While we carry shaving, compressed wood pellets coastal and alfalfa hay, we do not carry straw bales. By straw, you are probably referring to wheat straw. This area does not grow a lot of wheat for harvest (although we do plant some for grazing), so it is difficult to find plain wheat straw bales. Wood shavings and coastal hay are excellent alternatives, and we do keep those in stock. We are also now carrying Stall Dry, to help keep the stall drier and absorb ammonia odor. Come see us at Producers!

Well, you can try cussing, filing official letters of protest to government agencies, and Gregorian chants by a full moon. However, I haven't found any of those methods to be very effective. I suggest you try trapping or baiting the little varmints. How about a few gopher facts for our listeners first? Make sure you aren't confusing gophers with moles. I doubt that you are since you mentioned the mounds, something that is characteristic of gophers and not moles. Moles are insectivores, while gophers are vegetarians. Gophers are mostly solitary except during mating and caring for their young. It is not uncommon for a single gopher to have a tunnel system that covers a whole acre and may be 700-800 feet in length. It is estimated that a single gopher can actually move from two to two-and-a-half tons of dirt to the surface in a single year! From this, we get the wise old adage, Busy as a gopher in soft dirt! The tunnels may be a few inches underground or several feet. The mounds that you are seeing in your yard are lateral tunnels off a main tunnel. They do that in order to expel dirt from their tunnel building efforts. After pushing out the dirt and making the mound, they plug the lateral. There are several strategies for control in the lawn. Most folks use traps, smoke bombs, or baits (we keep them all in stock). If you resort to the traps, you will need to find the main tunnel with a probe. Excavate down to the tunnel and set a couple of anchored gopher traps in each tunnel you find. Make sure the jaws point toward the main runway. Baits are usually grain treated with strychnine, or pellets of zinc phosphide. Place the bait inside the main tunnel after probing and finding it. Be sure to close up the opening you make. Finally, smoke bombs placed in the tunnel can suffocate them. If you use smoke bombs; however, be very sure to keep them away from junior high boys (just good advice). Come see us at Producers!

Thanks for your question! Sounds like the old girls are conducting a work slowdown! Have you checked for the presence of union organizers around the hen house? Seriously, it could be a lot of different factors that might contribute to a reduction in egg production. Here are a few things that you might examine: -Layers typically lay productively from about five months of age until they are 14 16 months. Your birds may simply be getting old. -You didn't indicate what kind of feed you are giving them. Layers should receive at least a 16% protein ration. Our Compu-Lay is a 17% protein feed designed to meet the energy, protein and mineral needs of laying hens. Be sure to keep it out free choice. -Keep out crushed oyster shell free choice. The egg shell is made of calcium, so your birds need an adequate supply to keep the assembly line going. -It is also very common for shorter day length to reduce egg production. Try putting a light on a timer in the hen house to give them a longer photoperiod. -Finally, chicken snakes might be sneaking eggs away. Come in and get some ceramic eggs to plant in the nests. That will eliminate the chicken thief snakes. -Check your birds for mites and/or lice. External parasites might be reducing their productivity. -They may be getting ready to molt. Fall is a common time for layers to go through a molt and it has an impact on egg production.

My advice for you is to not be sentimental in this situation. Go ahead and kill the hive. Brazos County has been identified as one of the areas in which Africanized bees are occurring. Honey bee queens are promiscuous little hussies. They mate with multiple males. I visited with Dr. Tonya Pankiw at the Honey Bee Testing Lab at Texas A&M. She tells me that there is a strong probability that a wild hive in our area will be contaminated with queens that have mated with Africanized males. When sperm contributed by Africanized males reaches a level of 25%, the character of the hive changes. They become more aggressive, the behavior that is associated with African Honey Bees. One important thing to note about the African bees is that their sting is not stronger, different, or more dangerous; they just have a nasty tendency to be more aggressive. As such, they are more likely to attack in greater numbers. Dr. Pankiw suggested that you eliminate the hive (you may wish to have a professional pest control operator do this for you). After eliminating the hive, you should then bee proof your property. Bees are more likely to choose your place for decolonization after the first group leaves scent behind. Plug up holes in your house, in old trees, or any other cavities that bees might find attractive to start a hive. We have wasp and hornet spray in stock if you like. Again, consider having a pro do this job.

Thanks for your question! You are not trying to feed them broccoli are you? We used to make our kids sit at the table till they ate all their green beans, or the green beans got mold growing on them, whichever came first. Seriously, yes water temperature does have a dramatic impact on consumption of feed by koi. Several other factors can also influence consumption rates water quality, genetic background, stocking density, and stage of fish maturity. However, the most important factor is water temperature. Koi, like all fish are ectothermic. Thats a four dollar word that means their body temperature fluctuates in accordance with the temperature of their aquatic environment. As the temperature of the water drops, so does their body temperature. As their body temperature drops, their ability of their digestive system to assimilate and utilize food is diminished. As such, consumption and growth rate drops. I would not recommend that you quit feeding your koi, just reduce the amount you put out for them during the cool season. Provide them only as much feed as what they will consume in five minutes. Small, rapidly growing koi will typically consume about five percent of their body weight. Large, mature koi will typically consume about two percent of their body weight. Consider feeding products with more energy (cereals) in the winter. High protein diets move through the gut more slowly and with a slower growth rate in the winter, it can cause digestive difficulties. We have fish feed here, as well as pond care products. Come see us at Producers!

Fleas are like sandburs and mosquitoes. They kind of make you wonder what God was thinking! Fleas are one of the more difficult creatures to totally control because of their ability to reproduce and adapt. Even if we get them totally under control in our lawns and on our pets, the next squirrel taking a stroll through your backyard can leave you with a brand new crop. While there is no fool-proof solution, I do have some suggestions. First, flea control needs to be viewed holistically. That is, get them off your pets, out of the yard, and out of the house (if you have indoor pets), all at the same time. If you don't get rid of them in the entire environment, they will merely cross-contaminate and be back in business. Secondly, we have to get rid of not only the adult fleas, but the eggs as well. Fleas go through a complete life cycle, from adult, to egg, to larvae, to pupae, and back to adult again. In a typical summer flea population, only about 5% will be adults, while 50% are eggs, 35% are larvae, and 10% are pupae. They can complete their life cycle in as little as a couple of weeks, or take up to eight months. After she has a blood meal, the adult female can lay 15 20 eggs per day and up to 600 in a lifetime. As you can see, you can be up to your back pockets in fleas pretty quickly. Here is the way I like to do it. Get them off your pets and begin using a monthly flea control product. We stock Bio-Spot here for that purpose. It comes in sizes for the various weights of dogs. We also have a product for cats that is also a spot-on. At the same time you get the fleas off your dog, treat your yard (and house if they have gotten inside). I prefer pyrethroid-based insecticides for this. It is very important that you also put out an IGR (insect growth regulator) class product to stop the eggs from hatching. Without it, even if you get the adult fleas, the eggs will hatch and you will have to repeat spray (usually several times) until you break the egg cycle. We keep the insecticide and IGR in stock all the time. Come see us!