If you have been a consistent reader of this column, you are no doubt familiar with the closing remarks that have been made in nearly every Comments of 2021: “Please pray for rain.” In some regions of the country, this request may not mean much; moisture has been adequate, and range and crop conditions seem to be on track to be a respectable year.
However, in the Western U.S., 2021 has proven to be one of the hottest and driest on record. This has resulted in an extraordinary year for fires, grasshoppers, limited hay, and poor crop and range conditions. Tough decisions are being made by livestock producers and all options are being explored to weather this storm.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s Aug. 5 map, over 87 percent of the West is in severe drought or worse, with a staggering over 25 percent of the West rated in the driest category, D4, or exceptional drought. Many states are recording 100 percent of the state in drought. It is estimated that this drought is affecting over 60 million of the U.S. population. Water shortages and pasture and range conditions have been deteriorating as the summer progresses.
I have personally talked to numerous ranchers who are preg-checking their cattle earlier than normal, implementing early weaning, culling cows harder and shipping calves earlier than they traditionally would. Droughts make for a lot of stress and hard decisions.
To add to the stress, the fire season started earlier than normal with extreme intensity. As of Aug. 4, 96 large fires have burned well over 1.8 million acres in 14 states. Those numbers do not reflect the numerous “small” fires that have burned nearly as many acres. Oregon has seen the most land devastated by wildfire in 2021, but many states like California, Montana, Idaho, and Washington are seeing large swaths of land being consumed by flames as well.
Recently, I heard a very interesting and concerning observation from a wildfire in Montana. Those firefighters and volunteers on the frontlines reported seeing “fireballs” flying through the air in front of the fire, spreading flames like crazy. On closer observation, these flying “fireballs” were actually grasshoppers consumed by the flames and spreading the fire in sporadic and hard-to-fight manners.
A grasshopper plague is adding insult to injury on top of a disaster in some areas. The number of these pests are devasting in their own regards. I have seen pictures of fence posts completely covered in grasshoppers resorting to eating the paint of the t-posts or bark of the wood posts. The signs were in place to give some ranchers and land managers an inkling that this would be a bad year for grasshoppers, however, the sheer numbers of these insects still caught the most prepared managers off guard.
They have devastated range conditions and stripped crops down to nothing but stems. Many farmers and ranchers were proactive and applied pesticide to prevent being completely overrun by grasshoppers, adding yet another expense to an already tight year.
The one bright spot, when talking to the cow-calf producers in the country, is calf prices. We have had a good test of the markets for fall-delivery calves in June and July. Many ranchers are seeing a 10 cent or more increase from last year’s prices. The catch-22 on this, though, is many ranchers are contracting their calves for lighter weights and earlier deliveries. If only we had a “normal” year for these calves to reach their typical weight for delivery and the ranchers in these areas to enjoy the current market conditions. There is obviously optimism in the cattle market, and I really believe that it will only be better in a year from now.
The first week of August saw an increase of cattle going to market in Montana. Videos were making the rounds, showing pickups and trailers lined up waiting to unload cattle at local auction markets. Long lines to unload cattle is not uncommon in Montana, but they are uncommon in August—those are usually reserved for October and November.
Ranchers have been forced to pull the trigger months in advance to sell yearlings, get rid of those replacement heifers they were hoping to breed, or start culling cows earlier than normal.
The year 2021 has been a challenging one in the West. All you need to do is look out my office window and see the depressing haze of smoke that has been more constant than not since June.
There is optimism in the livestock markets; Mother Nature is going to test our intestinal fortitude to take advantage of it and see what opportunities may present in 2022. Stay strong, explore all options, and keep praying for rain in the Western U.S. — DEVIN MURNIN
