By Kevin Woster
The grass is breaking these days in John Staben’s pastures.
That’s what drought and heat does to normally limber grass.
“When it gets hot and dry like this, the grass gets brittle,” said Staben, who raises cattle and grain with his wife, Pauline, near Oral, southeast of Hot Springs. “The cattle will stomp as much as they eat because they break it off when they’re walking around in it.”
The Stabens are more fortunate than some, because they can irrigate from the district-fed water by Angostura Reservoir. So their alfalfa and corn keeps growing green, while dry-land farmers in other areas watch crops shrivel and worry about a harvest that might not come.
But there is no water for the pastures and little relief from the heat for cattle that are constantly under stress, the Stabens said.
“It’s really just burning up the grass out there,” Pauline Staben said.
The burning is widespread in South Dakota, prompting the state’s congressional delegation to seek more federal assistance for drought-plagued farmers and ranchers.
Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., have been working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Secretary Tom Vilsack to modify rules to assist struggling farmers and ranchers.
The delegation worked to get more flexibility in opening certain private lands enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program to emergency grazing and haying. Thune said during a conference call with reporters Thursday that the drought was “impacting all of South Dakota,” leaving producers in need of that help.
“We’ve had part of the state that has received some rain recently, but the entire state is desperately in need of precipitation,” Thune said. “And after spending a little time in the Black Hills a couple weeks ago after the fires, it was abundantly clear that it could be a very long summer.”
As crews fight wildfires in the forest and on the plains, landowners fret over crops and pastures. Noem said there is no time for delays in assistance.
“South Dakotans need these acres open today, not two weeks from today,” she said. “I saw the devastation that is already taking place in South Dakota firsthand this past weekend.”
Officials for Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever supported the request, saying its wildlife effects would be limited in part because an early spring helped get ducks and upland birds through the nesting process sooner. And Jeff Vonk of Pierre, secretary of the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department, said Thursday that he approved of the early CRP release.
“At the end of the day, we’re OK with it,” Vonk said. “Primary nesting season ends Aug. 1, so we’re a week and a half out from that. We’re pretty confident that probably the first and second nest attempts have concluded, so we’re not going to do a lot of damage by allowing haying. We have no problem at all with grazing.”
Johnson on Thursday joined several other Democratic senators from the region in asking Senate leadership to support legislation to extend a variety of farm-ranch assistance programs through specific legislation. Johnson said House delays in bringing the federal farm bill up for consideration create uncertainty about many provisions, including the assistance programs.
The Senate should address that, he said.
“I hope the Senate will again take the lead and bring this disaster assistance bill to the floor as soon as possible so our producers can have access to the assistance they need,” Johnson said.
Read more: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/lawmakers-seek-help-with-drought/article_aec27982-984e-5385-a087-09339e9c6116.html