Dust Bowl Days

Well, not quite, but it is incredibly dry out here on the plains.  It is the driest I've ever seen it and a lot of old-timers are calling it the driest they've seen since the early 60's.  And here's a really bad situation: hot, dry, and no wind.

No wind = no water

As you can see from this picture (if you click on it, it'll go full size), the windmill's not turning.  If it doesn't turn, it doesn't pump water.  That's not good.  Note how dry it in this shot, too.  Now part of that is because it's around a mill and that's a high traffic area.  There are some patches of good grass out in the pasture- the trick is getting the cattle to them.  To do that, I'll feed the cattle over there and put salt block in those areas.  Anything to let them know there's grass there.  It'd be fantastic to get water to those sections, too, but hauling water isn't feasible. 

Feeding cattle

While we wait on rain, we're just feeding the cattle and doing the best we can.  It's tough all over and the only reason we're able to stock any cattle is because we've grazed conservatively over the years, thus leaving a good stock of grass.

"Hard times, hard times, come again no more!"

On the upside, this was yesterday and the wind IS blowing today...