Farmers feel the effects of extreme drought in Catoosa County

RINGGOLD, Ga. (WDEF) — The prolonged hot and dry weather is taking it’s toll on farmers in north Georgia.

“Well, we’re running way short on grass, we move our cows around everyday and we’re running short on grass. Especially on the upper grounds, the grass is burnt up from the heat and lack of moisture. Our hay business is suffering a little bit. The last field we took up, we were at about 35% of what we normally take up,” says James Lyles, the 2015 Georgia Farmer of the Year.

Chattanooga is officially more than 9 inches behind in rainfall. Extreme drought conditions have been declared across many north Georgia counties including Catoosa county where Lyles farms.

Being the 2015 Georgia Farmer of the year, Lyles has seen his share of dry conditions. But this year is worse than the past several years. “It seems like every year we have a 6 or 7 week period of dry weather. The last few years, it seems like it’s been in the spring and hasn’t been the hot weather – it hasn’t been as noticeable. But it’s been several years, 6 or 7 or 8 years since the last drought – since it’s been this bad,” Lyles recalls.

Charles Lancaster works with farmers across Catoosa county with the Catoosa County Agricultural Extension Office. He says, “Our county is mainly poultry, livestock, and hay. And for those poultry, I’m sure that with the heat and everything, hit a little bit but definitely with the livestock, and the hay has definitely been hit.”

Lyles has been feeling that hit.  “Yeah, our hay barns usually have quite a bit of hay in them. As of right now, or as of this morning, I have about 90 square bales of hay. Normally at the end of the summer we have about 8 or 9 thousand square bales of hay in it. I’m at about 40 or 45% of the cattle hay that I need for the winter,” Lyles says.

Lack of rain now creates problems that will last through the year.

“A lot of the guys that did have hay are having to feed the hay in the summer rather than in the winter so when it comes to the winter time, we’re definitely going to be behind the 8 ball there,” says Lancaster.

And even if rainfall amounts were to increase, farmers wouldn’t be able to make up all the lost ground. Lancaster explains, “They never could recover for what they’ve already lost, of course. But they still could come back and get maybe a cutting or a couple of cuttings.”

Right now, the drought is making it tough for farmers. Lyles says, “Hopefully it will start raining, and things will go back to normal. But as of right now, a lot of people are hurting. This dry weather is just killing them.”

Federal aid was announced this week because of the extreme drought that began on June 28. Lancaster explained, “So they can actually go to the farm service agency that works their county and apply for relief.”

But farmers keep their optimistic attitudes and work with what they’ve got.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed, and we’re praying to the good Lord that it will start raining and it will go back to a normal summer,” says Lyles.