GREEN RIDGE, Mo. — According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the majority of Pettis County is under exceptional drought. It is marker “D4” the highest intensity rank on scale.
The dry conditions have left many local farmers worried about their operations in the region.
Erin Larimore and her husband own about 110 cattle on their farm in Green Ridge, Missouri. Because of the current drought, 75% of their grazing land is gone.
Their cows are having to feed on hay, and for other farmers in the area, even their water source is gone because the drought has dried up their ponds.
“You hear about whole herd dispersals, so we’re not at that point yet, but it’s rough,” Larimore said.
Larimore spends much of her days wondering how to maximize her feed production, because the lack of proper nutrition continues to take a toll on the cattle.
With more than half of her farmland dried up, she has made some tough cuts. They already sold ten open females in order to reduce the number of grazing cattle.
“It really goes back even to last fall, we didn’t get much fall precipitation,” Larimore said. “Cows are grazing it short which means that you’re gonna have exposed dirt and this allows weeds.”
With so many other farmers across Missouri experiencing the same challenges, even the back up resources like hay are in short supply and going up in cost.
“We’re looking at chopping corn silage to help us get through the winter,” Larimore said.
Gene Schmitz, field specialist in Livestock with MU Extension in Pettis County, says the current drought is unique because of how long it has stuck around.
“You can see those [soybean] leaves really beginning to curl up and shrink up and they just have a completely different color to them, they’re not the deep deep green color that we like to see in our crop fields," he said.
Just across the pathway, corn stalks showed similar signs of stress as well. The lack of moisture is hindering their critical growing season form pollination to photosynthesis.
“Ultimately we’re taking about reductions and yields and which again goes back to the ability of farmers to make money out here and to survive,” Schmitz said.
Schmitz and Larimore want people to understand that this is more than just farming. It is the blood, sweat and tears — the livelihoods of so man in the region.
“That comes with a tremendous personal and mental cost,” Schmitz said.
Schmitz also advised local farmers in a press release this week about how to manage feed during the drought:
- Stretch feed supplies
- Find alternative feeds
- Check toxicity of alternative feedstuffs
- Prepare for the fall
- Cull herd
