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  • From: "Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Tvo post Mar 98- Trashland Treasure
  • Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006 13:45:36 -0700

One of the problems with this discussion is that Bill has this obsessional hatred for all things California. Rational and facts don't enter into the equation, just pure hatred. The other problem is that there is no "California." <g>

O.K., now are y'all confused <g> Take where I live which is 3.5 hours from the coast (111 miles inland) but NOT the central valley he keeps mentioning. I live in a combination forest area with Ponderosa pines, Gray/Digger Pines, Sugar Pines, oak (about 6 varieties but mostly black and white oak), madrone and several dozen other smaller trees like alder, dogwood, etc.. In the whole county there is only one area that is really level, the Hayfork Valley. The rest of the land is hills, mountains and small little "glens." We have lots of rivers, creeks and lakes and a few places with ground water but, believe it or not, it is harder'n hell to drill a well and get any water. We have four seasons--long winter with snow (some parts have REAL snow), a spring that you'll blink and miss, a HOT, dry summer, and a short blink and miss it fall. There are no dairies. There are several very large cattle ranches and a number of them turn the cattle out in the early spring, pull them and let the grass grow, cut the hay and bale it and then turn the cattle back out on it. I'll have to get a picture of the two big fields on the way into town. They still have green areas in them and they've been grazed, hayed and grazed again!

Head west to the next county over and there are tons of dairies, both cow and goat. Now that county has 7 rivers and more creeks than anyone has ever counted. However, there are parts that are the same as my current local and parts that have over 300 growing days a year and the temp rarely varies more than 10 degrees from 60 winter or summer. That part includes places like Ferndale and the Arcata Bottoms which are reknown for their dairies. A few irrigate (that would be either the move them manually sprinkler systems with rainbirds or the "walking" sprinkler systems) but many don't have to because of the climate. Lots of rain, lots of fog, lots of ground water. Parts of Humboldt County are green 12 months of the year and there are quite a few folks who have immigrated from Ireland because they feel at home there.

Now, you get down in the valley (central CA) and you get flood irrigation. Lots of big corporate farm dairies down there. Or you can go to Sonoma County (again with the sprinkler irrigation) and they have some big, but still locally owned dairies (Clover Milk who was sued by Jacque Cousteau's family for their ads is in Sonoma County).

When you get to Southern California and you get a whole other bunch of stuff going on and several areas that have climates that aren't even vaguely related to the rest of California. Or if you can go northeast of where I am and get high desert where they are already down in the single digit temps at night. Then we have the Truckee area where the Donner Party had their BBQ. Go to the Delta and another whole climate area. San Francisco has its own climate.

So, in other words, there is no "that's the climate in California" and anyone alluding to "THE" climate in California or "all the hills are brown and won't support livestock" are delusional!

Lynda

----- Original Message ----- From: "clhw" <clhw AT InfoAve.Net>


Although I know several hundred dairy farmers, I don't know of any who
irrigate unless you call those spray rigs which creep along spraying out
water as irrigation. Usually, the water source would be underground wells.
I really don't know what irrigation is. When we went to Montana several
years back was the first time I remember seeing irrigation rigs in
operation, although I may have seen them years before in Alabama,
Mississippi, etc. and not realized what I was seeing.

Most dairy farmers around here raise very little of their own feed crops,
preferring to buy them rather than hire non-existant labor. We raised hay
and silage but bought grain and additional hay. We relied on rain and if it
was a drought year, we bought more.

Putting our cattle out to pasture was mostly for their exercise. There was
very little grazing available. The size of dairy farms here is not much. We
were renting one which was less than 300 acres for 250 head.

>To resolve the question is easy. Are eastern dairy farms usually
irrigated? Ours are all irrigated here, in this part of the "Pacific
Northwest". That's because there's no forage otherwise after June.

Bill


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