Virginia cattle farmers pivot to deal with hot, dry weather

MONTVALE, Va. (WFXR) — Hot, dry weather is having an impact on livestock farmers in the Roanoke and Lynchburg regions.

“We base on pasture management and grazing cattle 300 days out of the year,” said Johnny Divers of Chapel Creek Farms near Montvale. “Weather is one thing we can not control.”

Farmers like Divers have had to pivot to work around the problems dry pastures can create. In Divers’ case, that means rotating herds from pasture to pasture, and leaving some fields uncut or untouched. In addition, Divers says preparations and actions taken in the spring, like limiting the number of cattle in certain pastures, are paying off now.

“We don’t overstock our pastures for this reason,” Divers said. “If you overstock in early spring, you can pretty much guarantee yourself that you will run out of pasture in the summertime if you go into any sort of a drought.”

Divers also says keeping some fields untouched helps the soil in those pastures to retain moisture. That will extend their life and keep them viable for grazing later in the summer.

Pastures are just one concern. Herd hydration is another. Divers says each head of cattle can drink up to 40 gallons of water a day. He always makes sure his herds have two water sources wherever they are pastured.