Farmers frying in heat, drought

By DANA SAPP/Correspondent

Even with the recent welcomed rains, farmers in Wythe County and the surrounding areas will continue to be affected by the summer drought.
Because of the excessively dry weather, corn and hay production in most areas are significantly decreased. A mild, dry winter did little to help the water situation.
Farmers depend on winter snows to increase the level of nitrogen in the soil and to build up the water level for spring planting. They also depend on summer pastures to sustain their cattle until late fall.
Farmer Jamie Dunkley is normally selling hay by this time but because of the dry weather he is forced to use the extra hay to feed his own cows.
“I have only sold about 50 rolls this year and have had to turn down 10-12 people already,” Jamie said. “The second cutting of hay doesn’t look good either but I should have enough left over to get by.”
In partnership with his brother Jeff, their Cripple Creek Trophy Trout business has also felt the brunt of the drought.
“We had to shut down the fishing deal around the last of June this year. Normally we could go until the end of July but because of the lack of rain, the water temperature in our ponds was rising above 70 degrees. When the water gets warmer than that the fish cannot live,” Jamie explains.
But what is actually up with the weather? Rain has been very spotty. When talking to local farmers, one late afternoon shower could produce anywhere from a tenth of rain to 1 ½ inches of precipitation depending on which part of the county they lived.
Jimmy Kidd, a dairy farmer in Bland County, said,  “Our second cutting of hay is only about a third of what we normally would get and corn production looks to be down about fifty percent. We got a half-inch of rain on July 16 and that was the best we had had in six weeks.”
Corn and hay are especially important to dairy farmers, who rely on these forages to help maintain optimum milk production and help keep outside feed costs down.
Wythe County Livestock Exchange has seen a significant increase in cattle being sold through the market this time of year.
“Normally July is one of our slower months and our cattle numbers stay down until early fall,” said Russell Williams, one of the market owners. “In the last two weeks we have seen an increase of 400-600 head per sale compared to last year. The farmers just don’t have enough pasture and hay to feed these cattle.”
Farm disaster aid may be available to these drought-stricken farmers who apply at their local U.S. Department of Agriculture offices. However, because these government funds have to be shared across the entire country most of the federal farm disaster aid comes in the form of low-interest loans, not grants.
Gov. Timothy Kaine announced Wednesday that the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture had designated Carroll and Patrick counties natural disaster areas due to reduction in farm production caused by low temperatures and freezes from April 6-10. Farmer in Wythe have received contiguous disaster status and may be eligible for federal assistance, he said in a press release.
Requests for federal drought disaster designations currently are pending for Bland, Lee, Washington, Brunswick, Russell, Wise, Caroline, Scott, Culpeper and Smyth counties.