Making a Profit in a Decade of Drought
Are we in for a decade of drought? I grew up in the drought of the 1950s. It was a decade-long drought; no one knew when it started, and no one knew when it would end. Many of my father’s kin were farmers and ranchers. There were few large ponds, and most had been hand-dug using a mule team and a scoop to remove a few cubic feet of soil at a time. Larger ranches had machine-dug ponds, but even these were small by today’s standards.
Most ranchers in our area of Caldwell County pumped water from a well when the ponds ran dry. Our ranch had a windmill with a mechanical pump jack that was powered by a gasoline motor, or by hand. During the drought, we had to go to the ranch weekly to check the pond’s water level. Without much wind, we had to pump water in order to fill a small pond for the cattle.
Frequently ranchers had to get extra jobs just to keep their land during the drought years. Dad had a good job with Ma Bell, but most of his kin got part-time jobs. Today, it seems most ranchers have a regular job that supports the ranch, or they made money in another occupation before becoming a rancher. Ranching doesn’t pay the bills like it used to. Even with today’s higher cattle prices, the cost of raising cattle is greater than it’s ever been.
Drought eats profits even more than low cattle prices. And over the years, cattle prices have not kept up with inflation. Ranching profits today are lower than in the 1950s. Basic supplies are more expensive. Barb wire, staples and posts all cost more. While a rancher could usually hire help to care for cattle in the 50s, the same help today could cost a rancher as much as the cattle bring at auction.
Drilling a water well today is costly. While most ranchers only install a windmill if they can’t afford to get electricity at their location, solar pumps can do the job of pumping water for cattle troughs. Ponds may be a bargain to build, but with over 50 inches of evaporation a year, ponds often go dry in droughts. Without water, forget about raising cattle.
So how does a rancher make a profit in a drought year? Or in a drought decade?
To begin, it’s a good idea for the rancher to treat every day as if a drought is possible that year and the next. A drought can begin the first day after the last rain. The problem is, you never know when it will end. If a rancher manages for drought, they can worry far less about those years that are not dry. If the rancher can make a profit in a drought year, they should be able to make one in a wetter year.
I like to teach clients how to grow grass in years with drought. Growing grass in a wet year is simple for everyone. Growing grass in a drought year is all about animal management, and it can be done without fertilizer!
It goes without saying that it’s a bad idea to overgraze the land in any year. The truth is, protecting the land is worth more than the cattle. Dead land and dead grass grow no cattle. So, calculating the right number of animals for the land is imperative. Oddly enough, sometimes adding more cattle is the answer, rather than reducing the number of animals.
Should a rancher make hay or buy hay in years with excess grass? Yes. And if they have enough grass in properly managed pastures, they might need a bale per cow per year. To be on the safe side, they can store two bales per year per animal.
Ponds go dry much more slowly when pastures are covered with grass. They fill at a slower rate. With more water in more pastures, you can rotate more pastures leaving more grass in other pastures.
Did you know that it is possible to put 25+ head of cattle on one acre for 180 days and the cattle still gain weight? I put 25 head of cattle on one acre, from April to October of 2012, and had to mow grass! This allowed the remainder of the ranch to grow grass after the 2011 drought. If you could do this, would you make money?
Now I know you are probably thinking that this is crazy. When I first learned about it, I thought it was crazy too. It took me five years to wrap my head around the concepts that support this grazing process. I started the experiment to prove my teacher wrong (and to save our cattle and family ranch). I am so happy he was right.
David E. Will is a Schulenburg area rancher and consultant. He can be reached at 830-629-98976 or email at dwill207@satx.rr.com.