Deming Dust Bowl

Hyatt Ranch 1998

Hyatt Ranch 2013

Luna County has drought ratings of extreme and exception - the worst rating - according to an Office of the State Engineer release on Thursday. But depending on who you ask, there are varying outlooks on the severity of the ongoing drought conditions. Some view it within the context of nationwide droughts and others view it at the state or county level. But the experts all agree that the dry conditions are creating problems for some agriculture producers and ranchers. County Chairman Javier Diaz runs a well drilling company and says they are having to drill deeper wells than ever. For example, near the Deming Municipal Airport, he is having to drill about 240 feet down, where in year's past he could drill 90 or 100 feet to water...Their cattle largely depend on natural growth cycles of native vegetation for sustenance, but when drought conditions devastate plant growth, they have to rely more on hay or other nutrition supplements. And due to drought conditions across the country, the price of hay as skyrocketed, creating a vicious cycle for the livelihood of ranchers. "A lot of this range will never recover and never did from the 50s," Blandford said. "If you were to get the average rainfall, you're looking 10 to 15, even up to 20 years, for a recovery period for normal grazing and/or growing seasons." Without foliage on the ground, he explained, it is easier for the top soil to blow away. "We're losing a lot of our top soil nutrients and it's hard to get top soil back on a range condition because we can't amend it like on a farm," he added. George Chavez, State Resource Conservationist with the NRCS, says ranching is "bleak" statewide. It's bad all over and most ranches that we've been on are either totally destocked, or up to 25, 27 percent destocked," he said. "They've either gotten rid of, or are in the process of getting rid of their livestock." Adding to the woes of ranchers, he explained that the price of cattle right now is "pretty high" and that with supply and demand, the price is likely to remain high, meaning it will be even harder for ranchers to get back into business once destocked...more