By Julie Tomascik
Associate Editor
Years of dry, barren summers are a not-so-distant memory. But the green fields across Texas bring renewed optimism, reminding farmers and ranchers just how much rain can change things.
And it’s welcome. Even if it brings a different set of challenges.
“We’re busy, and it’s been a challenge to keep up with the workload,” Miles rancher Chad Halfmann said. “But we prefer to manage for excessive rainfall over managing our pastures for excessive drought.”
It’s something they haven’t dealt with in the last five years.
Although the ground is drying quickly, the baler keeps rolling. So far, their hay crop has been nearly double what it was during the drought. Making an average of four round bales to the acre.
The Halfmanns, who manage their pastures to continue grazing through the winter, will store the hay to be used as a supplement or when they have large numbers of cattle in the pens.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” he said. “But we aren’t buying more cows and stocking heavier. We have forage and we want to manage that as best we can to have it in shape for a future drought.”
And Central Texas pastures took a similar route to those in West Texas.
“We were about two weeks late getting to our first cutting because of all the rain,” Westphalia farmer Keith Lee said.
But square bales and round bales still dot his fields. Although the rain delay caused the quality of hay to suffer some in the first cutting. And rapid growth didn’t allow the forages to get the proper nutrients.
Lee has had two good cuttings, already harvesting as much hay this year as he did last year. And, with more rains in early fall, he can make a third cutting.
And Lee isn’t the only one keeping up with a busy hay season. Ranchers in South and East Texas are, too.
“We’ve already baled more hay this year than we did all of last year,” Live Oak County Farm Bureau President and farmer Dane Elliott said.
What looked like barren ground last year came back green after 30 inches of rain.
“It’s amazing what rain can do,” he said. “Forage that we thought would never survive three, four, five years of drought did. And it brought back our optimism, too.”
But it’s starting to dry up. And more rain is needed for Elliott and other South Texas farmers to make three cuttings.
Over in East Texas, hay is stacking up.
John Griffith, Cherokee County Farm Bureau president and farmer, was also late getting in the field. But he and other East Texas farmers are on track for another good hay harvest.
“Last year was an exceptional year for us,” Griffith said.
Although after a few weeks of hot, dry temperatures in late July, the pastures are starting to turn brown.
“We’re counting on the moisture that’s in the forecast for the fall and winter from El Niño to have another strong hay year,” he said. “But that extra moisture could bring an outbreak of army worms.”
And the same holds true for North Texas.
Dairyman Tom Hoff is no stranger to hot, dry Texas summers. But after above-average rainfall this spring, he’s still seeing green in his pastures. All the way into late summer.
“We made a good crop of wheat hay, but the quality is low due to the rainfall,” the Archer County Farm Bureau president said. “But it’s better than the past. At least we have some.”
Even though some spots are browning, his forages have bounced back and are holding strong.
“I haven’t cut coastal in four years, and I’ve made two cuttings this year already,” Hoff said. “Everybody’s making hay right now.”
And that leads to a soft hay market. Lee, who grows about 25,000 square bales each year, said demand has dropped.
“It’s backed off right now because a lot of people have grass in their pastures for a change,” he said.
But he’s confident demand will increase as winter approaches and folks look for higher quality hay.
Griffith agrees. “In our area, there was a lot of carryover from last year. Our repeat customers will continue to buy from us, but the demand throughout East Texas is definitely down right now,” Griffith said.