Tips to Keep Your Land Healthy Amidst Drought

Is it time to talk drought again? A few lucky folks have had some rain, but most have not and pastures are showing it. With temperatures over 100 degrees and constant wind, our part of Texas feels like a convection oven. Grass seems to turn brown overnight.

The soil on many ranches has not recovered from last year’s drought. While ample rainfall grew a lot of grass this past spring, the soil microbiome has not returned to pre-drought conditions. Lacking a healthy microbiome, the soil can neither hold water nor sustain new grass growth.

After every major weather event, I review what I did right and what I could do better. I have kept notes over the years. Several friends have asked me to help them improve their ranch after the last drought. Here are some points I gave them that might help your land.

1. Put all your cattle in one pasture. Cows should have been bred by now, and most calves are weaned. So the bull and the calves can all be in one pasture with the cows.

2. Make more pastures or paddocks. Fourteen (or more) seems to be the number if most have about the same amount of forage. Rotate according to grass height and recovery.

3. Buy hay now. It will only get more expensive. Feeding hay now can conserve grass for later.

4. Reduce herd numbers before the grass is too thin to re-grow in heat and drought.

4a. Sell your steers and non-bred heifers first.

4b. Get rid of non-productive cows and bulls if the drought lingers.

5. Rotate cattle to a new pasture only after the grass has recovered six inches or tallerthree or more inches for bermudagrass. See graze more than half the total height of the grass.

6a. After grazing, grasses with remaining blade length of less than three inches will have trouble re-growing.

6b. Protect the soil with tall grass – a healthy soil is more valuable than the cattle.

7. Don’t fertilize, mow, or try to kill weeds in a drought. Weeds protect the soil from heat. See 6b.

8. Don’t make hay now on land you graze; wait for a rain. See 6b.

9. If you need help understanding how each of these items works, or wish to fine tune your operation, ask for help.

Hopefully it will rain soon. Most of the items above are good advice whether the weather is favorable or not. Except for the hay and additional fencing, the other items are just management, and cost savings outweighs losing money in the long term.

David E. Will is a farmer, rancher, nurseryman, landscaper, and consultant. He can be reached at 830-629-9876 or by email at dwill207@satx. rr.com.