How to Protect Profit During Drought

Drought strains natural resources, mental capacity and profits from cattlemen and women. Knowing how to act during a drought and better yet how to prepare for droughts lessen the strain across the board.  

Devlon Ford, regenerative ranching advisor with the Noble Research Institute. 

Assessing for Drought 

Tracking rainfall and assessing forage during regular pasture checks are the first steps to identifying when drought is present and to what degree it exists.  

“Typically, we focus on the cattle when checking pastures, because that’s where we feel the money is,” says Ford. “People sometimes fail to look down and see the forage and soil.” 

When analyzing what’s beneath the feet, take note of which forages are present, if they are browning earlier than normal as well as how much forage mass is available. Cattle will also show signs of drought stress in their manure.  

Ford explains, “Look at the manure of those animals…If it's starting to get pretty dry and clumpy, that means the protein level is going down in those forages.” 

Lack of moisture impacts the plant’s ability to provide a normal level of nutrients to cattle. 

Active Drought Actions and Options 

Once drought has been identified or predicted, cattlemen and women have four main options to consider – wean early, destock, feed your way out or adjust stock density. 

“Personally, I chose to wean early in 2022 because I saw the drought coming and wanted to keep my cows longer,” shares Ford. 

Weaning early allows cows to dry up sooner and reduce their energy requirements. Depending on the age of the calf, it also eliminates forage intake from calves.  

Destocking is the next option to consider to save soil and forage resources. Before destocking take careful consideration of which genetics benefit you most. Old, open and ornery cows can easily find themselves at the top of the sell list. Low-performers should also be considered in this group.  

Ford says, “Those cows that cause you a problem are the ones I would really get rid of because there are too many good cows in this world to own some bad ones.” 

While this list is easy to start with, be aware of the profitability of each group of cattle and the markets in your region.  

“Consider the depreciation of those cows,” says Ford. “You might sell young cows at a better price than you sell your older cows. Keep that profitability in mind.” 

The third option when facing drought is to feed through the drought by using hay reserves or purchasing other feed sources. 

Ford says, “You have to know what those inputs are going to cost.” 

Producing hay during drought isn’t cheap and price can increase with demand. Knowing break evens and the full financial picture is critical before going this route.  

Adjusting stock density is the fourth drought management option recommended by Ford to protect grazing resources.  

“Stock density puts those animals in a closer, more confined space,” explains Ford. “It gives them less chance of being selective in what they eat.” 

Increasing stock density and rotations creates longer recovery periods for different areas of the ranch even when little or no rain is forecasted.  

Preparing for a Drought 

Droughts aren’t a matter of if, so much as when are they going to happen. Having a proactive approach is the best option for any ranch, which starts with knowing when you may need to destock. 

Ford says, “The first thing I think producers need to do is accurately calculate the carrying capacity of their ranch.” 

The formula for carrying capacity accounts for grazeable acres, forage production and utilization divided by daily forage demand per animal and the grazing period.  

 “Knowing your carrying capacity is crucial because then you know where to set your stocking rate,” shares Ford. “Stocking rate needs to be set below carrying capacity.” 

The purpose of setting stocking rate below carrying capacity is to leave buffer room for instances of drought which may result in not having to destock. Making a note in grazing plans based on how much moisture has been received by a certain date can help make the destocking decision too.  

“If you've developed this destocking plan ahead of time, you've already went through the emotions that come with destocking,” shares Ford.  

When destocking feels especially challenging, keep in mind reproductive tools like embryo transfer and artificial insemination which can preserve those most valuable genetics.  

“The genetics you produce today should be better than the genetics you had six years ago,” says Ford. “That goes back to the economic side of knowing what works for you.” 

Preparing for drought also looks like managing appropriately during wet years too. When excess grass is available, running stockers can be lucrative while offering liquidity when resources dry up.  

“Maybe you can custom graze some cows, make land improvements or perform a prescribed burn,” says Ford. “…there's all kinds of things we can do to help prepare for a drought.” 

While there is no sure-fire answer for how to get through a drought, cattlemen and women should consider these options and always know the economic circumstances of their business.  

Learn more on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast.