Nebraska Drought at Harvest Time

Barney McCoy Author

02/17/2023 Added

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From Nebraska Public Media story "Some of the worst I've ever seen" Nebraska ranchers, farmers struggle against 5th worst drought on record"

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[00:00:01.470]If you drive on Interstate 80, drought's effects
[00:00:04.050]on Nebraska's corn crops are easy to spot this month.
[00:00:07.225](birds chirping)
[00:00:08.058]Normally, the corn stands six to eight feet tall.
[00:00:10.500]But this September, cornstalks stand three to four feet tall
[00:00:14.220]in many fields.
[00:00:15.660]Some farmers have already mowed down
[00:00:17.670]their dryland corn crops.
[00:00:19.800]Victims of drought conditions covering 88%
[00:00:22.950]of Nebraska's 93 counties.
[00:00:25.080]This is some, some of the worst I've ever seen.
[00:00:27.359]Northeast Nebraska's Dave Jaeger
[00:00:28.980]is a third generation farmer.
[00:00:30.780]He and his brothers grow corn and soybeans
[00:00:33.330]on 3,500 acres of irrigated and dry crop land
[00:00:36.720]in Wayne County.
[00:00:38.130]According to the US drought monitor,
[00:00:40.230]99% of Wayne County is in exceptional drought right now.
[00:00:44.379]Crop conditions haven't been this poor
[00:00:46.770]since the 2012 drought.
[00:00:48.360]It's close, I mean it's, both of 'em are gonna be
[00:00:51.420]two of the worst years I've ever had.
[00:00:53.310]Jaeger says dryland farmers who depend
[00:00:55.470]on this year's meager range have had it the worst so far,
[00:00:58.710]but corn harvest may shrink by 50% this fall.
[00:01:01.876](tractor sound)
[00:01:02.709]And Jaeger says, some dryland farmers
[00:01:03.930]have already chopped their studded corn to use a silage
[00:01:07.141]for livestock feed.
[00:01:09.030]I know there's some guys that have taken
[00:01:10.920]out some silage and
[00:01:12.613]I've heard a field's been zeroed out.
[00:01:15.090]It is one of the worst years that we've seen.
[00:01:18.390]University of Nebraska Lincoln Professor Deborah Bathke
[00:01:21.180]is a Climatologist
[00:01:22.410]with a National Drought Mitigation Center.
[00:01:24.690]A hundred percent of the state is in some level of dryness
[00:01:27.840]whether it's abnormally dry conditions
[00:01:30.060]all the way up to exceptional drought.
[00:01:32.950](car driving down the road sound)
[00:01:33.783]If you drive 340 miles Southwest,
[00:01:35.730]it's bone dry in Chase County too.
[00:01:38.310]I'm Logan Pribbeno, fifth generation
[00:01:41.130]at Wineglass Ranch here in southwest Nebraska
[00:01:44.049](cow sounds)
[00:01:44.882]Planning for dry conditions
[00:01:45.715]the Pribbeno's fed fewer cattle this Spring
[00:01:47.970]on their 20,000 acres of grassland.
[00:01:50.640]This summer, those pastures shriveled up.
[00:01:53.190]It's been the second driest weather that Chase County
[00:01:55.290]has experienced since records began 128 years ago.
[00:01:59.520]Barney, for the first time in my life and with my cow boss
[00:02:03.150]we went around and we did a pasture inventory.
[00:02:05.640]We thought we knew what we had, zero rainfall for 60 days.
[00:02:08.846]It takes ungrazed pastures, it moves 'em backwards
[00:02:13.140]With less pasture for feed, the Pribbeno's
[00:02:15.241](cow mooing sound)
[00:02:16.074]and many ranchers have auctioned off some of their herds.
[00:02:18.240]They've weaned calves early this year, and had to rely
[00:02:21.150]on more hay and other feeds for their cattle.
[00:02:24.060]If they need help putting together
[00:02:25.350]rations for their cattle.
[00:02:27.420]Erin Laborie is a Beef Systems Extension Agent
[00:02:29.760]in southwest Nebraska.
[00:02:31.230]She says the state's parks pastures have produced a fraction
[00:02:34.290]of the grass that cattle normally depend on for food.
[00:02:37.320]I have been working
[00:02:38.153]with a lot of guys helping them decide what's most
[00:02:40.440]cost effective to feed their cattle
[00:02:42.881]and meet their nutrient requirements.
[00:02:44.430]I'm Steve Hanson from Elsie, Nebraska
[00:02:47.177]and have a farm and ranch.
[00:02:49.050]The president-elect of Nebraska Cattleman,
[00:02:51.180]Hansen grows dryland corn to feed his cattle
[00:02:53.790]on 8,000 acres in Perkins County.
[00:02:56.220]Our corn is four foot tall, no tassels, no ears
[00:03:01.020]This year, Perkins County is
[00:03:02.670]in the worst drought since record keeping began in 1894.
[00:03:06.960]That dryland corn is it harvestable?
[00:03:09.450]We won't do anything with it.
[00:03:10.830]We're hoping to catch snow with it this winter.
[00:03:12.630]If that sounds,
[00:03:13.712](laughing)
[00:03:14.545]you know farmers, we're the eternal optimist.
[00:03:16.650]Hanson culled 15% of his herd last fall
[00:03:19.470]because of the abnormally dry weather.
[00:03:21.870]This winter, Hanson says, rather than feed his calves
[00:03:24.900]he's going to send them to auction.
[00:03:26.850]We're selling those calves.
[00:03:27.780]That, for me, that's a story.
[00:03:29.100]It reflects on the severity of the drought.
[00:03:30.930]Agriculture experts say the drought will mean
[00:03:32.880]smaller Nebraska corn and soybean harvest this year.
[00:03:36.240]Many ranchers have also been forced to
[00:03:38.280]cut the size of their cattle and calving operations.
[00:03:41.760]The one silver lining for farmers and ranchers
[00:03:43.920]may be commodity prices, corn and soybean prices,
[00:03:47.580]live and feeder cattle prices,
[00:03:49.500]they're all up double digits this year.
[00:03:51.900]On the expense side, crop seed, fuel,
[00:03:54.180]fertilizer costs, livestock feed,
[00:03:56.640]they've increased to by double digits or more.
[00:04:00.030]No one's really sure what that cost is gonna be.
[00:04:02.310]University of Nebraska Extension Agent Ben Beckman
[00:04:04.890]says ranchers still don't know
[00:04:06.750]how much it will cost them to rebuild the herds
[00:04:08.820]they were forced to sell by this year's drought.
[00:04:11.850]So is it worthwhile to try to hold onto some animals
[00:04:14.640]and feed through it or do you sell off and
[00:04:16.860]hope that prices aren't too exorbitant
[00:04:18.750]on the other side where we're trying to
[00:04:20.340]buy back replacement heifers or build our herd back up?
[00:04:23.100]Beckman says there's another intangible drought cost
[00:04:26.070]for some farmers and ranchers this year.
[00:04:28.470]When you spend money, resources, labor
[00:04:31.260]well you've been working all year towards a final goal
[00:04:35.250]and to see that amount to nothing, you know
[00:04:37.890]that's a real hard punch in the gut.
[00:04:40.860]Right now, the farmers
[00:04:42.120]and ranchers we talk with, share the same wish.
[00:04:45.340](cricket sounds)
[00:04:46.173]We're all praying for rain and mother nature to help us
[00:04:47.618]out a little here, and it's the only thing we can do.
[00:04:49.830]Same kind of deal with a ranch and dryland farm.
[00:04:52.590]It's when it's raining, you gotta, you gotta make the hay.
[00:04:55.110]And when it's not, you gotta go into conservation mode.
[00:04:59.580]For KRNU News, I'm Barney McCoy reporting.

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Nebraska Drought at Harvest Time

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