Cold weather and exotics

Will these record breaking temps kill alot of exotics?

Quick answer - yes.
We are going to stay below freezing for a week. That’s tough for a lot of exotics. I have been dropping an extra 900-1500lbs of feed every other day. I am most concerned for my blackbuck, oryx and axis.

Yes, I agree.
DC

Good luck to all of you and your animals

The nilgai seem to be the most susceptible to cold.

I bought a place in north Uvalde county 8 years ago that had 3 nilgai on it. I grew up in Corpus and the Valley and remember that in 89 there was had freeze and you saw dead nilgai all over the King and Kennedy ranches so I thought first really cold weather that would be it. Today there’s around 12-14 of them and we’ve killed about 8. We sure like the meat but they can hammer your protein so I’m undecided on them. We’ve not had weather this cold and wet for extended period since we’ve had this place so this may get them.

Black buck and axis gonna die off for sure. We’re already losing our young and black buck. Nothing we can do.

Thermal cover will be key for most exotics. If they also have access to feed(ers) and hay then they will all do ok. The axis are dropping fawns now in many areas so they will be hit hard. If you have a some round bales of hay to put out in places out of the wind they will go to them. Even just putting out extra corn will help some of them.

Heard that Baker 3 ranch north of Rocksprings has dead axis and blackbuck everywhere......

I had one Ibex die. She got bit by a coyote a few days ago and I caught and penned her. She had trouble eating because of the bite. She died last night the cold probably did not help. I saw and fed some BB WT and Mouflon this afternoon. Have not seen anything in the main pasture dead. But tonight is supposed to get down to around 2 degrees so we shall see. This crap is bad.

Yep

Mouflon will be fine. Very tough. Had them lamb on the snow.

Mouflon are from the coldest parts of the world, they will enjoy this cold snap. I'd be more worried about them during the summer

For black buck, is there a plant, shrub, crop, etc that they prefer to eat and/or is beneficial to them that can be planted and grown in south Texas?

Had my first 3 casualties. One of my Ibex had twins and found them both dead this morning. Plus the yearling that had escaped the coyote also died. I don't know if she died because of the coyote bite or the cold. Probably a little of both.

Sorry Don. I didn’t think it was going to last this long.

I've lost black buck, but my biggest casualties is just loads of broken plumbing. Pretty much everything on the ranch will be replaced. We don't winterize for 0* days for 4 days straight. I guess all of that is replaceable, but it sure hurts!

Found another Ibex Kid dead this morning. 3 so far.

Hate to hear that don

Another one. 4 dead and one alive. Not a good percentage. 4 kids dead so far. I feel very sorry for the animals and as for me that is about $10,000 in sales in a few years.

Sorry to hear that Don.

I'll be looking for a nilgai hunt later this year. How did the nilgai fare with those temps?

https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/The-Texas-freeze-s-silent-victims-wildebeest-15978347.php