A sow gulped water at Weisheit Brothers Farm near Jasper on Monday morning. Staff photo by Rachel Mummey
Farmers and livestock producers will be dealing with this year’s drought’s effects long after it has ended. Many will face complicated problems that have no clear solution.
The drought is the worst many farmers have ever experienced.
Jerome Buening grows hay and raises a herd of about 60 Angus cattle five miles south of Huntingburg. His hay is short and his pastures are scorched.
“We’re just dry, dry,” he said. “And hot, hot.”
Without plenty of rain, Buening said he’ll have to make some tough decisions.
“Either sell cows or buy hay from out of state,” he said. “There ain’t no hay around here and it’s expensive.”
Buening has started feeding his cows hay, which he normally doesn’t use until November. If he has to cull his herd, his cows are ranked and he knows which ones would have to go.
“I’d hate to do that because we’ve built a pretty good herd here,” he said.
John Burger, owner of Burger Farms in Jasper, raises turkeys and hogs on farms in Dubois, Martin, Pike and Greene counties. His concern is keeping his animals cool. The excessive heat can cause sows to breed poorly, or even abort to cope with the temperature.
He runs pregnancy checks on the sows, but it’s still a matter of time before the results can be known.
“You never know,” he said. “It’s always a worry and a challenge.”
The biggest impact to his business will be the supply of area corn. He feeds his animals local corn, which could suffer a major yield loss this season. In a potential corn shortage, Burger must import corn, an expensive endeavor.
Gene Mehne raises hogs and finished, or slaughter-weight, cattle at his farm east of Portersville. He grows corn, wheat and soybeans, much of which he feeds to his animals. In hot weather, he said, the animals cut back on their eating.
“The food creates heat,” he said. “Once they get uncomfortable, they stop eating.”
Because of this eating pattern, the animals don’t gain as much weight as they normally would. Later in the season, Mehne will turn his corn crops into silage to feed his herd, but he must be careful about the corn’s nitrate levels, which can concentrate in dry weather and sicken his animals.
As bad as it could get, Mehne said his insurance can help him cover a loss.
“It does not make up for all losses but it takes a lot of hurt away,” he said.
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