Rain Before the Drought

The old timers say that when you have lots of bull calves, you’re in for a long dry summer, more heifers means a nice wet spring.  This year, we have run out of bull tags!  Unless you’ve been living under a rock...in a lake... you are probably well aware of the ongoing drought conditions across the west.  This year’s forecast looks similar.  A map full of yellow and orange spreads indicating “Dryer than Normal,” yet yesterday was branding day except not a one has a brand.  We were rained out.  What gives?

We are in the midst of this so called “drought” but lost more than a couple of bales last summer to drenching rain.  This spring, at a time when we would normally be running the disc and preparing a seedbed, the ground is too wet.  I hear our midwestern neighbors have little to no corn in the ground yet when it should be well underway.  Spraying for weeds is left for another day while pollinating flowers encroach on our grass.  Getting cows and calves worked won’t be fun in a big mud puddle, but there isn’t a pressing need to get them off the corn stalks because working that ground isn’t coming anytime soon either.  

Spring activities are on hold until the sun and wind help dry things out, but only a fool would wish away the moisture.  While farmers are eager to get going and need the time, no one ever complains much about some extra rain; we will appreciate it later.

If You Don’t Like the Weather...

Lots of states in the west make a joke about changing weather.  “If you don’t like the weather in Colorado (or Oklahoma or Texas or Wyoming), just wait ten minutes.”  In this case we will wait a few weeks for a change. Mother Nature’s wayward inclination sure makes it difficult to plan but something whispers to me that is exactly how it's supposed to be.

We wait patiently as she exercises her prerogative because we don’t know for sure what she will bring in the months to come.  Planning is nearly impossible, but preparing is not.  Should she decide not to give us rain until October, we will appreciate the moisture that came in April.  It prepared our fields and pastures for the long dry summer.  Not having control over the weather means not having control over our livelihood, an A-Type’s nightmare.  Having to surrender to her whims teaches us a patience and ability to readjust that so many others lack; because when the rain intrudes in spring before the sun and wind dominate in summer, we realize that Mother Nature knows what she is doing even when we do not.