As fall weather approaches and county Farm Bureau annual meetings begin across the countryside, I am reminded of how unique North Dakota truly is. Just two years ago, our state was experiencing extreme amounts of rain that caused washed-out roads, inaccessible feedlots and unharvested crops. This year, crop yield numbers are low, with unharvested crops and bare pastures due to lack of moisture.
From the ancient lakebed flatlands in the east to the majestic badlands of the west, North Dakota scenery changes vastly. But this year the scenery seems to change in less than a couple miles. There are pockets that have had some relief and caught a rain shower or two, but even those pockets aren’t great. Most growers are still struggling with reduced crop production.
As farmers and ranchers, we constantly have difficult decisions to make. But one can’t really understand the extra stress involved in these decisions until you have loaded a significant part of your cow herd – that you have spent years and even decades breeding and improving genetics – onto a trailer to be sold because feed is not available for the cattle or is too expensive to buy.
"There is no magic silver bullet in this case to make things better."