Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Drought, Weather & Snowpack Category
Click here to view all posts

Cumulative effects from another year of drought

Posted by: Maven on January 29, 2009 at 1:38 pm

From Woodland’s Daily Democrat:

Third year of drought? These days we seem to be caught up cycles, economic cycles, election cycles, and most important to those who make their living in agriculture, weather cycles.

I remember the drought years of mid-1970s, as well as the painful years of 1988-1991. These weather patterns come along about every ten years or so, long enough that people forget how bad it can be. Each new generation of farmers and ranchers who comes of age in the good years have to learn the painful lessons that come with a multi-year drought. Your costs dramatically increase as your revenue declines.

The effects of the current three year drought are cumulative. Most of the ranchers in our area do not run animals on the same ground on a year round basis. In the winter months, starting around November, the livestock are turned out onto grasslands, mainly the hills in western Yolo County.

If we have a dry fall and winter, the new grass does not start growing early and the ranchers must feed hay or find other supplemental feed. With the price of hay doubling in the last two years, this option is becoming so expensive, the thin profit margins livestock producers have disappear. The question soon becomes how can I minimize my losses for the year, how do I pay my bills?

When late spring arrives, if the rainfall has been below normal, the feed on the hills does not last as long as normal and this compounds the problem. With the rangelands drying up earlier, the need to ship the livestock to their summer pastures may come a full month sooner than planned.

Read more from the Daily Democrat by clicking here.

January 29, 2009 · Filed Under Drought, Weather & Snowpack

Comments

One Response to “Cumulative effects from another year of drought”

  1. Wes on January 29th, 2009 8:19 pm

    The implications are all wrong as soon as they describe this as only a problem of “cycles”. It is much more complex than that. Yes, there are cycles but there is also a long term trend driven by climate change the we can no longer stop. Such is the reality that the top of the cycle today may be the bottom tomorrow.

    The State Meteorologist’s report to DWR makes this very clear.

Leave a Reply