Rain brings little relief for drought in Hardin County

 “An old saying that farmers have is getting rains in a timely part of the year is called a ‘million dollar rain,'” said Brian White, the UT Extension agent for Hardin County.

Moderate drought conditions are affecting crop and livestock farmers across Hardin County.

“We need about an inch and a half a week, and we’re probably six to eight inches behind on a total for the year here in Hardin County,” White said.

Cattle farmer Justin Williams said the yellow and brown pastures should be green, and it’s causing them to have to sell livestock.

“We’ve weaned a bunch of calves early, went through and preg-checked our cows and took our open cows to market, that way we can take some of the stress off our grass,” Williams said.

It’s been about an month since Savannah has seen any substantial rainfall amounts, so the little bit they got Monday is just a starting point to get them back to normal.

“Probably need a couple of inches to see any kind of drastic change,” Williams said. “These two- or three-tenths, half-inch rains will keep us going, but it will not bounce it back to where it normally was without a suitable rain.”

Williams also said that due to the dry conditions the farm is about 400 hay bails short for the season, which is another source they use to feed the cattle.

“It can make a difference on whether that farm is profitable this year or not and put food on the table. That becomes a struggle when we’re not profitable,” White said.

Farmers say they’re hoping for two more good rains to be able to see normal conditions again.