SPENCER, W.Va. — West Virginia’s rural farmlands today look like a scorched earth in some cases. The typically lush and green pastures and meadows in the Mountain State are a deep shade of brown with a severe lack of rainfall in recent weeks.
A new drought map showed five counties in the central and western parts of the state are at their worst with the “exceptional drought” designation. All or parts of Roane, Wirt, Wood, Jackson and Mason are under that highest level drought designation, but all of Roane County is included.
“It’s really bad. We have a lot of farmers really struggling to get water to their animals and just find the feed resources to make sure the animals are taken care of. Gardeners are watering their produce and irrigating if they have those resources. They’re also hauling water for their lawn,” said Roane County WVU Extension Agent Brandy Brabham.
Brabham, speaking on MetroNews “Talkline” Friday, said a lot of farmers are culling cattle early and taking them to market now. Normally that wouldn’t happen until later in the year. But, it’s an effort to avoid the expense of feeding so many. She said the problem is several fold and we’re all going to be paying for it.
“Prices have to go up for food because the number of livestock are down because of farmers selling off,” she said.
It’s going to be an economic hit to farmers who won’t have those cattle in their inventory next year to generate a calf and additional income.
“The farmers depend on those sales to make payments. This year they might be okay, but in future years when those animals are not part of the heard anymore they’re definitely going to have some challenges ahead,” she said.
The WVU Extension Service and partners will have workshops next week to help growers dealing with the lack of rainfall and to notify them of programs available for relief. The schedule for those meetings:
Wednesday, Sept. 4, 6 PM at Heritage Park Community Building in Spencer, WV
Saturday, Sept. 7, 9:30 AM at WV State Farm Museum, Pt. Pleasant, WV
Tuesday, Sept. 10, 6 PM at Jackson County Regional Livestock Market in Ripley, WV