Extreme: 2023 Drought

During most of late summer and fall of 2023 the U.S. Drought Monitor included our home and the surrounding area of the Kansas Flint Hills in the category of extreme drought. As the summer progressed with little to no rain, we watched the water levels in the local cattle ponds go down, and down, and down. In most pastures these manmade ponds are the only source of water for the cattle. Most ponds rely on run off from the surrounding hills during rainfall to maintain their levels. As the summer progressed and the drought intensified the ponds shrank and disappeared into deeply cracked soil.

On the news we hear about hurricanes, wildfires, flooding, and heat waves, but we rarely hear about drought. A drought occurs as the result of years of below average rainfall. This is not something that is as easily captured in the news as a hurricane or wildfire. We rarely hear about, or understand, that ranchers must find alternate sources of water and somehow transport  that water to their cattle. Often ranchers must sell a herd because there is no water for the cattle to drink.