drought and wildfires

[cathylee]

We had several large round bales left from last winter.  We've gone through those and started on this winter's hay supply.  Three cows and the bull is visiting. We can see the difference in the amount of hay being eaten.   

What does the drought in the West look like?   



The smoke from the wildfires took this view (The glow of sunset on the Eastern mountain range)....



And turned it into this...



We have good air quality inside but at times it is really pretty awful outside.  It was briefly pretty nice yesterday morning but by mid afternoon the air was full of smoke again.  Preferring to be inside I've been baking and "putting up" the early apples harvest.  

The animals don't have that choice.  

We weaned the calves early and delivered them yesterday.  They didn't have any more green grass than we do.  But they were thrilled to get them after a little lead training.  The paddock they are starting out in had wood rail fences with attached field fence and it was visible from the house.  Looks very secure.  The owners were so happy to get them.  I hated to see them go but they look like they have a great new home.  For now I think the air quality will be a bit better there as they have a few more trees.  

But we are fortunate not to live close enough to any of the fires presently burning so we don't feel at any personal risk.  Two communities that we live or work near have had evacuations.  

[zephyrhillsusan]

That's just terrible! Where do you get your hay from? I hate to think how much it costs. Fire is so very scary. Hoping the weather breaks and you get some rain in the near future. I'm glad you got a good new home for your calves, at least that's a relief!

[cathylee]

There is a hay farm very nearby. We always buy the large round bales from them. If you look at the first view of the mountains there is a shed roof and power line at the river. That is our land but the pump house for their irrigation. We bought some of their first cut large rounds for $80 each.  Only $5 more than in the past.  It seems that hay farmers just raise the price a little for their regular buyers.  But if they raise the price this year it will be that price next year even if it is a good hay year.  

The river level is low and I don't see that they are irrigating anymore so no third cut. I heard that they were having to stop and flush mud out of the pumps quite frequently at the end. 

We have water rights (river water) and a half share in the pump house. We have never used our water rights.

We have a North pasture with 20 acres that we bought last winter. It has the same irrigation outlets that we have on our land with water rights. So this winter I am going to research for water rights on that land. It I ran K-line from those outlets I could irrigate that pasture and put cows there when the paddocks have run dry.  The paddocks are on a separate piece of land that is part of the neighborhood plat. It is across a dirt road from irrigation outlets that aren't being used.  A retired dairy farmer keeps classic cars in a barn there.  I spoke to him about buying that land. He has a sentimental attachment to it.  I'd certainly give him a lifetime use of the barn if he'd sell.  It is more level than most of my land and would be easy to irrgate.  

When we bought the property the house is on the owners were not aware of water rights to the property. But the bank informed us that there were rights. I did register them in our name. There is definitely value associated with those rights. We would benefit by using irrigation occasionally on that land as I pasture poultry there and have fruit trees and garden there and it has been seeded with nice pasture grass.  

We haven't in past years felt irrigation was necessary. Our 7 acres of paddocks would run out of grass in the dry years but we have had left over hay from our winter stores. We have gone through that this year and are buying extra. A friend is going to bale four large rounds for us in his next cutting.

I usually expect to sell calves or get meat that will cover buying hay.  It isn't a financial strain for us, but it has to make some kind of financial sense. If we watered a fourth of the time that the hay farmers watered I think we would have no trouble having good forage through the summer to October. So I'm going to see the banker today to find out who does their research and ask them to research the water rights that might be associated with our other properties. With those outlets the property must have water rights. You don't put in all those pipes without water that can be run through them.

So a long answer to your question.  We may have options that would improve our grass supply and possibly get some hay cut or a bit of stockpile.  We have 27 acres of fenced pasture and don't have grass for two cow pairs and a yearling heifer.  This year for the first time much of the grass dried up before they even got to all of it. 

[cathylee]

What we call the East side (East of the continental divide) has better than average moisture this year so some are getting hay shipped in at reasonable prices.  Smaller herd owners are getting together to share the transport costs.  

[zephyrhillsusan]

Wow, it's incredible to me to have to deal with all of that to keep your Dexters. You must really love them! I'm really unfamiliar with the much about irrigation; it's fascinating reading about it all. We have family who are ranchers in far West Texas, and they deal with drought all the time, but all they can do is pray for rain. There's no possibility of irrigation because it's very rough, mountainous terrain and the water table and rivers just aren't there for it. Thanks for explaining all that.

[cathylee]

It is rather fascinating. This is all very new to me because I am from the South as well. Born in Louisville, raised in Alabama and Louisiana and lots of relatives all over the South.

In this area water rights are actually administered through compacts with the Native American tribes. There has been a good deal of controversy over the latest treaty signed.

If water rights were ever on a property and it passed from hand to hand they can still be claimed as long as there was never a deed transferred that excluded the water rights. You could see that happening if a farmer had multiple people messing with the pump house or people wanted the irrigation on and he had to come out to turn it off and on. On the other hand if a farmer sold a tract. He might get more money if the rights were transferable.

In our case we actually own a half interest in the pump house on our property. I assume our North pasture hooks up to the same pump house as our garden/orchard area.

[cathylee]

Yesterday air quality during the time you would be out doing chores was awful. Today we are starting at unhealthy and this time of day is generally as good as it gets.

svc.mt.gov/deq/todaysair/AirDataDisplay.aspx?siteAcronym=FV&siteName=Flathead%20Valley&targetDate=8/25/2015

[zephyrhillsusan]

And one of our Aussie members, carragheendexters, is flooded in with more rain coming. I sure wish we could get you guys together to work out a happy medium!

[Deleted]

I feel for you CathyLee and understand your fire proximity experience only too well. Where we live in Gippsland (Victoria, Australia) we experience serious wild fires in dry seasons along with that awful smokey air, sometimes from bushfires, other times from controlled burns. But in the seasons when it isn't like that, it's beautiful! And lush and green! As it is now.

I hope your fire/dry season passes soon for you and for those in your region. It can be very disheartening.

[Fran]

We have no wildfires near us, but I am already feeding my winter hay stock. I've NEVER done this before! Soooo, now I'm looking to buy 15-20 more large round bales. I actually mowed my yard this week (only the 2nd time since June 13th and only because of the old wire grass that grows on nothing...)

[cathylee]

Aug 26, 2015 1:53:02 GMT -5 @nativeviolet said:

I feel for you CathyLee and understand your fire proximity experience only too well. Where we live in Gippsland (Victoria, Australia) we experience serious wild fires in dry seasons along with that awful smokey air, sometimes from bushfires, other times from controlled burns. But in the seasons when it isn't like that, it's beautiful! And lush and green! As it is now.

I hope your fire/dry season passes soon for you and for those in your region. It can be very disheartening.

We have followed the fires in Australia on our news over the last few years.  Appreciate the Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian firefighters coming to help and bringing their equipment.  

[cathylee]

In regard to the drought and water rights I have just discovered that there are water rights on our 7 acre parcel with 3 paddocks. This alone is likely to change our forage situation considerably. I'm going to the DNRC today to see if we can register previously established water rights on the 20 acre parcel we just bought this year. I believe they are available if I can get the research done. We'll see how helpful the state agency will be. I'm optimistic.

We don't have enough pasture for three cows pairs presently. With just occasional irrigation I think our forage problems may be over for the coming years. I'll be conservative about this I understand why the hay farmers irrigate almost whether it seems needed or not. They have a limited time to get crops in and that crop may be a large portion of their income. The only good news for them this year was that hay on the ground was not ruined by rain. Running the pumps in these larger operations results in a large electric bill. The first year we lived here the hay farmers got three cuttings without irrigation. Almost unheard of in this area.

[kozzy]

I was in Lewiston ID the other day and the smoke from fires had visibility down to 200 yards at times. INSIDE the local mega-hardware store, the haze was thick enough that you could see blueish blur from one side of the store to the other. At my place, it's been as low as 1/4 mile visibility but is hovering at a couple of miles today. Nearest fire is about 25 miles off and 65,000 acres (5% contained). Life currently smells like smoke.

When it gets really bad all the critters start acting weird---even the barn cats some running as if they're worried. The cows tend to be a bit more jumpy and noisy.

Drought is affecting hay supplies but not massively. Most forage growers have irrigation around here so don't battle the weather as much as some areas. Unirrigated pastures, however, look as healthy as a prison yard. No rain at my place since the first week of June.

I've been supplementing the little I can keep irrigated with "retail" hay because I haven't had a chance to put up the winter's supply yet. Might as well put a vacuum into my wallet.

[zephyrhillsusan]

I'm so sorry, there's just no way to "like" the posts when you all are having such problems!

[RedRidge]

Good point Susan. But it reminds me to be grateful for how blessed we are with all our rain. We will only be feeding hay for 90 days this winter and still have at least 90 days of grazing left... and over flowing creeks.
Sometimes I complain about the ditches created in the gravel driveway from a torrential downpour, or whine about forgetting to leave the overflow valve open on a water tank. Kind of puts things in perspective.