The problem is that if we wait until June or July to start thinking about how to deal with a drought, we have missed out on several management tools to reduce the impact of a summer drought.
Go ahead and soil test your fields now, so that you can have results in time to fertilize.
Often we think about our grazing management during the drought, trying to not overgraze and kill the plants.
Research has shown that overgrazing has a dramatic impact on grass root development.
If you graze a plant, root growth will stop for a few days.
But during spring, a goal should be to graze a field for 4-7 days, then allow 21-28 days to recover.
Anything you can do to allow more days for rest will help root regrowth and reduce summer drought impact.
Plant warm-season species to supplement cool-season pasture.
But the point is to plant a forage species that is more adapted to summer temperatures and more efficient with its water use.
But we can say you should plan now to determine which species you want to use to provide grazing during the summer.