Ranches Cover A Fifth Of Hawai?i. Extreme Drought Is Clouding Their Future

By Thomas Heaton

The Kuahiwi Ranch paniolo whistle and holler over high winds, urging the herd of cattle across arid pastures flecked with lava rock.

“Get ‘em up, get ‘em up, get ‘em up,” one yells as they near the corral.

It’s a dusty caper and, for seven of these Big Island steers, this is the end of the road.

Bulging chest, thick torso and a fat rump are among the traits the cowpokes look for as they choose the best candidates for slaughter. Thanks to current climate-driven conditions, however, the land is producing fewer of them.

The only meaningful rainfall for months in the Kaʻū region at the southernmost tip of Hawaiʻi County was a May shower that brought less than an inch  moisture quickly wicked away by the district’s strong southeasterly winds.