Severe Drought on the Farm

After an abnormally wet Spring, we have had a dry summer - a very dry summer. We received only 1.6 inches of rain in July and only 1 tenth of an inch so far in August.  The local weather showed that we are in a 'Severe Drought.'  That sounds bad, but as the legend below shows, there are two other classifications that are worse.  We are located just a tad north of the I-10 logo below on the map below, exactly 3 miles north of the Interstate.

Image from KPLCtv.com

The combination of no appreciable rainfall and very high temperatures have taken their toll on our primary crop (grass) at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  The grass in the pasture and in the yard is brown with only a few green patches.  A lot of it has begun to die.  It is 'crispy' when you walk on it. The grass in the pasture is needed for the cows and the chickens.  I've been watering our fruit trees to keep them from dropping the fruit.  Most importantly, we've been praying for much needed rain.  A few months ago we were praying for it to stop raining; now we've come full circle...

Dead grass

In the late spring and summer, even though we have round bales of hay that the cows can snack on at will, they pretty much ignore it as they have a plethora of tasty grass in the pasture to consume.  A sure sign that we are in a drought is the sight below - Daisy was standing around the hay ring eating hay.  That lets you know that the remaining grass in the pasture is not worth eating.

Daisy is still in very good condition and that is an important thing.  She will be calving at the end of October/beginning of November, and we need to keep a close eye on her conditioning.  In fact, we'll be drying her off toward the end of the month so that she can devote 100% of her energy to the growth of her calf in the last two months of her pregnancy versus producing milk.

Eating hay instead of grass

We have one more round bale in inventory, and I'll likely roll it out in a few days. Then I'll have to call the gentleman who provides me with round bales and ask him to deliver 6 or 8 more bales.  We keep the round bales covered with a tarpaulin to protect it from the weather.  With little rainfall, the tarp is really not needed right now.  Hopefully, though, the rains will come and produce fresh new growth in the pasture that will satisfy their appetites.  It won't be very long until we plant rye grass on part of the pasture. 

One more round bale in inventory

But Sunday afternoon we heard a rumbling in the distance.  The clouds darkened and the winds began to blow.  The cows stood up from their slumbering place in the shade between the barns in anticipation of what was on the way - RAIN!  A slow rain began to fall, bringing nourishment to the land.

9/10s of an inch - We'll take it!!

It was cool after the rain passed.  It almost felt like fall.  I wish it would have rained all night.  When the rain passed, I walked out to the rain gauge to see how much rain we had received.  Although it rained for a while, there was no water standing. The dry, parched land soaked up every drop.  I was surprised to see that we had almost received an inch of rain!  This definitely helps, but we could really use a slow soaking rain to drop an inch or two more.  We have a 40% chance of precipitation for the next few days, so perhaps we'll get it.  Thank the Good Lord for the nourishing rain!