Surviving in the land of drought
The top photo is a natural pond on Parker Creek during the drought of 2011-2012. We received less than 8 inches of rain that year. Amazingly the spring that feeds the pond ran the whole time and never went dry. We completely destocked the ranch and most of the damage that you see was from wildlife. Everything from squirrels to deer were starving to death and this was the only natural water hole around for many miles. The bottom photo is several years later after implement planned grazing and carefully grazing the creek area briefly once or twice per year. The difference is astounding with proper management and a little help from Mother Nature!
Texas is the “land of drought.” In the early 1500s, Cabeza de Vaca, the first European to explore Texas, reported Native Americans near present-day Presidio praying for rain. Drought has always been a constant threat to human prosperity in the Texas landscape. Each decade since 1822, the year that Stephen F. Austin established the first American settlement in Texas, the state has seen at least one period of severe drought. Drought plagues life for farmers and ranchers. It leads to economic hardship, loss of crops and livestock, dust storms, wildfires and plagues of insects. The most severe drought in modern history during the 1950s permanently transformed the Texas landscape. The drought was so severe that it forced people to leave the rural areas in search of a better life, transforming Texas into a urban state. Texas has an arid climate in the best of times. The arid landscape is often broken by large rainfall events. In my lifetime I have seen it rain over twenty inches in less than twenty-four hours. The results are as catastrophic as the drought, unfortunately often leading to a loss of human life. How can we as farmers and ranchers mitigate and survive these adverse climactic conditions?
The most important component to surviving drought is being prepared biologically. It all starts with soil health. As Gabe Brown says “we must armor the soil with plans.” If you simply leave your stock on the pasture you will undoubtedly do harm to your soil and grasses. Our goal should always be to maintain the plants and soil in the healthiest possible condition. This can be achieved through holistic, planned grazing. Grazing livestock at a high density with adequate rest periods is essential to maintaining soil health via deep-rooted perennial plants, a high level of soil biology, and soil that is covered with dead and alive plant material. This will give the soil and ultimately the plants the ability to withstand dry weather. To quote Walt Davis, author of How to Not Go Broke Ranching: Things I Learned the Hard Way in 50 Years of Ranching, “drought does not destroy grassland; Management during and after drought destroys grassland.” Holistic, planned grazing is the key to successfully managing your livestock and destocking the land during times of drought. As you manage your landscape in a regenerative way you will “build” drought resiliency into the landscape. Hopefully, years down the road the next drought won’t be so devastating.
If you can’t destock for one reason or another then it’s best to have a plan of action. There are a few approaches that mitigate the loss of forage on your overall ranch. During the 2011-2012 drought here in South Texas, which was the worst on record, we decided that we would never again let the livestock simply eat everything on the ranch. It took years to recover even when it started to rain. We fenced off a five acre pasture to act as a “sacrifice paddock” during drought. The purpose of this paddock is to simply act as a feedlot. We confine the stock and feed them hay in this paddock until it rains again. This paddock has plenty of natural shade from trees. We don’t mind overgrazing it simply because we crop it in annual grains and legumes every year. The paddock serves a specific purpose and a very good one at that. There are financial implications for feeding hay so make sure the numbers work for you. If your in the commercial/conventional cattle business then feeding hay probably isn’t the best idea. In that case the best advice I can give someone is sell the cattle, take a vacation and buy back in when the land recovers.
Another consideration is selecting species and genetics that are adapted to drought prone, harsh climactic conditions. For example, we cross the Longhorn into our cattle breeding program. The Longhorn has been adapting to South Texas and much of the Soutwest since their introduction in 1521 by Hernan Cortez. The following is quoted from the Cattleman’s Texas Longhorn Registry. “The Longhorn was the first cattle to set foot in North America and the only breed of cattle to evolve without human management, the Texas Longhorn can thrive in country where no other breed can live; subsist on weeds, cactus and brush; range days away from water; and stay fit and fertile whether it's living in the scorching, parasite-infested tropics or in the arid, subzero winters of Montana. The Longhorn cow will calve by the age of two and will have a calf thereafter every year of her life, often until the age of twenty and beyond, doubling the calf production of every other breed. She never has trouble delivering a healthy calf, seldom needs veterinary attention, and isn't depleted by parasites. She will wean a strong, fat calf that is sixty percent of her own weight in seven months no matter how severe the conditions, and breed back in forty-five days after calving. Old Texas Longhorn ranchers boast that their cows have calves "every nine months and fifteen minutes.” Having the ability to utilize browse and plants other than grasses gives the Longhorn crosses the innate ability to thrive on otherwise marginal, brittle landscapes. I’ve seen Angus and other industrial breeds simply fall apart during hard times.
Another tool that we have used with success is sub-soiling. The goal is simple: to catch the water when it rains. If we can increase infiltration and store that water below the ground other positive effects will follow. The more water we can hold on the landscape the more forage/biomass we can produce. Using Keyline design and sub-soiling our pastures has been one of the most important tools we use at Parker Creek Ranch. I am not going to go into great detail because you can read more about it from a earlier blog post titled Sub-soiling: capturing the rain.
Arguably one of the droughts worst effects is on our pocketbooks. Drought has a tremendous effect of the economics of our ranch and overall agricultural system. It’s almost impossible to save enough money to survive a drought when they often last for a year or more. As I said earlier, most often the best approach is to destock and taking a vacation. That’s right, sell the livestock (or send them somewhere to greener pastures) and shut the ranch down until it rains again. You can not feed your way out of a severe drought. Your bank account or line of credit will only go so far. I fully understand that there are situations where this might not be possible. As we speak the cattle market is in free fall. The commodity beef market is experiencing some of the lowest prices and lowest margins we have seen in a long time. In other words, it’s not a great time to sell out. It is very likely that by the time you want to buy back in the prices could be substantially higher. Thankfully we direct market our products, and instead of selling my live cattle we put them in the freezer. My good friend Loncito Cartwright, owner of Peaceful Pork, says “meat in the freezer is like money in the bank!” At some point we all need to decide if we are going to be “price takers or price makers.” Too often we play the victim card when it comes to the ranching business. Instead we need to take control and shift our paradigms to more innovative ideas.
Something often not talked about is how drought effects our mental health. I can personally attest to the fact that it isn’t easy. It’s not easy to wake up every day during a drought and watch the landscape suffer. It’s easy to become cynical in this business. The best advice I can give a rancher or farmer suffering from drought it to just let go. Understand that it’s a environmental situation beyond your control. Thus, we manage the land and the livestock to the best of our ability. Beyond that it’s simply a waiting game. Waiting for the rain to come again. Build a network of like-minded folks around you to positively support and critique your decisions. Often, it’s best to put a fresh set of eyes on your land and livestock. Getting that outside perspective can be invaluable. This is typically a trusted mentor, fellow rancher or consultant.
Drought is one of the most difficult environmental factors we will face as ranchers. Texas is the land of floods and drought. Have a plan and be prepared to implement it.
