Uvalco Blog

It doesn’t seem possible but Christmas time is rapidly approaching and it is never too soon to do your holiday shopping for the outdoors-man on your list.  Uvalco Supply has a huge variety of gift items for anyone on your list.  Before I list any suggestions for gift ideas, I feel it is necessary to mention that Uvalco makes strides to make sure we have the most durable, well built products on the market.  Many of our suppliers have a very short customer list and you will find products here that you will not find at a big box retailer or outdoor outfitter. 

One of the benefits of living in the southern part of the U.S. is that we can enjoy the outdoors for the better part of all twelve months.  Winter is especially enjoyable in Texas where the days are warmer and the nights are just a little chilly.  Nothing feels quite like a camp fire on a cool night.  Uvalco fire pits or disk grills as we call them are perfect for a cozy fire in any outdoor setting.  The pots are made from 1/4″ steel and they are hand crafted right here at Uvalco Supply.  They are available in 24″, 30″, 36″ and 48″. These are not the flimsy units that are mass marketed by the big retailers.  A great gift for anyone who enjoys cooking outside or enjoying a glass of wine around the fire.  All cooking grills are removable to make an open firepit.  Visit Uvalco Supply online to purchase yours today and have it shipped right to your door in time for Christmas.

If shrimp & crawfish boils and frying are more up your sportsman’s alley, choose from one of our many handmade propane cookers.  All of our propane cookers are built from 1/8″ hot rolled flat and round steel and include a 5′ hose and propane regulator so they are ready to cook.  Select from 1 burner, 2 burner or 3 burner units that can be used with or without legs which are included and stow easily on the side of the frame when not in use.  Don’t forget to add side tables (sold separately) to one or both ends of the cooker to add food preparation space.  Also available are cooker carts that have 2 burners with a preparation area in between and a set of wheels attached for mobility.   All of our propane cooker units are made here in Texas and built to last a lifetime.

As long as you’re getting your cooker you should pick up your cookware as well.  Uvalco Supply carries a large selection of Lodge brand cast iron cookware, deep fryers, aluminum stock pots and handmade griddles the will compliment any of our propane cookers.  Remember, Uvalco Supply specializes in large, durable hard to find items to feed the largest crowds and last forever.

Uvalco Supply also has one of the largest selections of Bar-B-Que pits and grills in south Texas.  Choose anything from a tabletop grills all the way up to our trailer pits and anything in between.  All of the Bar-B-Que pits we stock are made from the best materials and display fine craftsmanship.  All of our items are able to be shipped either UPS or common carrier so get your gifts today at Uvalco Supply.

Most people don’t think of Uvalco as the place to go for good prices and selection on cookware for hunting, camping or life on the ranch. You don’t need to search high and low in a big box warehouse store for what you need when we’ve likely got it right here:

Burners

We have attractive dual burner cooker carts:

For camping or hunting, we have a triple burner with hose and regulator:

We also carry a variety of burner parts and supplies:

Fryers

If you’re a fan of deep frying, look no further for your fryers than Uvalco.

We’ve got a Texas-sized deep dual burner fryer:

We carry two sizes of the Cajun Fryer – one-basket and two-basket:

And we’ve got several different types of turkey fryer:

We also carry all the accessories you need for deep-frying, including stainless steel baskets and wire mesh skimmers.

At Uvalco, we’re always cooking up something good for our customers – come see us soon!

There’s something about Fall that brings out the cook in us. Cool weather, football season and good hunting just makes us want to reach for the skillet. There’s a growing trend these days for cooking again in cast iron just like your grandmother used to do. Some of you may be lucky enough to have inherited a few pieces, which means they are perfectly seasoned and ready for one of our favorite recipes: skillet cornbread. We like ours sweet and moist, so here it is:

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

2/3 cup white sugar (if you don’t like it sweet, reduce to 2 tablespoons sugar)

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup cornmeal (white or yellow)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Put 2 tablespoons bacon drippings or oil into a 10” cast iron skillet and heat in oven.

2. Melt butter and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture . Fold in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

If you are not lucky enough to have a seasoned cast iron skillet, don’t despair! Uvalco has a full line of cast iron cookware, including seasoned skillets:

If you want to fancy-up your cornbread, try cooking it in one of our cast iron cornstick pans:

And if you want to marry that cornbread with a good stew or a jumpin’ jambalaya, then pick up our 11-quart jambalaya pot:

We guarantee years of good cooking in all our cast iron pots and pans!

Hopefully you’ve started the Texas dove season with a bang, bagged a limit or two and are looking for a few good dove recipes to fully enjoy the results of your labors. Here are some of our favorites:

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno-Stuffed Grilled Dove Breasts

• 10 dove breasts
• 10 slices bacon
• 5 pickled jalapenos, sliced lengthwise
• 2 T melted butter
• 1 t minced garlic
• 1 t ground black pepper
• 1 t salt

Mix butter, garlic, pepper and salt together. Pour over dove breasts and marinade at least 4 hours.

Place a jalapeno half inside the cavity. Wrap each dove breast with a slice of bacon and hold all together with a toothpick.

Grill over medium heat, about 4 minutes per side, until bacon is crisp and dove breasts are brown.

Dove Au Vin

• 12 dove breasts
• 1 cup flour
• 1 t salt
• 1 t pepper
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 small green bell pepper; chopped
• 1 can beef consommé
(10.5 oz.)
• 1/2 cup dry red wine

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add doves, a few at a time; seal and shake to coat.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; add doves, and cook until browned, turning once. Place doves in a lightly greased 13″ x 9″ x 2″ baking dish, spread celery, onion, and bell pepper evenly over doves and add consommé. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350F for 1 ½ hours. Remove from oven, pour wine over doves, and bake, covered, 30 additional minutes. Serve with noodles or rice. Serves 6.

Dove Enchiladas

• 8 whole dove breasts; boned and coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 2 10-ounce cans enchilada sauce
• 8 corn tortillas
• 2 T + 2 t olives, chopped
• 1 c cheddar cheese, shredded
• Whole ripe olives

Preheat oven to 350F.  Sauté dove, onion and garlic in oil until dove is browned; set aside.

Warm enchilada sauce in a skillet; remove from heat. Place tortillas, one at a time, in sauce. Let stand 1 minute or just until tortillas are softened. Set remaining sauce aside.

Spoon dove mixture evenly over each tortilla; sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon chopped olives and 1 tablespoon cheese. Roll up tortillas, and place in a lightly greased 13″ x 9″ x 2″ baking dish, seam side down. Pour remaining sauce over tortillas; bake at 350F for 15 minutes. Top with remaining cheese, and bake an additional 5 minutes. Garnish with olives. Serves 4.

Dove Tetrazzini

• 6 cooked whole dove breasts, chopped
• 3 t butter or margarine
• 3 t onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 2 T cornstarch
• 2 cups thin spaghetti
• 1 cup shredded cheese

To cook dove breasts: fill large cooking pot with water and turn heat on high to boil. Add bay leaf and dove breasts. Boil uncovered for 15+ minutes, or until dove breasts are cooked through. Remove from water and set aside to cool.

Melt butter in saucepan; cook onions and mushrooms over low heat until tender. Add chicken broth and cornstarch and stir until thickened. Add dove and spaghetti. Heat mixture until bubbling, stirring frequently. Turn into baking dish and top with cheese. Place under broiler until cheese melts.

Remember to visit Uvalco or shop online at uvalco.com to stock up on cooking utensils and outdoor cooking gear.

“Oh give me land lots of land

Under starry skies above,

Don’t fence me in.

Let me ride through the wide

Open country that I love,

Don’t fence me in”

The old favorite western ballad sung by Gene Autry speaks to the freedom we all love about living on a farm or ranch. What it doesn’t take into account is the need to fence in your livestock and fence out the wild critters that may cause damage to crops. Uvalco can help you enjoy life on the range while securing your stock with our comprehensive line of fencing products, including cattle fence, horse fence, goat fence, sheep fence, hog fence, deer fence, dog fence and more.

Finding the right fence for your application doesn’t require that you become a fencing expert – that’s what we’re here for – but it does help to understand some of the basics:

Cattle Fence — Barbed wire (4 or 5 strand) and net wire are the two types of fence typically used for cattle. The initial cost of material for barbed wire is about 30 percent less than that for net wire, but barbed wire generally requires more maintenance and has a shorter lifespan than net wire. A good choice is a combination of the two: Heavyweight net wire fence with one or more strands of barbed wire on top makes an excellent cattle fence. Fence height should be at least 39”; Uvalco’s premium cattle fence lines range from 42” to 120” tall.

Barbed wire fence in South Texas

Horse Fence – Finding the right fence to protect your equine investment is extremely important since horses, more than any other livestock, tend to “challenge” fencing by trying to climb or step through the barrier, and by leaning and rubbing against the fence. A good choice for horse fence is a closely spaced, galvanized non-climb net wire fence with smooth knots so the animal’s coat is protected against damage. The minimum recommended height for perimeter pasture horse fence is 60”; this height deters most horses from trying to jump. For paddocks, corrals and stallion pens, the top of the fence should be at the horse’s eye level. This height discourages fighting over the fence and helps prevent horses from leaning over the fence.

Goat Fence and Sheep Fence – Net wire fence is the best choice for goats and sheep, primarily for predator control. In addition, net wire fence stands up better to the constant pressure that goats normally exert on fencing and it has no barbs to pull at a sheep’s wool. Goats are notorious fence-jumpers, so be sure your goat fence is at least 42” tall for small goats and 49” for larger goats. Net wire square size should range from 3” to 7” to keep predators out and to prevent goats and sheep from hanging their heads in the wire.

Hog Fence — Barbed wire and cable fences are not effective for confining hogs and pigs. Medium and heavyweight net wire fences with one or more strands of barbed wire provide good hog control. Maximum fence height should be 54”, and the fence should be built close to the ground to prevent hogs from escaping by rooting underneath the fence.

Deer Fence

Deer Fence – Fixed-knot, high-tensile deer fence is required by law in many states for use as an effective and humane deer barrier. Properly installed, this hardy fence can last 25 years or more. Since deer can jump great heights, the fence needs to be eight to 10 feet tall.  The fence also needs to be built close to the ground, since deer can also wriggle under fences.

Dog Fence – Fixed-knot fencing is an attractive alternative to chain link fencing for dog kennels and dog runs, and is also more cost effective. It comes in heights of 48” and 61” and should be installed all the way to the ground to prevent escape by wiggling under the fence.

Still confused?  Contact the fencing experts at Uvalco for the best in fencing products and expertise for your farm or ranch.

Here at Uvalco Supply we hear a lot of requests for solutions to problems.  One of the most frequent is “what can I buy that the wild hogs won’t destroy”.  As one of the most destructive creatures ever, it is every farmer’s, rancher’s and hunter’s quest to find ways to keep hogs from tearing up their equipment.  Every year wild hogs destroy thousands of conventional waterers that are expensive for the land owner to repair, not to mention the loss of thousands of gallons of water until the damage is discovered.  With Texas being in the worst drought in decades, now is the time to conserve the most precious resource we have–WATER!!   Therefore, in addition to other hog control related items such as hog traps, hog snares and hog proof fencing we have added a hog proof wildlife waterer.

Weighing in at an impressive 480lbs., Uvalco Supply’s new hog proof wildlife waterer makes a formidable adversary for even the biggest wild hogs.  It’s tapered concrete base makes it nearly impossible to move without lifting and steel reinforcement will keep it from cracking under tremendous amounts of weight.  The reknown Fluidmaster fill valve is completely encapsulated in SCH 40 PVC, surrounded by concrete and is inaccessible by hogs yet convenient for humans to access for plumbing and water level adjustment.

With an adjustable fill valve, the hog proof wildlife waterer can be adjusted to nearly any water level making it perfect for deer, quail and turkey thus eliminating costly multiple water sources.  Also with sealed concrete construction it is almost maintenence free.  Contact Uvalco Supply to reserve your’s today.

Most of us here in Texas view the armadillo as a pest.  He digs in our gardens and flower beds and makes a general nuisance of himself on our roadways.  Still, the armadillo is kind of a defacto symbol of Texas and while a lot of us don’t like him in our yards, we kind of like the idea of them being around.

Armadillos are not territorial — meaning you can trap and transport them, and they’ll settle in just fine in their new environment, leaving your gardens and flower beds to the vegetation they were meant to host.  We carry several sizes of the Havahart animal trap that many of our customers swear by — and it’s a whole lot cheaper than hiring a critter catcher to haul them off for you.

While we’re on the subject, here’s some interesting facts about our armored friend:

• The name “aramadillo” is Spanish for “little armored one”
• Armadillos are considered a “threatened” species
• Their life span is 12-15 years
• There are 20 varieties of armadillo — all but one live in Latin America.  The one armadillo found in the U.S. is known as the nine-banded armadillo
• Armadillos can hold their breath for up to six minutes underwater
• When startled, the nine-banded armadillo can jump 3-4 feet in the air — which unfortunately makes them prime roadkill candidates (many are killed because they jump into the underside of moving vehicles)

We just read an article recently in the Dallas Morning News that talked about the latest in urban farming trends:  keeping chickens in your back yard.  Seems like the economy has brought out the farmer in a lot of us.

Did you know that Uvalco carries bee keeping supplies?  The buzz is that this will be the next trend for “personal” farming.  So if you need to trap a critter or want to raise some, come on by and we’ll make sure you get what you need for all your farming activities.

Have you ever been searching for a product to purchase and had the thought that you need a bigger one or a more durable one?  Most of our customers have.  The remoteness and adverse weather conditions  of South Texas require that a product holds up whether it is a tool or a toy.  When we add a product or product line, whether we manufacture it here at Uvalco or buy it from a supplier, we do all we can to make sure it will meet the expectations of our customers.

3000# "Grandote" Protein Feeder

We also think that size matters when it comes to farm and ranch supplies, outdoor cooking equipment, bbq pits, cattle guards, game feeders and protein feeders just to name a few.  People in and around Uvalde like big items to serve big crowds of hungry people, supply big ranches and feed big whitetail deer so we buy as big as we can as often as we can to accommodate our customer’s needs.

******** 24" Portable Smoker ********

You can come to see us in person at 2521 E. Main St. in Uvalde, TX or visit us online at Uvalco Supply to see and buy our products.   If you have any questions, our knowledgeable staff will be happy to help you.  We are just a phone call away at 866-300-4141.

There’s nothing like sitting outside in the cool of a summer evening, feeling the breeze and listening to the stillness at the end of a long day. We have a favorite rocker that we like to relax in with a cool one…you know what we mean!

When it comes to rockers, we in Uvalde like ours nice and roomy….like this rustic double rocker from Uvalco Supply:

Rustic Double Rocker

If you like to swing with your sweetie, then our Rustic A-Frame Double Rocker is the perfect choice, with a nice table that holds your favorite beverages and snacks:

Rustic A-Frame Double Rocker

And don’t let those pesky bugs keep you out of the great outdoors. Pick up one of our Uvalco handheld bug zappers – over 8,000 of these have been sold and we’ve found them to be the absolute best on the market!

Bug Zapper

Wondering what to do with dad this weekend?  Bring him on in!  Dads love to come to Uvalco Supply and wonder aimlessly through our store.  It is a man’s store with all the cool stuff guys like - everything to do with farming, ranching and hunting.  We’ve spoken to the guys in the store and they’ve said dads simply love to walk through the aisle and hang out.  Be sure to come on Saturday, though - we’re closed Sunday so we can be at home firing up our favorite Uvalco BBQ Grill with all of dad’s favorites!

If you’re going to be grilling for Dad, come get some of our BBQ sauces, rubs and smoking chips to liven up that rack of ribs, steak or burger.  We’ve got plenty of BBQ accessories too, so you’ll be ready for that summer cooking. 

BBQ Tool Set (19 Piece with Wood Handle)

Wine Barrel Stave Bundles

 And, if you sometimes feel like telling dad to take a hike, we’ve go the best way to do it - with our Cedar Walking Stick.  Each piece of cedar is carefully chosen, cut, sanded, and sprayed with a protective clear coat lacquer to bring out the cedar’s natural beauty.  The finished staff is an attractive and useful walking aid that’s firm and relatively lightweight - an ideal choice for hikers or casual walkers alike.

Cedar Walking Stick