LOVELOCK - This is the final article in a series dealing with drought management plans. As previously noted, this information comes from the "Managing Drought Risk on the Ranch Planning Guide," developed by the University of Nebraska - Lincoln National Drought Mitigation Center, which is available online at: www.drought.unl.edu/ranchplan.
The first article addressed how drought conditions affect plants and livestock, and how making drought-related decision are best made sooner, rather than later.
The second article explained the steps requires to develop a drought management plan, to help mitigate as much risk as possible prior and during a drought event.
This final article will help you evaluate your plan, in order to make it a comprehensive plan that can be effective as conditions change.
Drought is only one of the management challenges that ranchers need to plan for. It is important that the decisions you make before, during, and after drought fit into your overall plan. The decisions you make before, during, and after drought should help move you closer to the vision or goals that you have for your ranch.
To evaluate your drought management strategies you must analyze the following areas:
Evaluate your Best Management Practices - There are many strategies that you could use to achieve your overall objectives, and to reduce the impacts experienced in drought. With a limited amount of money, time, and energy, you must determine what actions you can take now and in the future that are most appropriate for creating a drought resilient operation.
Evaluate your strategies for drought recovery - The length of the drought, the severity of the drought, market conditions, and other factors have a great impact on drought recovery options.
Complacency in the aftermath of any scale of drought is hazardous. Cumulative effects of excessive grazing and intermittent drought can change species composition enough to cause measurable long-term declines in herbage production. When drought ends, vegetation recovery should become a primary management objective.
Evaluate costs and benefits of changes you made to the ranch operation - Partial budgeting is a financial tool used to assess the costs and benefits associated with a specific change in an individual enterprise within the business operation.
Before starting partial budgeting, farm managers need to be clear in their minds about why they are considering making a change and to recognize the possible alternatives to the current practice that might help them meet their desired outcome. Positive effects of the proposed change may result because of the elimination or reduction in cost of ceasing current activities and/or the generation of additional revenues by adoption of the new activities.
The negative effects of such a change could be generated by an increase in the cost by implementing the new activity and/or a reduction in the revenue from ceasing the current activity.
Evaluate Feed Options - This can be done by estimating the amount of feed you need; assessing your current feed inventories; identifying possible feeding options and cost for each option, and do these options meet your business/financial goals.
Evaluate destocking options - The basic idea when you consider reducing the herd size is to determine the potential loss of income from livestock (calves and cull animals) sales in the future as well as the reduced costs incurred for the care of fewer livestock numbers including all animal types.
Timing of these sales is likely to differ from the normal operation, so include such things as the sale of animals sold earlier than normal.
Evaluate family and human health strategies - During crisis times, family and friends are the people who can help us see hope and a reason to look toward the future. Nurture relationships with family and friends. Avoid keeping secrets or purposefully withholding information from your spouse or partner. Weigh the costs and benefits and try to arrive at a mutually agreeable plan. Remember the value of each family member and remind each other how much they are needed and loved.
Also, during these tough times it is even more important not to ignore basic self-care and health habits.
Re-evaluate after drought - After a drought period is a good time to reflect and assess the performance of your response to drought conditions. This evaluation will help you understand how to prepare and plan for the next drought. The recovery strategy is just as critical as the drought response plan.
Extended drought causes many people to re-evaluate their financial situation. It is human nature to think the worst without really taking an objective assessment of what resources might be available.
It is easy to get stuck in the mindset that resources are strictly financial. Resources can mean many things. Identify the different types of assets at your disposal, looking beyond the obvious common financial resources.
Resources include skills, interests, talents, past volunteer and work experiences, your physical location and environment, connections to other people, and, of course, family and friends, just to name a few.
From that inventory, start to develop a plan based on several "what if" scenarios. Think about short-term and long-term needs, both from a family and business perspective. Be honest with yourself and your family. Working through this process will give you a clearer picture of your situation and possibly open up some options.
For more help in developing a plan, go to http://drought.unl.edu/ranchplan/Overview.aspx and select the topics listed under the "Managing Drought Risk on the Ranch Professional Development Webinar Series."[[In-content Ad]]
