By Shala Watson
Staff Writer
Mother Nature can be unpredictable and South Plains cotton farmers are coping with the recent impacts of wind, hail and rain.
A hailstorm that blew through the South Plains on Nov. 2 has caused significant damage to some cotton fields and has delayed harvest. The O’Donnell area was hit with a quick pounding rain and hailstorm that moved from the southwest to northeast area of the region.
Garron Morgan, who farms in Lynn, Dawson and Borden counties, said the storm has impacted about 400 acres of his cotton.
“We had anywhere from one to two inches of rain pretty quick within about a 30- or 45-minute time period and quite a bit of hail,” he said.
Morgan noted the hail was anywhere from pea to marble size and the full impact it will have on yields and quality is still unknown.
“We definitely lost some yield. There is quite a bit of lint on the ground,” Morgan told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “We’re going to have some grade issues with the moisture. As far as the exact impact, we’re just going to have to wait and see and give it a few days and take it to harvest.”
Morgan said the storm has set back harvest. But despite the setback, yields have been pretty good.
“Overall, we’ve had a pretty good year. Yields have been great, and grades have been excellent,” Morgan said. “It’s always sad to see hail this time of the year, but it just lets us know that our blessings come from God and not from our own work. It just gives us a chance to really rely on the Lord for what he brings us.”
Lynn-Garza County Farm Bureau member Randy Cook expressed his reaction to the impact the hail had on his cotton crop.
Cook farms in Lynn and Dawson counties near O’Donnell and he lost about 170 acres of his cotton to quarter-sized hail.
“That was some of my best cotton,” Cook said. “My nine-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, said she was crying during basketball practice when she heard the hail because she knew I was losing my crops. She said, ‘Daddy, I know God is going to take care of us.’”
Another Dawson County cotton farmer and Farm Bureau member Bruce Vaughn also saw significant losses. Vaughn said he lost anywhere from 160 to 200 acres from the hail.
“One farm is a complete loss, and then I’ve had damage that is 30 to 40 percent as a loss,” Vaughn told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “I’ve never seen a hailstorm like this in November. We’re lucky that it wasn’t but a mile and half wide and five miles long, where the worst of it hit.”
Vaughn said the winds compounded the damage. He estimates that they had 65 mile-per-hour winds.
But they are taking the losses in stride.
“We’ve had weather events before that have kept us out of the field for a period of time,” Vaughn said. “We know that these things happen. We don’t like them. We can’t plan for them. All you can do is take it in stride.”
Vaughn said before the hailstorm, he was yielding around 450 pounds per acre and 54 to 57 cents per pound. He expects to lose 2 to 3 cents a pound in quality if the rain stained the cotton.