Drought: Preparation-Key for Farmers & Ranchers
Despite our increasing amount of precipitation and amounts of snow on the ground, some are worried about a drought occurring in our near future. Precipitation has been above ‘normal’ for so many years that the idea of a drought scares us more than it should. A drought is a lack of precipitation, and that affects us all. In extreme drought years, backyard gardens may suffer, and lawns will be among the first to look different.
Lawns are usually made up of one type of grass called ‘Kentucky Bluegrass,’ or Poa pratensis (the scientific name). Kentucky bluegrass is not a native grass, but it has been planted and spread so that it now appears to be naturalized in lawns and pastures alike. As a lawngrass, it works quite well. Cutting it off, short and often, allows it to come right back. Ken
tucky blue is a soft, thin grass that feels nice on our bare feet during the summer.
However, as a pasture grass, it is somewhat lacking, if only during drought years. It makes good hay because its thin blades dry out quickly, preserving the nutrients within it. But since it is not native to our region, it does not have the impressive roots of a prairie plant and therefore it also does not have a prairie plant’s resilience to drought. Right? Not quite.
Even for those of us who are not prairie experts, we have likely all seen a picture comparing the deep-rooted prairie plants. What UNL’s Dr. Dave Wedin, an ecosystem ecologist, has discovered is that those deep prairie roots don’t actually pull up water from way down under. Most of a plant’s water is taken up from the top thirty inches of soil. So what do the deeper roots do? Science doesn’t have an answer yet, but the possibilities are endlessly exciting. Fungal associations? Seeking out nutrients or minerals not stored in the upper soil horizons? Anchoring the plant down in the strong prairie winds? Storing nutrients for long, cold prairie winters?
Even though we don’t know what those legendary deep roots do, we also know that plants with shallow roots are unable to survive in severe dry periods because the water is not on the soil surface or directly below it. Kentucky bluegrass can’t tolerate much drought because its root systems usually reach only about three inches into the soil, according to the USDA Forest Service. Our native prairie plants are still able to find much more water than Kentucky blue, by having ten times the root depth of Kentucky bluegrass. Now, 30 inches isn’t the ten feet we’ve all been hearing about for root depth, but in comparison with Poa pratensis, it’s not very shallow at all.
Why should we care about drought? Does it matter, besides the fact that our lawn will be prickly to our bare summer feet?
Drought is something producers of both crops and livestock dread. Crops are plants that have shallow root systems, because the vast majority of crops are annuals, plants that are seeded, grow as tall as they’re going to, and then produce and drop their seeds. The plant itself doesn’t come back the next year, but any seeds dropped may sprout for next year. Corn is an annual (a grass, actually, in the same family as the other grasses: Poaceae). Soybeans, wheat, rye, oats, millet… those are all annuals, unless they are a special perennial variety. Wheat is beginning to be experimented on, and there are now perennial varieties available, though they still are somewhat weak perennials, only living a few years. But it does produce seed each year, making perennial wheat a perennial and not a biennial.
So farmers are worried about drought because it’s awfully difficult to fill a watering can big enough for a field of corn (which is a thirsty crop on a normal yearit grows an awful lot of tonnage and needs lots of water to do so).
But why should ranchers worry about drought?
Ranchers worry because the viability of grass is what their livelihood depends on. Cows are miraculous animals that can take grass, digest it in their four-compartmented stomach, and create the most energy- and nutrientdense food known to man: Meat. Researchers believe that eating it is what made man different from the rest of the animals by allowing our big brains to flourish with the extra energy and nutrients given to us by consuming meat.
Cows need grass to eat before they can turn it into meat through an everyday biological miracle, though. If drought gets too severe, there will be less grass available for pastured cows to graze on and fewer hayfields to cut and make into hay for winter feeding said cows.
Droughts are tough on everyone, city dweller, farmer, and rancher alike. That’s why everyone is worried, but NDSU is partway into a free webinar series called ‘Preparing Your Ranch for Drought.”
While the title says ‘ranch’ and not ‘farm,’ there are also bits and pieces in the webinars for farmers. The two previously published webinars are offered up for our viewing pleasure on the Drought website: https://www.ag.ndsu. edu/drought/preparingyour-ranch-for-droughtwebinars. The next one is scheduled for Thursday the 25th of February, and its topic is “Supplemental Feed and Forage Options.” Not much there for farmers, right?
Wrong. Farmers can plant fields to crops like barley or wheat- and then let cattlemen either graze or bale the crop, even if the crop doesn’t make it to seeding out because of drought. Farmers have a get-out-of-jail-free card in planting for forage crops in drought years. Given the knowledge that they won’t make as much as they would have if conditions were optimal and they were able to produce grains for human consumption, farmers can still make use of drought conditions and earn some money besides- and they can also help out the hungry cows.
Excited to learn about opportunities and things to prepare during our possible future drought?
NDSU’s webinar series is worth looking into. Registration can be completed anytime and the webinars can be viewed on the NDSU Drought website after they are aired via Zoom for even simpler access.
I’m not much for sports, but football icon Joe Namath said it best when he said this: “First, I prepare. Then, I have faith.”
Let’s prepare for drought and have faith in our future!