Exceptional Drought

Last night watching the weather, we heard that the drought had been elevated to the "exceptional" level.

Obviously, we are watering our front yard.

"Exceptional"?  Never heard of that.  Apparently that is one step above "extreme" and "extreme" is one step above "severe".  Since when is "exceptional" more "severe" than "extreme"?  We decided that they just wanted a bigger word to express how bad the drought really is.  You know, one with more syllables.  That will make it sound worse.


From pond to puddle

There is only one good word for the exceptional, extreme, severe drought ~DRY!


The clouds roll in and taunt us every few days but the drops rarely fall.  Don't get me wrong ~ we are thankful for every drop we get.  Truly we are!  But our pastures really need rain, lots of rain.


Last year we didn't have to buy hay until October.  From the looks of our grass now, we will have to start buying it in a few weeks.  I don't know where it's going to come from.  Out of state, I guess.  I can't imagine what that will cost over the fall and winter.  That is the price you pay to have farm animals though.  Weather, like life, has it's ups and downs, doesn't it?



No sweetie, the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence.

We are just going to have faith and pray for a wet Oklahoma August.  It could happen!

Comments

  1. UGH! feeling your pain. glad i don't have cattle to feed too.

    are you going to get the 'stupid' hot weather next week too? DFW is forecast for 103, 106, 108 actual temps next week... UGH!

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  2. Praying for some cooler temps and real rain for all of you..scary stuff.

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  3. 3 yrs ago we had the same drought conditions and it was horrible. My lush green fertilized pastures turned brown and were destroyed. Hay was brought in from every- where. Prices were running around $9 for a small 40-50 lb sq. bale to way on up there for the huge blocks. Huge trucks rolled in from Canada bringing the largest blocks of hay I had ever seen and you only had about maybe 1-1.5 hrs to get it off the truck. You brought every farm boy you knew to get it moving. I had to bring in a no till drill to reseed my pastures. I get very nervous with summers like this. It is no small pocket change to get your pasture back. My pond is only several bucket loads of water better than yours.You're in my thoughts. Debi

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  4. Wow. We had showers of blessing off and on for the past three days. And I do mean blessing. Praying the same for you! -Tammy

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  5. Yes, hay is extremely scarce this year. Not to mention $$$$ We just sold 26 round bales of grass hay to a guy out west and south of us for 80$ a bale. For GRASS HAY! He raises show cattle, and is already haying them. Wish we had another source for it, or I'd let you know. The bummer is that horses are so much more picky about their hay than cattle are.
    I think we do have a source for alfalfa square bales for the goats. Not sure on the $, but I'm trying to gently remind my hubby to call and get some to put up for the goats. The owner won't part with much, though. I'm thinking I can talk him out of a few dozen bales at most. All of that to say, I'm glad we don't have cattle this year, and Lord, please send rain...

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  6. Wow, that is one bad drought. Hoping August looks better for you.

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  7. Oh, my! I hope you get some quenching rain, soon. (But not so much that you get flooding, of course.)

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  8. Love the shot of the horse looking through the fence and your caption :-)Unreal how long this dry spell is going for you folks! You are in our thought and prayers.

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  9. Praying for rain in your area, but no flooding. It is pretty dry here too, after a very wet spring.

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  10. That is scary dry! I would give you the hay in my field if you lived closer. I don't know what the man who cuts it does with it. Apparently he must not need it right away because it is still sitting where it landed when he cut it. Around here hay goes bad and people just pile it up on the sides of their hills and let it rot or something.

    Hope it rains soon!
    Angela

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  11. We are going through what I call an extraordinary drought! We got so much rain in the spring that we used up our rain voucher. It really gets expensive when your hay crop burns up. We have had way too much drought the last few years.

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  12. Our boys have a source for hay for their cattle at a reasonable price and hopefully the rancher will honor that through the fall & winter. The horse hay however is the kicker. The prices here haven't gone up and are at $8.95 for a small bale of bermuda. We figure that will go way up over the fall. Our 5 horses will eat one bale a day.

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  13. We have had years like that, of wondering where the hay will come from. It always works out but it's so stressful when you are in it. The crazy thing is, while you are in a drought, we are getting to much rain. I just wish we could give you a little. My garden is all but ruined from the saturation. Praise the Lord, I got what I could out of it.

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  14. There is nothing like a few extremes (or should I say 'exceptionals' in the weather..our summer was full of floods, yours is as dry as dust! Life is interesting.

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  15. Will be praying for you all. We are very dry here in Southwest MO as well. We recieved rain yesterday and I do believe I thanked God the entire time it came down and prayed for others that they would recieve the same blessing. God knows our needs and he promises to meet them. I pray daily for rain and will be adding your home to that list.
    Sarah

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  16. Praying for rain, too.

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  17. Praying with you for the rain...Wednesday looks hopeful right now. Friday afternoon we got a few drops on the windshield but that was it. I hope we get a couple of days of slow soaking rain. The kind of days where you make home made soup and bake bread and hang out inside all weekend... ahhh... daydreaming...

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