I just can NOT eat store-bought chicken now, since...

[dancingbear]

Quote:
All the posts you've written about the area you live in, it sounds about as hospitable as Mars. Why on earth did you choose to live there? And why the heck would somebody decide to try to raise livestock there? As opposed to something better suited to the climate? Is there a market for gilas? Cacti and succulents?

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
All the posts you've written about the area you live in, it sounds about as hospitable as Mars. Why on earth did you choose to live there? And why the heck would somebody decide to try to raise livestock there? As opposed to something better suited to the climate? Is there a market for gilas? Cacti and succulents?

Why did Moses lead his people out of Egypt and into the desert? The original settlers needed thausands of acres of open range land for their cattle. The arrid West just was not suited to grow vegetables or orchards. There is abundant land as well as sunshine all one needs is water. There is abundant snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains and every spring there were huge floods. As they say of the desert... " just add water and it will bloom". The abundant sunshine and very little rainfall equates to a very long growing season and in some areas , year around. So, it was decided to build dams and irrigation systems. Today the Central Valleys of California have vinyards, orchards, citrus orchards, row crops ( 2-3 crops per year), sugar beats, tomatoes, corn, cotton and alfalfa fields ( 5-7 cuttings per year), etc. as far as the eye can see. There are huge turkey and chicken ranches each producing into the hundred thausands. The beef cattle are still king in the arrid foothills and mountains, however they are rapidly being pushed out as the dairy industry is taking over more and more open range lands. The one county just south of us now produces more milk, cheese and other milk products than the State of Wisconsin. The average dairy has 10,000 cows and one now has 44,000+ cows. They are spaced out at least about 10 miles apart to grow corn and alfalfa while the cows lounge about in roofed sheds just feet from feed throughs and milking parlors. The State of California is now so productive in Agriculture produce that it has the 7th largest economy in the World. And, yes, there is a huge market for cactus and succulants as evidenced by the huge nurseries growing them. I hear that there may be a market for the poison milked from the gila monsters but still in the research stage. However, with all of this new abundance, if one has no access to the irrigation system , one still has the RIGORS of the desert as well as the associated abundant predators to contend with . Oh, why did we live here? In a word JOBS.

 

[Tad]

did somebody mention cacti? We raise and sell a ton of agave plants and the majority of them get shipped out to California nurseries.

 

[Buster52]

Never mind.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
All the posts you've written about the area you live in, it sounds about as hospitable as Mars. Why on earth did you choose to live there? And why the heck would somebody decide to try to raise livestock there? As opposed to something better suited to the climate? Is there a market for gilas? Cacti and succulents?

Why did Moses lead his people out of Egypt and into the desert? The original settlers needed thausands of acres of open range land for their cattle. The arrid West just was not suited to grow vegetables or orchards. There is abundant land as well as sunshine all one needs is water. There is abundant snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains and every spring there were huge floods. As they say of the desert... " just add water and it will bloom". The abundant sunshine and very little rainfall equates to a very long growing season and in some areas , year around. So, it was decided to build dams and irrigation systems. Today the Central Valleys of California have vinyards, orchards, citrus orchards, row crops ( 2-3 crops per year), sugar beats, tomatoes, corn, cotton and alfalfa fields ( 5-7 cuttings per year), etc. as far as the eye can see. There are huge turkey and chicken ranches each producing into the hundred thausands. The beef cattle are still king in the arrid foothills and mountains, however they are rapidly being pushed out as the dairy industry is taking over more and more open range lands. The one county just south of us now produces more milk, cheese and other milk products than the State of Wisconsin. The average dairy has 10,000 cows and one now has 44,000+ cows. They are spaced out at least about 10 miles apart to grow corn and alfalfa while the cows lounge about in roofed sheds just feet from feed throughs and milking parlors. The State of California is now so productive in Agriculture produce that it has the 7th largest economy in the World. And, yes, there is a huge market for cactus and succulants as evidenced by the huge nurseries growing them. I hear that there may be a market for the poison milked from the gila monsters but still in the research stage. However, with all of this new abundance, if one has no access to the irrigation system , one still has the RIGORS of the desert as well as the associated abundant predators to contend with . Oh, why did we live here? In a word JOBS.

So it's a great place to farm or ranch? Or it's a horrible place to farm or ranch? You seem to be saying both.

When DH and I were looking for where to buy land, we wanted a place that would have a decent growing season and a suitable climate. Including availability of water. That's why we came to KY.

We did screw up on our present property, though, as far as water goes. We thought there was a well, turned out to only have a cistern. So during droughts, our water cost is high, but the rest of the time at least, we have water from a roof collection system we installed.