Drought drags on

State still dealing with dry conditions, need for precipitation

By MARVIN BAKER, Staff Writer mbaker@minotdailynews.com
Despite a forecast of scattered rain showers through today, all of western North Dakota remains in an extreme or severe drought category.


That has a lot of people in agriculture worried about the next several months, especially cattle producers who may either have to consider hauling water or selling off their herds if sufficient rain doesn’t fall soon.


Several northwest county extension agents said Tuesday there is currently enough moisture to sustain cereal grain growth, but mitigation plans are in the works in case moisture patterns don’t change in the next several weeks.


“The main concern is water availability for livestock,” said Ward County Extension agent Mike Rose. “Do you haul water or dig wells? There are no easy answers.”


North Dakota State University Extension staff have already had a conference call to formulate thoughts about the drought and will meet again in conference call Friday to set up the steps that might need to take place if patterns don’t change.


Extension staff will meet with U.S. Department of Agriculture officials on Thursday to discuss the drought.


Rose said everyone in farming and ranching is concerned because there was no winter snowpack, leaving watering holes and sloughs dried up. And with less than one-third of an inch of precipitation in 2008, there hasn’t been enough moisture to begin to replenish water supplies for range cattle.


“This could bring up a lot of other water issues. There’s going to be lots of issues, not only with crops and livestock, but with landscaping issues,” Rose said. “We need timely rain, but chances of getting runoff are doubtful.”


Luckily, it’s been cool to this point, Rose said. But as the daily average temperatures warm, any wind will zap what little topsoil moisture remains.


Williams County Extension agent Warren Froelich said there is enough moisture in the extreme northwest to get early cool season grasses going, but more moisture will be needed in the next 10 days to sustain optimum growth.


“We still have about two to three weeks before the native warm season grasses are negatively impacted,” Froelich said. “No significant moisture within the next two to three weeks will impact hay yields. We have been in this situation before so there is reason to hope.”


But, as Froelich pointed out, many reservoirs are already empty and it will take heavy rainfall to replenish them. But with heavy rain comes runoff and subsequently, erosion.


Again, the big concern is watering the livestock, according to Froelich.


“The recent low snowfall winters have been good to cattlemen but it looks like many will be hauling water or trying to pipe water from other sources,” Froelich said. “Digging wells is another option, but cattlemen tell me of long waiting lists.”


Froelich said Williams County currently has enough moisture for anhydrous ammonia application and seed germination. But with escalating costs of fertilizer, it is becoming more of a gamble every day.


“Everyone likes to apply all the plant nutrient needs prior to or at planting time,” he said. “A likely strategy is to apply enough now for a conservative yield and top-dress after the crop emerges if good moisture is received after planting.”


Bottineau County producers are looking at a similar scenario, according to Extension agent Tim Semler. Some county producers have told Semler their watering holes dried up last fall and with little winter snow, there was no moisture to recharge drinking water for the livestock.


“Many pastures also rely on shallow creeks and streams  for spring and summer livestock water sources,” Semler said. “There being no runoff, these water sources will also dry up by late spring without plentiful rains.”


If that rain doesn’t fall, two options will remain, according to Semler; haul water or sell the herd.


“Relocating the herd isn’t much of a choice because the entire three-state area, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, is dry in range country,” he said. “Hauling water to cattle is also very difficult as a cow/calf pair in the heat of summer would easily require 30 gallons of water per day.”


Semler said there is enough moisture in Bottineau County to apply anhydrous ammonia and germinate seed. He said conditions would have to rival those in the Mojave Desert for the pressurized fertilizer to dissipate into the atmosphere.


“Our crop farmers are guardedly optimistic,” Semler said. “They will proceed as normal with planting when the soils get warm enough, but all of them hope for plentiful rains soon. Most of them will have more than $200 per acre invested in growing crops this year.”


Bottineau County grows approximately 650,000 acres of crops each year and if that is multiplied by the $200 per acre inputs, according to Semler, that’s roughly $130 million invested in crops just for that one county.


“These types of investments by farmers as an economic generator, turn about $3 for every $1 spent,” Semler said. “This creates an additional economic activity in our rural counties of nearly $400 million.”


According to Pat Carpentier, this is the first year in many years in which all of McLean County has been dry during the spring of the year.


Carpentier, the McLean County extension agent, said cereal grains will most likely get started, but there may not be enough moisture to germinate row crops.


“Let’s hope we get enough moisture to get the crop going,” Carpentier said. “But I don’t think the sloughs will be replenished.”


Carpentier, who has been working in McLean County since 1976, said he recently took some soil samples and found no moisture as far as 8 inches deep.


He said there is a little moisture in stubble, but overall, it doesn’t look good. He said field conditions might actually be worse than they are if not for no-till farming methods.


“There’s more concern this year than in many years. I don’t ever recall it being this dry,” Carpentier said. “Most cattle are still around home, but the sloughs are dry. There may be no hope for producers. They’ll be hauling water, there’s no doubt about that.”