Drought leaves dark cloud over California ranchers, growers

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ranchers-drought-20140205,0,7724120.story

Shortage of natural pastures has led some ranchers to sell crucial parts of their herds to slaughterhouses amid lofty hay prices. Growers are considering tearing out thirsty nut orchards and citrus groves.

Drought leaves dark cloud over California ranchers, growers
By David Pierson
February 4, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

CLOVIS, CALIF. — Beneath unyielding blue skies on a recent afternoon, Ryan Indart knelt down to examine what was left of one of his sheep pastures.

Land that should have been lush with native grasses this time of year has been reduced to powdery dirt, splotched with a few withered strands of filaree and foxtail. And where there's no vegetation, there are no sheep.

A fourth-generation rancher, Indart has already sent 10% of his 4,000 ewes — which he normally would want to keep — to the slaughterhouse because he can't afford the hay to feed them. If the drought keeps up, his hungry ewes won't reproduce as they should to make his investment pay off. Yearlings will struggle to gain weight because their mothers won't produce enough milk. Indart may have to cull more of them if the clouds don't open up.

"These animals need to be on green pasture," he said. "Without Mother Nature giving us rain, we can't do that. We can't survive just feeding them hay. It's critical."

As California's punishing drought drags on, ranchers are among the first to feel the pain.