Many farmers wake up and look at the weather to determine their day. Out west in California, sadly for farmers, they woke up and saw virtually no rain, day-after-day, week-after-week this past year. The historic drought crippled farmers and dairy farmer Jennifer Beretta was forced to make tough management decisions on her 300-cow dairy in Santa Rosa.
The rising costs to feed Beretta’s herd is due to the feed cost hike the dairy economy has seen in 2021 and for western producers like Beretta, trying to manage with water restrictions facing the Golden State, feed costs have become crippling. Beretta’s Jersey cows were not able to graze pastures, forcing them to feed their limited forage supply. All of this escalated their already high feed bill, which has not been counterbalanced by an increase in their milk check. This all has forced the California dairy farmer to double down and make some tough decisions on her family’s dairy farm in Santa Rosa.
Tough management decisions like culling cows were already made in January. While Beretta was aware of the need to sell cows, that was easier said than done. “We have raised the calves to become milk cows,” she says. “We have dialed in on genetics and production, and some of our older cows stem back a long way to good cow families.”
The family knew that the problems cows had to be culled and rations needed to change. Water reduction meant less pasture for cows to graze and more purchase feed needed. Basic economics did not pencil out well for farmers like Beretta. “We saw that the rain did not generate enough runoff to send water to the city plant, so we knew water storage was going to be down,” Berretta says. “We also had been hearing of the water issues in the Klamath (Ore.) region and this is where we get our hay from and were trying to prepare for less hay availability.”
The summer workload became exhausting for Beretta’s mother dairy, Dolcini Jersey Dairy in Nicasio, who had to haul 6,300 gallons a day to tanks to water cows and calves. “The uncertainty of the water supply to haul from for the dairy made days very tiring,” says Beretta. “We are appreciative of the work from Marin County ag commissioner for making sure dairies had a place to get water for their cows.”
Bomb Cyclone
Recently when Beretta tuned into the weather forecast, rain was predicted. Over the weekend, a powerful storm referred to as a “bomb cyclone” walloped northern California, causing flooding, power outages and mudslides. From that storm, the Berettas received 10 inches of rain overnight per their gauge this past weekend. “It’s drying up quickly though because the ground was so dry,” Beretta notes.
While ponds are not full, some can stop hauling water in the interim. “But we need more consistent rain, so the ground soaks it up and we can be in a better place going into 2022,” she notes.
As they look ahead to 2022, the Beretta’s are starting to purchase seed and plan what fields need to be disced up and replanted. Not knowing what the weather will do makes the process frustrating. “It’s all very stressful,” she admits. “The recent rain is appreciated, but we just don’t know what to expect and how to fully manage going forward.”
Moving forward, the farm is looking at NRCS projects that can help them better capture water off the barns, as well as looking into other feed sources available that are more affordable. With rising feed costs and the price of hay, continuous conversations are happening on the Beretta farm. “We also watch the cattle market continuously,” Beretta admits. “To determine if we need to sell more cattle.”
