AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Dry conditions across Texas seem to be the on the minds of area farmers and ranchers. According to the recent crop report, released by Texas AgriLife Extension Service, most of the areas experiencing dry or moderate drought conditions has been contained to areas south of U.S 20 and extreme South Texas. However, areas with abnormally dry conditions has spread as far north as Wichita Falls and Lubbock and south to McAllen and Harlingen. While the dry conditions are bad for some, cotton producers took advantage of it to finish up the harvest.
In the Texas Panhandle, the report noted that most of the cotton harvest has been stripped, and producers are waiting for modules to be picked up. As ProNews 7 has been reporting, yields are reported to be good or above average in much of the Panhandle.
Winter wheat reports range from poor to excellent depending on moisture levels in various areas, overall the crop is struggling due to the lack of moisture.
"Extremely dry conditions continued to take their toll on dryland small grains such as wheat and oats," said Marcel Valdez, AgriLife Extension agent in Zavala County, southwest of San Antonio. "Some livestock producers reported that some supplemental feeding of livestock began this week. Some producers are also contemplating some light selling-off decisions to reduce grazing pressure on native range and pastures and reduce supplemental feed costs."
Cattle in the Panhandle are doing well on wheat pastures, rangeland and pastures are also said to be holding up.
However, the report points out that dry conditions, along with winter dormancy, has caused the grass to decline and increased the risk of wildfires.
As of Tuesday afternoon, seven counties in the Panhandle have passed a burn bans. Those counties are Moore, Castro, Deaf Smith, Hemphill, Oldham, Union and Wheeler.
