By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, almost all of Utah is experiencing either abnormally dry or moderate drought conditions. In the Castle Country, these conditions greatly impact the ranching and farming communities. Due to this, the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food is hosting a Rancher Drought Summit on Wednesday, April 16, to help explore drought mitigation practices for the upcoming summer months.
Steven Price from Utah State University Extension joined the KOAL Newsroom to preview this event and discuss how residents of the area can be water-wise.
“Like it or not, we are dealing with some drought effects and ranchers could very well feel some of them this year. So that’s really the purpose of this night,” said Price. “We want to provide some education around what resources are available to help ranchers deal with drought and also just some information to help weather them through the storm.”
Price previewed some of the resources and organizations attending the summit: ” We will have different agricultural agencies. So UDAF and the Forest Service will be there. The Bureau of Land Management will be there. They are talking about what kind of programs are out there as far as helping people get through things.”
He continued,” We’ll also have some USU extension folks there. They’ll be talking more about drought management strategies, so things we can do to maintain that bottom line and hopefully lessen the potential financial impacts of range and ranch management during the drought.”
As for the mitigation tactics that might be on display during the summer, Price explained,”We’ll have somebody there talking about cow-calf management. One thing that sometimes happens is we go into a drought, and we’re trying to keep the maximum number of cows. We’re trying to keep managing how we always have been. And then we notice our feed stack is getting lower and lower and lower. And then we have to buy really expensive feed. And maybe that’s not always the best way to go about things. So there’s a few different things that we can keep track of and keep in mind to help us keep our bottom line solid.”
This drought will impact more than just farmers and ranchers, with everyday citizens also needing to become water-wise. “If you have leaks, misaligned sprinklers, things that maybe need a little bit of tuneup, you can save a lot of money there. And even just adjusting your sprinkler schedule. As I drive around the valley, I’m noticing more sprinklers kicking on right now, and sometimes they’re running while it’s snowing. So that’s maybe holding off until we start getting into the swing of things. Delaying that first irrigation can help. Also, ensure that every time you irrigate, you’re only trying to put down about half an inch of water. Much more than that, and you’re just leeching nutrients from your soil and wasting water.”
In closing, Price shared,” Just please come by. There’s no need to RSVP or anything. So just join us, and we hope to see our local ranchers there.”
The UDAF Rancher Drought Summit will be held on Wednesday, April 16, in the G.J. Reeves building on the USU Eastern campus.
