TEXHOMA, Okla. (DTN) -- Though only 34, Jerod McDaniel knows a little about how to succeed in farming along the Oklahoma and Texas borders. But this year is making McDaniel recalibrate his basic views on practices such as irrigation.

 

"In all my life, I've never seen a circle of corn die under a pivot," McDaniel said, standing in a field of short, shriveled stalks with ears that didn't make.

But that's happened a lot in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles for a variety of reasons. In some cases, producers cut off irrigation early when it appeared the crop was too stressed, or cut their circle pivots to half circles, sacrificing half the crop to salvage the other half, or a different crop such as cotton.

Economists at Texas A&M have pegged this drought as the most expensive in the state's history with about $5.2 billion in agricultural losses so far. Farmers in Oklahoma and parts of Kansas are not faring much better.

McDaniel had an irrigated field break under the stress even though he cut his seed plantings by 5,000 an acre. He had irrigated the soil early in spring to build a water profile, and had planted early and irrigated often. The 120 acres he lost had been irrigated with a comparable amount of water to two other fields under pivot that were sharing a pump on 237 acres total. Those fields are doing fine. He shut off the pump on the lost field earlier this month.

"It died right in the middle of the reproductive stage," he said.

Normally, that field under irrigation would pull in about 175 to 185 bushels an acre.

The difference, McDaniel saw, on the two stands that survived, was that he planted one early, and one late, and concentrated irrigation on each for a time. Still, the results of the three fields were not what he expected. "You can be more effective with the water in a timely fashion," he said.

With a lot of the irrigated crops that failed, it may have not been so much the lack of water, but simply the heat itself that baked it, McDaniel surmised. Further, McDaniel also planted 720 acres of dryland milo that never grew. Nothing came up until a late July rain jolted both the milo and the weeds.

Until about two weeks ago, McDaniel had about three-fourths of an inch of rain over a full 12-month period. He's had about three inches of rain since then to help bolster his spirits.

Texhoma straddles the Texas and Oklahoma state line and panhandles and McDaniel also farms and ranches on both sides of the state line. He has about 10,100 acres owned and leased, of which about 5,600 is in pasture and 4,500 in crops, including 2,300 under pivot.

Although he is more than 20 years younger than the typical farmer, McDaniel is hardly a beginner. When he was 18, his grandfather had a stroke, and McDaniel came back from Oklahoma State University to help manage the farm. While continuing to work on a degree at OSU, McDaniel came home on weekends and during breaks to manage the farm.

"I kinda got baptized by fire, so to speak, which is really the only way to do it," he said. "It was also interesting going to school and learning the theoretical side of farm management, and then thinking about how I was managing the operation." He added later, "I lost a lot of money early on, but eventually I got the hang of it."

This year is like nothing McDaniel has ever seen, but he will likely tell his grandchildren about 2011. Throughout much of the panhandle region, corn under pivot is the one green saving grace with the exception of a few weeds sprouting in dead rangeland or brown fallow fields.

"I heard stories from my grandparents and the older generation about the '30s and '50s and whatnot," he said. "You kind of discount it a little bit, but having lived through it this year, I think they had a point."

Crop production around Texhoma is expected to take a big hit with the drought. Last year, Texhoma handled 6.2 million bushels of corn, so much the elevator had more than 1 million bushels piled and built three new bins this year to handle extra capacity.

"This year, I think we'll be lucky to get 3 million bushels," said Audrey Hofferber, general manager of the Texhoma Wheat Growers Inc. cooperative.

"I've had several producers coming in worried about their fields and not being able to fulfill their contracts," she said.

Options for those Texhoma customers include paying a service fee of 11 cents a bushel to cancel the contract or 20 cents to roll the contract forward a year -- plus adjustments in basis and contract prices since the agreement was signed. For example, that might amount to a grower writing a check of $1.54 per bushel to exit a Dec11 corn contract signed last March but cancelled today, according to Hofferber.

A lot of the effects in Texhoma will be felt for years, said Rowdy Slavin, president of First National Bank. Farmers who may have bought only 65% insurance coverage likely only will recover their input costs. Further, their indemnities could be lowered if the insurers put a higher value on what they think a farmer could make on silage.

"What concerns me is the regional effect when your cow guys are selling cows and your farmers don't know what to do," Slavin said. "That affects local retailers." He later added of some farmers and ranchers, "There are people who are done for the year. They know it now."

While McDaniel has lost a field, he has other irrigated corn that could make 260 bushels an acre as well.

"I've got a little bit of everything and it's all over the board," he said. "The variability is huge. You have either got all or nothing."

Wheat production right now is up in the air, truly, as any dryland wheat will depend on rain. Further, the dry conditions and high wind have caused a significant amount of topsoil blowing on land left bare.

"If it wasn't for CRP, no-tilling and strip tilling, it would be a mini Dust Bowl," McDaniel said, pointing to a field that had soil filling up the ditch and fence posts before the farmer could get a corn stand.

McDaniel also got back an analysis Wednesday showing the nitrate level on that lost corn crop is potentially toxic. He had been planning on grazing those stocks, but now has to rethink that decision as well. He also needs a crop adjuster to examine the field to project how many bushels McDaniel would have been expected to harvest, and what the loss is considered.

Overall, McDaniel feels protected because he bought a little higher coverage on his crops this year, and the new combo insurance policy comes with a harvest-price option that continues to look more attractive for corn. He also tries to follow farm policy in Washington. With budget cutting, McDaniel said he is more concerned that lawmakers protect crop insurance, which he sees as his biggest safety net, rather than direct payments. That's not typically considered a Southern position on the safety net.

McDaniel has sold about 130 cows because of the heat, but he still has about 320 breeding cows he is constantly moving from field to field. Partly, the drought forced him to begin thinning out his older cows.

"It was a forced cull, but it was kind of a good thing," he said.

One element that has kept McDaniel's cattle going is grazing his crop residue, an option not available to many ranchers who aren't also farmers. With so many lightweight calves also going to auction, McDaniel said he thinks there could be an opportunity to graze his calves on winter wheat possibly to market next spring.

"The longer you can stay off the grass, the better off you are in the future."

For McDaniel's winter wheat fields, the equation changes with a little water. He had some fields get some rain last week, but like all of those storms, it was spotty.

"Ten days ago, we didn't have enough moisture to even think about even doing any preparation work to plant wheat. Now, we've got rain and a little more of an option. We could get it up, but we don't have the sub-moisture to potentially make the crop. But maybe we have got enough to get it up."

Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@telventdtn.com

(AG/CZ)

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