Hot, dry weather brings ‘crispy’ fields and low yields to Southwest Va. farmers

Lee County farmer William Edwards was about 30 days late getting his corn planted this year because it wouldn’t stop raining. And the day he finally got it in the ground, he was suddenly hit by 3 additional inches of precipitation, which left his field standing in water.

But these days, the Blackwater community resident is praying for the rain to return. Some of his corn didn’t come up at all and what did is in “really bad shape,” he said.

The sizzling hot, dry weather that has settled over Southwest Virginia, the rest of the state and much of the nation for weeks is affecting his corn and drying up his pastures, so he’s also worried about whether he will have that much-needed second cutting of hay this summer.

His pastures, according to Edwards, are brown and “crispy.” Cooler weather is expected later this week along with a greater chance of rain, though Edwards said it will take a lot to make a difference on his farm.

His main crops are hay and corn, and he raises cattle. He depends on the hay to feed his cattle, and the corn to feed his calves once they are weaned. The calves are raised until they weigh 700 to 800 pounds, and then they are sold.

If it doesn’t rain soon, Edwards said he will have to find some alternative feed, which is an added expense.

“Even when you’ve got a bad crop, it’s not any less expensive than when you’ve got a good one,” he said. “And it really makes it tough because you’ve got to find some alternative.”

Amy Byington is an agricultural extension agent in Lee County, where she also has a farm with more than 20 acres of corn. So far, her corn is doing pretty well, but she’s hearing the opposite from some farmers in her county, including Edwards.

“We’re now getting to the point where we really need the rain because the corn is starting to fill out, the kernels are filling out,” she said. “It’s a critical time, and we’re starting to hurt.”

Over in the Washington County town of Glade Spring, near Emory & Henry College, Joey Davenport manages a cattle farm that hasn’t had any real rain for weeks and weeks. He said some of his “not-so-distant” neighbors have been lucky enough to be under some rain cells that delivered measurable rain so they’re in better shape, but he has not been so fortunate.

Those neighbors will likely be able to cut hay a second time as a result, while Davenport said his grasses deteriorate every day there’s no rain. Like many farmers, he’s worried about whether he will have a second cutting, which normally occurs for him in late July.

He said Friday that it had rained about 3/8 of an inch a couple of days earlier, but it didn’t amount to much.

“For 15 minutes, it was running like a river down my driveway,” he said. “Two hours later, you couldn’t tell it rained. … Needless to say, that doesn’t do much for our water sources or the grasses.”

Davenport is also worried that the cattle aren’t eating as much as they normally would, so they are not putting on the weight they need.

He said his cattle are affected by the weather, but it hasn’t been hot enough for them to be in any danger. They stick to the areas where there is shade, and many go into the woods, he said.

Longtime Washington County extension agent Phil Blevins said he has heard that some cattle farmers are having to haul water to their livestock. Both the hay and corn crops are also struggling in his county, he said.

“Pastures are certainly suffering, and that’s our biggest crop because that’s the base of our livestock industry. So that’s becoming an issue. The grass is not growing and the cattle are still grazing, then the grass is going away,” he said.

Corn should be “over your head” by this part of the summer, but that’s not the case, he added.

“It ought to be tasseling and pollinating and it really needs water to do all that,” he added.

It’s so dry in Washington County that local leaders issued an emergency declaration on Friday, which means there is a ban on open-air burning until further notice. The ban is the result of “extremely dry weather and no significant rain fall predicted for the future,” according to a news release from County Administrator Jason Berry.

In nearby Russell County, extension agent Scott Jessee said springs are starting to slow down and pastures are drying up, which means some farmers are already putting out hay, cutting into their winter supplies.

Rain is in the forecast in the coming days, but it may not be enough.

There is about a 70% chance of rain Wednesday and Thursday, while the chance drops to 40% to 50% next weekend, according to Brandon Wasilewski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Morristown, Tennessee, which covers Washington, Lee, Scott, Wise and Russell counties in far Southwest Virginia.

He added that it would take 3 to 4 inches of rain to really make a difference to crops and pastures in that area.

Wasilewski said the recent temperatures in the low to mid-90s are probably the hottest the region has seen in five to eight years, but he added that the length of the hot spell is the longest in more than a decade.

The good news, he said, is that the strong high-pressure system that has been stuck over the region is breaking up and temperatures will return to normal, from 80 to 85 degrees. And long-range forecasts indicate those temperatures will remain, at least for a while, the meteorologist said.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor on Monday, Lee County, most of Wise County and a portion of Scott County are abnormally dry, while Russell County, most of the rest of Southwest Virginia and more than 50% of the state is in a moderate drought. Much of Central Virginia, and 35.4% of the state, is in a severe drought, according to the monitor.

Edwards, the Lee County farmer, said he’s hoping the predicted rain will materialize, although he said previous rain predictions did not happen. Still, he has faith the rain will eventually come.

“I stress out over the weather, too, but just look at the weather they’ve had in Texas and a lot of other places here lately,” he said. “It could always be worse.”

See also: Roanoke’s temperature soars to 103 degrees.

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