On a Wednesday in July, Greg Clement watched as one rancher’s livelihood was steered into the auction ring.
The market recorder and field man at St. Joseph Stockyards has seen the drought signs before, but this might be the worst since 1980, he said. An influx of cattle has flowed through the northwest Missouri sale barn for several weeks now, indicating the conditions on the prairie are deteriorating.
But the 40 head of calves, ranging from 285 to 325 pounds, that sold four to five months early, still sticks with Clement.
“That was his calf crop,” the market reporter said. “He took a big pay cut. Three months ago, they would have brought over $2 a pound. Now they are a buck and a half.”
Summer can be somewhat slower at the sale barn. But irregular rainfall and heat have left nearly 50 percent of Missouri’s pastures in poor or very poor conditions, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Services. Hay prices have more than doubled. Ponds are dry.
It’s caused some ranchers to sell off percentages of their herds. Others are calculating how long they can hold on.
Clement said the increase at auction market includes bred cows and cow-calf pairs.
“To see a 3-year-old cow-calf pair come through was just about unheard of this time last year,” he said.
Clement said a commission firm had called him about a rancher bringing 13 head of first-calf heifers to the next sale.
“They are due to start calving the first of February,” he said. “If I know the outfit, and I think I do, they are No. 1 quality. But who would sell first-calf heifers in the middle of July?
But unless it rains, there will be others, Clement said.
Producers hit by drought
Vern Hart, who farms 800 acres and runs a cow-calf operation with his brother near St. Joe, said he was considering culling 5 to 10 percent more cattle this year than normal.
Buchanan County has received between 7 to 10 inches of rainfall since January, about half of normal, according to the National Weather Service.
“Some of my grass is holding in there,” Hart said. “Farther north, it is toast.”
A few ponds have dried up. What water he does have is green and murky. Hart typically uses some rural water, but this year, he said, the bill will be bigger.
His crops are trying to hang on, he said.
“I’ve never seen corn roll in the month of May until this year,” he said, adding an inch of rain in early July helped sustain the crop.
Drew Lock, who farms and has a cow-calf and stocker operation near La Plata, Missouri, said the area received decent rainfall during planting season in April. But the dry winter and the limited summertime moisture is causing stress.
“The crops are looking good, but we are a rain away from having a potentially good crop,” he said. “The rain is so spotty right now. If you are lucky to be under one, that is great. But the chances of that happening are pretty slim recently.”
Lock estimated his hay production is down by 25 percent this year. With hay trading at $75 to $100 a bale, some producers are planting alternative forages like sorghum sudangrass and rye.
“It’s all hands-on deck to figure out feed sources,” he said. “This drought started last fall, and we haven’t been able to break the cycle.”
Report your conditions
About 42 percent of Missouri is in a moderate to extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Missouri Cattlemen’s Association Executive Vice President Mike Deering said July 16 he thought almost all regions of the state are facing serious drought conditions. He is concerned the drought monitor isn’t adequately reflecting reality.
While Conservation Reserve Program acreage has been released for emergency haying and grazing in some Missouri counties, Deering said other U.S. Department of Agriculture emergency programs won’t be triggered unless an area falls in an extreme drought or higher for a longer period.
“Sporadic rainfall is keeping them off the D3 level for more than a week at a time,” he said. “You will talk to people, and they might have gotten 2 inches of rain, but the guy two or three miles down the road didn’t get a drop. It falls on one part of the street and not the other. This is throwing things out of whack.”
Deering is asking producers to submit reports and send pictures to the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska, which develops the drought maps, to help them give a better assessment of the conditions in Missouri.
Deering said the university does a great job, but it is critical staff receive data from the ground.
He said he is hearing reports from auction markets across the state that they are seeing more cattle.
“The most important thing is to please, don’t make light of the importance of sending these reports,” he said, adding ranches need to remain resilient.
“Don’t give up hope and think of the alternatives that are available,” he said. “And don’t forget to get on your knees and pray.”
Pray for rain
On July 16, about 30 miles northeast of St. Joe, Tony Washburn was mowing alfalfa and sorghum sudangrass.
“It isn’t very good, but it is what it is,” said Washburn, the northwest vice president for the cattlemen’s association, adding he is running 40 to 50 percent of normal hay production for this time of year. One neighbor mowed a cornfield to take care of his feeding needs.
“Some of these cornfields don’t look very good, so they are utilizing the forage and making hay out of it,” he said.
His last measurable rainfall came a year ago, he estimated. His hay supply is down from the winter because he had to feed longer into the spring.
Most of his cattle are on rural water now because his water supplies are dry or almost dry.
“I know a lot of individuals in my area who are hauling water because they don’t have rural water hookups,” he said. “A lot of people the last month have been putting meters in pastures so they have water there.”
Washburn isn’t thinking of culling his herd yet but added he plans to wean his calves early and start them at home.
Earlier this month, he attended an extension meeting with 60 to 70 other producers in the same situation. Producers are trying to figure out their options. They don’t want to lose their genetics.
However, the drought won’t be solved with a few inches of rain, Washburn said.
At church Sunday, his minister read a prayer for rain from the 1930s.
“That is about all there is left to do, pray for rain,” Washburn said. “I’ve been doing that quite a bit.”
Amy Bickel can be reached at 620-860-9433 or [email protected].
