Texas Drought Far from Fixed

The recent rains have been plenty welcome, but the damage from this year’s record-setting drought is far from fixed.

Not surprisingly, many Texans and neighboring partners have rolled up their sleeves to tackle the task of getting much-needed hay to fellow ranchers and producers.

In Refugio County, a coordinated effort between De-Go-La RC&D, Agri-Life Extension Service and Copano Bay Soil and Water Conservation District is bringing hay in from Oklahoma at the discounted rate of $49 per bale to bolster relief efforts. A similar initiative in Gonzales, Lavaca and Goliad counties finds hay being trucked in from Arkansas for $49 per bale. Another round of applause goes to those who have secured $33 bale shipments from Arkansas to Victoria County on the rails of Southern Pacific.

Like the recent rains, these partnerships are greatly appreciated and need to be sustained.

Here at TDA, we held a conference call last week with the Independent Cattlemen’s Association, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the Texas Farm Bureau and Agri-Life Extension Service to determine if a statewide hay coordination effort was needed at this time. The consensus was to support the local county efforts already underway as the most efficient and effective way to meet the needs of local ranchers. Their early successes are great examples of how local groups can move faster and more efficiently to help those in need.

Meanwhile, our TDA Hay Hotline stands ready to find sources of discounted transportation options to connect suppliers with Texas ranchers. To offer hay for sale, donate hay or help secure discounted transportation services, call the Hay Hotline at 1-877-429-1998 and help us help our Texas ranchers recover.

Do your neighbor a favor and email the Hay Hotline link or call in number to someone today.

Texas Farmers and Ranchers Thankful for Rain

Well, I started my day out thanking the good Lord for the much-needed rain that is being spread around Texas and with a plea to let it continue. I am thankful to see the weather maps with green and yellow shades indicating storm cells moving around our state. We all know it is desperately needed as all 254 counties in Texas are experiencing some form of drought.

In fact, weather experts all agree that the area stretching from central Texas to the Gulf is the single driest part of the United States. Farmers in this area are deciding whether they will even be able to plant this season. Cattlemen are taking their stock to auction at record numbers because of short pasture conditions. I'm told the current drought conditions we are experiencing only come along once or maybe twice in a 100-year cycle.

We’d like to remind producers to take advantage of the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Hay Hotline at 1-877-429-1998. This is a great resource for those who have extra hay to sell or a pasture to lease, and for those who need hay. We also encourage producers to take advantage of our Disaster Resource Information Packet (DRIP), which provides pertinent contact information for state, federal and private agricultural disaster assistance programs. The DRIP packet is available on our Web site at www.TexasAgriculture.gov.

Even with this rain being spread across our dry and thirsty land, forecasters say it will be a tough spring. Lord, thank you for this rain today and please send us some more – our state's farmers and ranchers are in real need.