N.M. Drought: Worst 2 Years in Decades

Cattle ranchers are selling off their herds, and New Mexico’s supply of irrigation water for summer crops is running low as the state suffers its worst two-year drought since the 1950s. Ranchers have little or no range grass, and feed costs are soaring as drought drives up demand and pushes down supply, leaving ranchers little choice but to sell. “Everyone that I know has reduced their herd,” said Charlie Rogers, who runs the weekly Clovis Livestock Auction on the state’s eastern plains. The first six months of 2012 were the 10th-driest in New Mexico history, and the same stretch in 2011 was the driest in the state’s history, according to Ed Polasko at the National Weather Service’s Albuquerque office. The state’s reservoirs are dropping, with Elephant Butte in southern New Mexico at less than 10 percent of capacity and northern New Mexico reservoirs quickly being drained of the water used for crops from Cochiti to Socorro. “It’s going down fast,” said David Gensler, who manages water for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District...more