Drought in Colorado isn’t just drying up rivers and crops, but herds of cattle, too. Ranchers are being forced to sell off cows early and at a lower weight, steeply cutting into their profits long-term.
About 65 percent of the state is under “severe drought” or worse, the U.S. Drought Monitor Reports. And much of that dryness is along the Western Slope.
Janie VanWinkle has raised cattle in Mesa County for more than 40 years. VanWinkle told Colorado Matters that this is the worst drought she has ever seen. VanWinkle has sold 10 percent of her herd already this year and will likely have to sell more.
“In my lifetime, I’ve not seen conditions like this,” she said. “It’s just very dry.”
To help her community, VanWinkle has started organizing drought workshops for other farmers and ranchers, which she said has helped produce a supportive community.
VanWinkle has experience dealing with drought. It happened before to her parents in 1977 when she was a teen, and again to her own ranch in 2002. So she has a drought plan prepared that she shares at the workshops. Part of that plan includes looking at the bottom line.
“We manage for drought on a regular basis,” she said. “If you simply cannot afford to feed $300 per ton hay to a cow and make it make sense on the bottom line, then that’s just what you have to do. You have to make that decision from a financial standpoint.”
Ranchers get paid by the pound and typically sell their calves when they weigh between 600 and 700 pounds. But VanWinkle said one rancher she spoke to sold their calves at almost half of that.
“There’s also the care of the animals. Ensuring they’ve got adequate feed, adequate water. If you cannot provide that, as much as we care about our cows, we care enough to let them go.”
Most of the calves being sold go to places where drought is less prevalent. Their diet may also change to wheat or corn stubble instead of hay, VanWinkle said.
Another option is to sell cows that are older, require more labor and are less productive. Those cows move into harvest, she said.
VanWinkle predicts that some of her neighbors will have to sell between 50 and 75 percent of their cattle.
Some may even liquidate their herds entirely. And although crop insurance is available to support feed costs, it’s simply not enough to solve the problem.
Despite drought growing more frequent, ranchers aren’t focusing on signs of climate change, VanWinkle said.
“We are in a dryer period, and there’s things that are simply out of our control. And at this point, the acknowledgment that we’re in a dryer period and what do we want to do about it is the focus.”
Western Slope feels biggest pinch in drought as some cities begin to enact water restrictions
Colorado’s drought monitor shows some improvement in central Colorado this week, but the western side of the state still needs moisture.
Douglas, Teller and El Paso counties saw the largest increase in moisture around the state. The U.S. Drought Monitor reports those counties received between 1 and 4 inches of rain in the last couple weeks. The additional precipitation brings some areas in those counties from “moderate drought” to just “abnormally dry.”
However, about 65 percent of the state was still under “severe drought” or worse. Last year at this time, 83 percent of the state was in no sort of drought monitoring at all. Most of the drought is growing in the north and west along the Western Slope.
Some of the ranchers are selling their calves two months early. But the calves are about half of what they normally weigh. That has a big impact because ranchers make money by the pound.
In May, extreme drought only went as far north as Pitkin County. It now spreads clear up to the southern portion of Moffat County, the drought monitor shows.
In Southwest Colorado – Montrose, San Miguel, Dolores, Montezuma, La Plata, Hinsdale, San Juan, and Archuleta counties – are under the most extreme classification of drought. Parts of Custer, Saguache, Alamosa, Costilla, and Huerfano counties are also in that category.
Grand Junction implemented mandatory water restrictions Tuesday. Aspen also declared water restrictions for the first time in its history. And Yampa River fish are stressed and in hot water.
Despite drought growing to the north and west, it has dissipated a little in southeastern Colorado. The drought monitor forecasts up to 2 inches of rain to begin falling Tuesday in western Colorado.
