There are enough cattle in the Dakotas affected by this dry spell to send cattle markets tumbling off their early summer rally.
In any event, a good steward of resources and cattle will take this seriously enough to start thinking about some things that we need to be watching for weather and market-wise as we move through the rest of the summer and fall.
Protecting your natural resources is a key part of management during dry spells but so is cattle management.
I think the biggest part of managing cattle through a dry spell is to recognize that the lag-time between when the grass is used up and cattle start showing visible signs of distress is about 30-45 days.
A good manager should be watching the condition of the grass to make management decision, not the condition of the cows or calves.
The main thing an outfit should be thinking about is preparing a marketing plan for this fall, in preparation for many cattle to be flooding the market starting in late-August or September.
A calf implant can easily add 25 pounds of weaning weight to those calves for a cost of about $2.50 per calf.
Another thing to consider in a drought situation is early weaning calves.
This typifies the beginning of the fall calf run which, runs through November with fresh weaned calves from this year.
Avoiding the fall calf run with fresh weaned calves can add as much as 30 percent value to the current years’ calf crop.

Maven’s Notebook Weekly Digest for July 2 through 9.
A list of posts published on Maven’s Notebook this week … This week’s featured article … METROPOLITAN’S SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE BAY-DELTA: Longfin smelt science efforts, California Water Fix update: At the June 27th meeting of Metropolitan’s Bay Delta Committee, committee members heard about Metropolitan’s science efforts with regards to longfin smelt, and an update on the schedule for the decision process for the California Water Fix project.
Lastly, the directors discussed the cost allocation process for the California Water Fix.
In water news this week from around the web … Weekend Daily Digest: Can fish catch a break with the tunnels?
It depends; A snapshot of the Cal Water Fix hearings at the State Water Board; Is California’s response to sea level rise enough?
; Lois Henry on John Vidovich and his water plans; and more … Monday’s Daily Digest: A leap in lampreys: Unlovely fish make welcome comeback; Team investigating spillway wants public input; Construction on Oroville spillway ahead of schedule; Toxic blue-green algae spurs warning for some waters in California; and more … Tuesday’s Daily Digest: Plans advance to enlarge major Bay Area reservoir; California’s lakes are full but fishing remains in a drought; LA DWP won’t drill new wells in Bishop; and more … Wednesday’s Daily Digest: Getting to the roots of California’s drinking water crisis; The drought isn’t over, it just went underground; Toilet to tap?
Some say its time; and more … Thursday’s Daily Digest: More details as twin tunnels decision nears; What’s next for Oroville Dam spillway?
; Bill would protect California desert resources; ‘Worst is over’ for snowmelt, official says; and more … Friday’s Daily Digest: Coachella Valley water agencies appeal to Supreme Court in landmark groundwater case; With San Clemente Dam gone, are steelhead trout about to make a comeback?
; Does Scott Pruitt have a solid case for repealing the Clean Water Rule?
; and more … News worth noting this week … NEWS WORTH NOTING: Oroville Forensic Investigation Team welcomes information about spillway incident; Feinstein, others introduce residential water conservation bill; San Luis Reservoir algal bloom at danger level; LA County’s water affordability crisis NEWS WORTH NOTING: Metropolitan posts first white paper on California Water Fix; Draft enviro docs for Los Vaqueros reservoir expansion; San Joaquin River Restoration Program releases draft fisheries framework for fish restoration NEWS WORTH NOTING: Court of Appeal holds Prop 218 does not require exhaustion of administrative remedies before filing a lawsuit challenging an increase in a fee or charge; Weekly water and climate update Weekly features … BLOG ROUND-UP: Bloggers comment on the Water Fix; Reform before the next drought; Groundwater extraction oversight; Improving hatchery survival; Climate change; Public drinking fountains; and more … SCIENCE NEWS: The big ecological roles of small, natural features; Saving wild salmon all in a days work; Work on Yuba River’s Hammon Bar earns high honors; Calculating ‘old’ and ‘new’ runoff; and more … JULY CALENDAR EVENTS: California extreme precipitation symposium; Building Bay Area resilience; Measuring groundwater pumping for SGMA compliance; Delta Landscapes workshop Announcements this week …

Growing plants in vinegar could help them survive drought.
With the threat of climate change looming, farmers and scientists alike are realizing that crops have become more resistant to events like droughts if we want to maintain a reliable food source.
“HDA6 directly represses acetic acid biosynthesis genes under normal conditions,” says study author Jong Myong Kim, a research scientist at RIKEN in Japan.
“On the other hand, under drought conditions, HDA6 is removed from these gene regions, then acetic acid is produced especially.” The enzyme acts as a switch of sorts, its absence signaling during times of stress that it’s time for a plant to transition from the normal breakdown of sugar for energy to the production of acetate.
But that pathway was even more active in mutant Arabidopsis plants, producing even greater quantities of acetate.
Sure enough, over 70 percent of the plants grown in soil mixed with acetic acid survived drought conditions for at least 14 days.
“Moreover, if these plants can accept the acetic acid technique, I thought we can enrich the public interest and welfare in the world.” In comparison to transgenic processes that could be used to make plants sturdier, the vinegar trick is an inexpensive, simple, and sustainable process that can be made accessible to many.
Kim says he has already received interest in this method from everyone from farmers to flower shop owners to amateur gardeners.
His next step is to keep honing in on the signal pathway that makes this resistance possible, as well as finding the optimized conditions of acetic acid application for outdoor fields.
“Now we are trying to cooperate with some farmers, and also some companies, to make a method to apply this system,” says Kim.

Drought in Kenya worsens.
Some farmers have managed to adapt, but for millions of Kenyans the two-year drought is having a massive impact.
Two years of drought have hit Kenya hrd.
There are some farmers who have been fortunate enough to switch to crops that require less rain.
However, not everyone is that fortunate and some 2.7 million Kenyans are going hungry.
According to a recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs rains in March were delayed, and when they did ultimately arrive, not everyone received enough.
The price of meat and dairy products are have increased and are expected to remain high.
And similar to many other countries, Kenya’s remaining maize and wheat crops have been been affected by Fall Armyworm, and the infestation is expected to spread.
According to the UN report at least 300,000 children have been left acutely malnourished.
TRT World’s Kim Vinnell reports

WAJIR, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Hamara Hujale tries to keep an eye on two squirming children and a pot of simmering ugali – a white doughy dish – as she reaches for her buzzing phone.
Hujale, who lives in the northeast Kenyan town of Wajir, used to make and sell kitchen utensils, "mostly to pastoralists who would use them as dowry for their daughters’ weddings".
Last year she secured a loan of 370,000 Kenyan shillings (about $3,560) through Crescent Takaful Sacco, an Islamic finance institution, and used the money to buy a tuk-tuk and set up a taxi business in Wajir.
But in this Kenyan region bordering Somalia, where over 90 percent of the population is Muslim, few banks or institutions offer financial services that comply with Islamic law, which bans gambling and speculation, including interest-bearing loans, said Diyad Hujale, a program coordinator at Mercy Corps, a charity, and no relation to Hamara.
Repeated droughts create "a vicious circle where they not only have no alternative income if they have lost their harvest, for example, (but) they are also made more vulnerable to the next shock", she said.
While many clients use the sacco as a way to boost their cash on hand, others like Hamara Hujale take out larger loans to set up their own businesses.
That fills a key gap in the market that is not met by other banks or institutions, Diyad Hujale said.
Key to the sacco’s model is trust, said Mutisya.
Hamara Hujale, who took out a loan on her own, now makes up to 2,000 shillings ($20) per day from her two businesses – nearly twice as much as when she only sold utensils.
Simonet said a mobile service would make particular sense for pastoralists.

Last week we took at the latest drought conditions across the state of South Dakota.
Sadly, the news isn’t any better this time around.
This week’s U.S. Drought Monitor update, which was released earlier this morning, shows an increase in drought on all levels.
Extreme drought, the second highest level of drought, has doubled from last week’s total.
U.S. Drought Monitor maps come out every Thursday morning at 7:30 Central Time, based on data through 7 a.m. CDT the preceding Tuesday, in this case, July 4.
This means that any rainfall we have received between then and now, including the rain from Wednesday night’s storms, was not included in this update.
Below is a comparison of last week’s report with this report.
Unfortunately, it does not look as though we will get any relief in the next couple of weeks.
Looking even further than that, the signs look even worse.
The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) is predicting a drier than normal second week of the forecast period.

BOWMAN — Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., spent time speaking with farmers and ranchers in southwest North Dakota Thursday afternoon about challenges they are facing during the ongoing drought.
“For me, it’s getting out here, talking, finding out how we can help.” On June 23, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue authorized emergency grazing of conservation reserve program lands in North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana for counties in a U.S. Drought Monitor status of D2 or higher.
Emergency haying of CRP has not yet been authorized.
Due to the nesting times of birds on the lands, the CRP land won’t be released for emergency haying until Aug. 2 and only half of the land would be available by law.
While haying the land could help some ranchers feed their cattle, Heitkamp noted it would not solve the problem.
Jerid Janikowski, who ranches in North and South Dakota, said even if the CRP land was open to haying, it would not help them very much to have it on Aug. 2 because it would likely not be suitable for feeding.
In drought conditions, ELAP can assist producers with the additional cost of transporting water to eligible grazing lands.
CRP lands are not eligible for this, something ranchers in the crowd want changed.
That’s what they’re looking for is, ‘Where do we go?’ ” Janikowski believes half of the grain on ranches in southwest North Dakota are not suitable for hay.
However, some in the crowd brought up that they do not sell their cattle to replenish their herds, so they would not be able to benefit from this.

BOWMAN, N.D. – Farmers and ranchers in the southwestern part of the state are feeling the effects of the drought perhaps more than others.
The dry crunching of your crop is never a sound a farmer wants to hear.
Wendy Bartholomay with the USDA office in Bowman walked around area farms describing what the drought has done to Bowman and Slope County land the past two years.
When Senator Heidi Heitkamp came to town, farmers and ranchers packed the Bowman Livestock Auction to hear how the government plans to help those most affected.
"The concern I have is that they are going to sit on their hind hands for two weeks thinking it doesn’t matter when those two weeks can be critical to a rancher," sadi Heitkamp.
Payco: Some of these farmers and ranchers will have gone broke, their loans will be called in before any government assistance comes their way to keep them afloat.
Wendy: As you can see the vegetation is crunchy, the soil is completely dried out.
Wendy Bartholomay with the USDA office in Bowman walked around area farms describing what the drought has done to Bowman and Slope County land the past two years.
When Senator Heidi Heitkamp came to town, farmers and ranchers packed the Bowman Livestock Auction to hear how the government plans to help those most affected.
Payco: Some of these farmers and ranchers will have gone broke, their loans will be called in before any government assistance comes their way to keep them afloat.

Drought maintains strong hold on Dakotas, Montana.
Areas of severe drought and extreme drought expanded this past week across eastern Montana, south-central North Dakota and northwestern South Dakota, where hot and dry conditions persisted, according to the United States Drought Monitor.
Rainfall accumulations were generally less than 1 inch, providing little relief.
In North Dakota, extreme drought conditions moved from 25 percent of the state to 30 percent of the state in the past week.
The only counties that saw enough rain to lose drought status were Walsh, Nelson, Grand Forks and northern portions of Griggs, Steele and Traill on the east side of the state.
Below normal precipitation is projected for the next week.
Meteorologists with the Weather Channel indicated that some charts are indicating the hot and dry conditions will continue through the third week of July.
Hit-and-miss thunderstorms with lightning could ignite wildfires.
Temperatures will remain in the 90s, perhaps flirting with 100 degrees, on Saturday and Sunday in the Bismarck and Mandan areas.

While the crisis may not be as unrealistic or far away as it seems, scientists are already coming up with potential solutions.
Less than two decades later, MOFs are being applied to purposes that even he could not have imagined, many of which would be particularly handy in a world falling apart – such as fabrics that can protect against chemical weapons, devices that can artificially replicate photosynthesis to transform carbon emissions into oxygen, and glowing crystals that can detect and trap contaminants in water.
Wang and her team developed a transparent box with a top surface painted black to absorb solar heat, which prompts a reaction that delivers enough drinking water for a person’s daily needs with 1kg of the powder, even in areas of 20% air humidity.
“Then these empty MOFs will be ready to absorb water from the air at night again.” Yaghi hopes these devices will enable people to access what he calls “personalised water” – off-grid and free of any impurities.
MOFs can be applied to just about any purpose.
This would enable further efficiencies for a food production process already being hampered by climate change.
The company has 15 different MOFs they are seeking to commercialise, including two that MOF Technologies hopes to sell to carbon-intensive industries as a way to capture and convert carbon emissions.
MOF Technologies have expanded their production facility in preparation for capacity of between five and 10 tonnes of MOF production per year from 2018.
Back at Berkeley, the father of these super-absorbent structures believes scientists have “just scratched the surface” of the “essentially limitless” applications of the technology.
“Imagine, any slight change of the metal ions, the organic components, the shape and topology, or the combination of them could give you a completely different MOF to be used for different purposes.