The driest year on record since 1980 has Allen County farmers and ranchers holding their breath as commodity prices are predicted to soar in the coming months.
With less than 24 inches of rain since Jan. 1, grain, alfalfa, grass, corn, wheat and beans are falling way short of expected yields, driving up the prices.
“If your animals eat feed, you’re in trouble,” said Harry Clubine, Strickler Dairy manager.
Not only have hay prices soared, the silage the Iola dairy relies on has also taken a hit from the protracted dry weather.
“There was less than a fourth of the regular amount of grain on it — the grain is the energy part,” he said. “I have lots of tonnage but it’s not as good of quality, which means I’ve got to feed more grain to make up for it.”
Clubine said the additive ingredient levels required to make the silage sufficient have doubled, and in some cases tripled, throughout the summer. As a result, feed costs have soared for Strickler Dairy.
Clubine, a 26-year veteran in the dairy business, said in a typical month of a typical year, Strickler Dairy spends about $25,000 to feed its 300 head of dairy cows. This summer, the operation has shelled out about $50,000 per month to keep its animals fed.
“The expected yields have been so low,” he said. “A lot of these beef farmers are selling cattle because they’re not going to pay that much for feed, and dairies are the same way.”
And it’s not just the cost of feeding the animals burdening farmers and ranchers. All across the drought-stricken region, stock ponds are drying up, forcing many to haul water to their animals, said Carla Nemecek, K-State Research and Extension agent for Allen County.
“That’s costly and time consuming,” she said. “And depending on the herd size, that could be multiple times in a single day, especially there in August when it was so hot.”
Low-level ponds also mean a good chance for murky water and foul odors to develop as herds try to drink, cool off or rid themselves of flies in the dwindling pools.
Bernita Berntsen, whose family farms more than 4,000 acres in Allen County and owns about 1,400 acres of her own, said the best way to prevent stock ponds from drying up during scorching summers is simply to dig them deeper.
“Dig ’em deep and keep the mud out of them,” she suggested. “If they’re full of mud and it does rain, there’s no place for the water to go anyway.”
Nemecek reiterated Berntsen’s advice and added that a dry spell is a good time to clean out stock ponds that might have been neglected for one too many summers.
“This is a real good time for people to get those ponds cleaned out and make them deeper,” she said. “So that’s one positive to this.”
