this happens, the performance of stocker cattle and/or developing heifers grazing those forages will also decline.

The bottom line in this and every drought is to protect the forage resource and maintain the productivity of the cow herd. We can never cheat the basics. Many costly lessons are being learned during this drought.