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Southwest Agents Respond to Drought

For most Virginians, the drought of 2007 meant brown lawns and landscapes and the need to conserve water. For cattle producers, however, the shortage of rainfall had much more serious consequences.

In the New River Valley, rainfall during the spring and summer was about 35 percent lower than normal. A shortage of rain means a shortage of hay, and in turn, less feed for cattle during the fall and winter months. For producers, this hay shortage meant some very difficult decisions needed to be made.

Virginia Cooperative Extension agents Matthew Miller, Southwest district farm business management agent; Chase Scott, Southwest district dairy agent; Jim Atwell, agriculture and natural resources agent in Bland and Giles Counties; and Kevin Spurlin, agriculture and natural resources agent in Grayson County, knew that they needed to address the situation.

“We were all getting calls and visits from farmers who were worried,” says Spurlin. “We realized that we needed to help them make some tough decisions.”

In a span of about 30 days, the agents organized themselves to research options for producers. They each explored one option in depth – studying the costs and benefits – so they could present the most accurate information possible. Farmers’ choices included fertilizing pastures for fall and winter grazing, purchasing alternative feeds, or strategically reducing the number of cattle on their farm. Each of these options in turn raised new financial and management issues.

Within a month, the group was ready to begin holding sessions. More than 120 producers, who in total owned more than 12,000 head of cattle, attended the programs. Many more heard about the meetings and later requested follow-up information from their local Extension office. The overall response to the programs was very positive, with farmers reporting that what they had learned would help them make decisions not only in the current situation, but in their overall livestock operation as well.

“It really helped that we all got together to tackle this problem,” Scott commented. “We were all dealing with the same issues, and as a group we were able to better help our producers than we might have been individually.”