Drought Conditions

Last week we enjoyed a few days of very mild temperatures that gave us a preview of fall but we have returned to hot temperatures this week and the dry conditions that developed in mid-August (or earlier) have persisted resulting in a classic late summer drought.

Our current drought conditions are not abnormal or exceptional but it is a good time to review four fundamentals to drought management for folks who manage livestock pastures.

First, whenever possible, minimize damage to pastures by removing grazing animals as soon as grazeable biomass has been removed but while some residual remains. Research in grazing management has given us an excellent, though somewhat cumbersome, method to determine the correct amount of grass to leave in a pasture in order to ensure rapid recovery but suffice it to say livestock should be removed before the grass is completely gone. The obvious retort is: “So where do I put my stock?” and the answer is confining them to a field that is conducive to being repaired and re-seeded when seasonal conditions allow.

Second, what to feed the animals when the grass is gone? At first glance, hay may seem like the obvious and preferred feed when the grazing has played out. But hay inventories for many farms may be limited and there is no law that states livestock must be given all the hay they can eat. Ruminants and horses have a fiber requirement so they need to have access to at least some hay but we can limit the amount of hay they receive and meet their nutritional needs with purchased commodity byproducts or home-grown concentrate feeds like corn or barley. Feeding grains or commodity pellets in certainly not cheap, but when we account for the 30 percent or more of the hay bale the livestock sort through and leave the pelleted feed or grain presented in a feed trough is perhaps not as expensive as we thought.

Third strategy to get through a drought is to sell livestock to alleviate feed demand. This can be a very touchy subject with farmers. Nationally, the cattle market is enjoying rising prices but too many cattle going to market all at once can negatively impact prices locally relative to the national market. But as one of our Virginia Tech beef production specialists once observed: “every herd has a bottom 10 percent.” Cows that are over 7 years old, not pregnant, and either have no calf or a calf at their side that is more 7 months old probably need to leave.

Finally, take this moment to consider what infrastructure (fencing and water troughs) and financial instruments need to be in place to better position the farm for future droughts. There is an excellent rainfall insurance product available for pasture and hay fields but the farmer must commit to the insurance in November of the preceding year.

For more information on building drought resiliency into a farm, call me, Tom Stanley, at the Rockbridge Extension office (540) 4634734 or send email at stanleyt@ vt.edu.