Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss The Drought

The scary is what if this is the new normal.

While today grain prices are high, keep in mind their input costs have equally increased. Farmers are business people, who work a lot of hours with lots of risks.

Full disclosure: I was born and raised on a small (500 acre) farm and work in Agriculture industry today.

My hobby farm aquaculture has given me a new appreciation of farming in general. I used to think farmers worked hard only parts of the year and just slacked the rest of the year. Wrong! There is always something that needs my attention, needs fixed, a problem to deal with and I'm sure it's the same with any farmer. Add to that it takes a lot of time away from my main business - taxidermy.

And of course there's the risk factor in any farming due to no control over the weather.

Like Mark Twain said, "Everybody complains about the weather but no body does anything about it." It's got to be really frustrating for a farmer to look out over his wilting crops and not be able to do anything about it.

Whenever a drought occurs, farmers are naturally thought to suffer the most, and perhaps rightfully so. I can see the stress on my neighbors faces and hear it in their voices. Maybe the national impact will be mitigated by good yields in other places, but that does nothing to help the farm family that lives next door, or just down the road.

And what about the landscapers, or the guys who mow grass for a living... Their kids go to the same schools as yours, they shop at the same stores, attend the same church. I haven't seen many in my shop all summer... they've gone from mowing over 100 yards a week down to 3 or 4. No crop insurance, no government intervention in play here. Just the little guy, wondering where next month's mortgage payment is going to come from, and worrying about the employees that he had to lay off.

We all worry about our BOW during a drought, this is after all, PondBoss... but truth be told, I find my concern over my ponds waning every day this drought continues.

We finally had some rain last night, a whole .10", this was the first time it has rained since we had a trace of rain back on June 23rd. There were areas to the north and south of us that got quite a bit more rain last night.

The UNL drought map was updated this morning.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

Allright! I see I'm in the exceptional drought area.... that's the harshest category listed, so I guess it can't get any worse!

Chance of rain today, I have my fingers crossed. We're at .20" for the month of July so far, less than 1.5" since early May.

I have an uncle that owns his own lawn care business and your numbers are spot on there. Pretty much nonexistent.

OK, mods moderate ....
Cars are not engineered to run on corn....

Nothing to moderate here yet that I see ! Opinions but no political junk or direct confrontations. Keep it clean (free of moderating events) guys !

More pictures of the Platte River near Grand Island, NE.

That is just downright scary.

Understandably, there are a lot of people in dire straights due to the weather and other reasons. It socks you in the gut to hear some of the stories. I interviewed a guy the other day out of work for several months and he was deflated and beat up about his inability to get a job. After the interview I felt terrible for him as he had some good qualifications. We hope to offer him something even though he is way over qualified. Challenging times for sure and if this weather pattern continues, things will get worse.

Sorry to seem insensitive in my past post.. I was just stating what I've noticed in the farmers I know.. I know farmers are hurting this year but I'm sure some have taken precautions.. The ones "I know" might be down a couple hundred thousand this year but when you turn a profit 9 outta 10 years I still consider you ahead.. I'll drop it no offense to anyone.. all I know is farmers so I'm not against them in anyway..

My wife and I planted about 100 trees and bushes. We're losing one or more every day. We also put down around 6,000 square feet of bermuda sod. I start watering after the sun gets behind the trees and water past dark. I then get up around 0500 and start again. Our tomatoes, okra, bell peppers, onions, watermelons, and strawberries have had it. I purchased 1,000 ft. of leaky hose and have been wrapping that around our trees and garden, then letting it run all night. I just pray that my well doesn't go dry. I can hardly wait to see my electric bill. For those of you who are hurting, you're in my thoughts and prayers.

Shorty, thanks. We're in the Severe area. Being on Sand doesn't help matters.

George, you're right. It isn't doing the small engines any good either - fuel hoses, etc. weren't made for that and are deteriorating quickly.

Supposedly, any vehicle built in the last 10 years or so will do fine on a 10% ethanol blend fuel. As Scott said, it's the off-road equipment that is having the most problems. Hardly a week goes by where a salesman doesn't drop by and hand me a bottle of some type of fuel treatment, with instructions to try it and let him/her know if it works. The manufacturers don't have the answer either, and they're grasping at straws.

I tell all of my customers.. stick with premium fuel, and try and get gas with no alcohol in it. Also, regularly running the equipment, even during the off-season, will help greatly.

OK, I'm doing a balncing act to keep this thread from going kaput.
The world needs more food than ethanol.
My professional opinion - we have enough proven O&G reserves in this nation to be totally energy independet for the next 50+ years and time enough to develop proven alternative energy technology.

Heck, no argument here George, I hate ethanol in my fuel. I've seen firsthand the damage it can cause. Daily.

Well I'm afraid if things keep going at this rate we won't be debating the best use of corn because there won't be any to use at all. We were driving around a couple weeks ago and some fields were already cut down for silage. Only thing left was a few rows for the ins. adjusters to look at. They were calling for a 75% chance of rain earlier and like every other day, as the day goes on the chance drops. Haven't seen a drop yet today. I'm only 40 but have never seen anything like this. Someone at work today said they were talking this could actually be just the first year of a two year drought for Illinois. I guess only time will tell but I think it's safe to say, this years crops are pretty much gone!

I think Jason hit it on the head. Irregardless of what it is destined to become, there needs to be corn available first. And around here, there isn't much.

60% chance of rain when I got up this morning. Still waiting, still hopeful.

Here's an interesting drought comparison chart from this year to years past. Look at 1934!

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/07/20/us/drought-footprint.html?ref=earth,

Great link Bullhead. Really puts it in perspective just how bad it is.

George, you'll get no argument from me on this one! My farmer buddy said that corn is around $8/bu now. They contracted to sell a bunch at a little over $5/bu.

Oklahoma is in year 3 of below average rainfall with very warm summers.