Cattle farming costly
due to drought
Photos by Jessica Hopper
By Melissa Caron
Local cattle farmers are still scrambling
to deal with Rockbridge County’s dry summer.
Finding September pastures parched, many farmers have already turned
cattle over to winter feed supplies.
“It’s pretty rough,” said local cattle farmer Charlie Potter. “We’ve got
a long time between now and when grass grows next April.”
Some farmers are weaning calves early this year to sell. And many
stockyards are already bustling ahead of their usual October rush.
“It’s going to be an interesting winter,” Rockbridge County Extension
Agent Jon Repair said. “Everyone is looking [for hay] anywhere and
everywhere.”
With most neighboring states facing the same dry weather, farmers have
had to search farther and pay top dollar.
County farmers graze nearly 47,000 head of cattle each year, making
cattle one of the largest farming operations in this still-agricultural
county, according to the federal government.
An unusually hot summer with little rainfall burnt up most county
pastures and has led many farmers to begin giving their cattle hay and
other feeds several months earlier than usual, said Margaret Ann Smith,
a local farmer and volunteer with the county’s Farm Bureau.
Smith says the county has begun to see drier weather over the past
decade. The current drought began in 2006.
With the changing climate, farmers may begin to reduce their herds,
Smith said. Farm owners may also be more tempted to sell off their
farms, she said, especially older farmers who might not know how to
access technologies like the internet to find hay and other resources.
The development of tract homes in Rockbridge County, mostly from
sold-off farmland, has been a controversial trend that has found its way
onto the political agenda this year.
While rainfall varies across the county, some areas are 14 inches below
average.
Cattle farmer Potter says rain now will do little to help fields this
late in the year.
Smith, of the local Farm Bureau, says a mild winter followed by a late
cold snap hurt most hay production early on. She estimates that hay
harvests were as much as half the yield of a normal year, leading bale
prices to double.
Local farmer Susan Showalter has already started to feed hay to half of
her 500 head of cattle. Usually, she says, that doesn’t happen until the
beginning of December.
Showalter says she got lucky by having a strong hay harvest in the
spring. Without that, she couldn’t have afforded to buy hay for her
cows.
That sound familiar to Potter.
“To stay in this cattle business you are going to have to use some
alternatives to feeding sources,” he said.
While Potter began feeding hay to some of his cattle a month ago, in the
past couple of weeks, he says, he has been resorting to the winter feed
more regularly. He supplements hay with feeds including brewers grain, a
byproduct of the barley used in beer production.
The only federal aid available to local farmers at the moment is
low-interest loans administered by the federal Department of
Agriculture’s local Farm Service Agency.
Repair says most farmers know about the loans, but because of the
small-margin economics of farming, many do not see borrowing as an
option.
Smith says the Virginia Farm Bureau offers resource guides for farmers
on its Web site. They include information on where to buy hay and how to
manage cattle during the drought.
Still, Repair says the drought has left farmers with few options. One
solution many farmers have taken is to wean their calves early and to
take them to market. Others have also looked to sell off cows that they
have not bred for the following year.
Stockyards have been busier in August and September than ever before,
Smith said.
Showalter says prices are still strong on the market despite the influx
of sellers. A shortage of cattle across the country and the general
economy of the nation have both helped to preserve prices.
But even when the drought ends, business might not return to normal.
“[Farmers] come off the drought, but it’s still fresh in people’s
memory,” Smith said.
Virginia Farm Bureau
drought resources
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Brian Richardson
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd