Cattlemen suffer drought woes
By Donna Hinson

As the drought in Georgia lingers on, Lincoln County cattlemen are facing quite a dilemma: pay the increasing cost for hay and feed to keep their herds going or sell off part or all of the herd, possibly at a loss.

A 1,000-pound animal eats up to 25 pounds of hay per day and drinks 15-20 gallons of water per day during warm weather. Add onto that the fact that lactating cows need 75 percent more water than their dry pasture mates, and you can see that the dried up ponds and streams are causing a big problem.

All of Lincoln County's cattlemen seem to be coping with the drought by taking it one day at a time. "We just hope and pray that it doesn't continue," says Boyce McKinney, who has raised cattle here since 1975. "1977 was just about this dry, but it didn't last this long. This drought has been going on for approximately 18 months."

McKinney, President of the Lincoln County Cattlemen's Association, has 40 cows. He plans to make it through the winter with enough hay because he had some left from last year. "That's what saved me this year. I have sufficient hay for the winter, but some people don't," he says.

McKinney raises his own hay and begins feeding it to the herd by the beginning of December each year. This year, he had to begin feeding that hay a month early, at the beginning of November. The lack of rain over the spring and summer wiped out the grass early. And since the drought is predicted to go on into the spring, many farmers are reluctant to plant grass and grain.

Some cattlemen are considering selling off part or all of their herds. Selling part of the herd means there is more water for the remaining animals, and the owner does not have to spend so much money on feed when the hay supply runs low.

Unfortunately, since many cattlemen share that idea, the price for cows has dropped. "If you sell them now, you're taking a hit," says Joe McGill, co-owner of McGill Farms with his brother, A.C. McGill. "We may sell off half (the herd), but right now the price is so low I can't afford to do that." McGill says that he and other area cattlemen are waiting until January or February to take the cattle to market, since that is when the market price typically goes up.

McGill is one of those cattlemen McKinney referred to as not having hay for the winter. "I have no winter grazing to supplement the feed. I harvested a quarter to a third of the hay I would normally feed," says McGill. Now, he says he will have to buy feed for the herd. And according to Chuck Beggs, owner of Lincolnton Feed and Seed, the price of that feed has risen from about $4.50 per pound a year ago to about $7.50 a pound due to the lack of supply. For that reason, according to McGill, some cattlemen are selling off their herds because they can make more money off hay than they can from selling cows.

McGill Farms has been around since 1917, when Joe and A.C.'s grandfather bought it. The two brothers inherited the operation 13 years ago when their father passed away. During those years, Joe says the family has survived other droughts, but he says that this one is the worst one he's seen. "This year we lost pastures. We've got a creek on the farm, and my Dad said that creek has always watered the whole farm. Now, it's powder, and the pond is dry," he says.

Still, the McGill brothers do not plan to halt their business. "I'm 52 years old, and we've always had cows," says Joe McGill. "We're in it for the long haul."

Charles Ware has raised cattle since 1946 and now has about 100 head. A retired rural mail carrier, Ware says he would in bad shape if raising cattle was his main source of income. "If it weren't for that (his mail route), I'd be long gone," he says. Ware has two wells on his property that are now feeding the animals, and he just recently had one dug deeper to get to water. "I'm just thankful every time I turn on the water and it comes on," he says. "I'm in the driest spot in the county," he said.

Like his colleagues, Ware is having to buy feed to supplement his short supply of hay. "I've been feeding hay for two months," says Ware. "And I only got a third of a crop." At $70 per bale of hay, Ware says the hay may be too expensive to keep his herd going through the winter. "I don't intend to buy any of this expensive hay," he says. If the drought continues, Ware says he will have to take some of his cattle to the Wilkes County stockyard. "I'm playing it by ear," he said.