“They’re out of feed, they’re out of pasture, they’re out of water"

[FourScore]

To the mods: Daily Kos allows us to cross-post diaries in their entirety.

Thu Sep 27, 2012 at 01:25 AM PDT
“They’re out of feed, they’re out of pasture, they’re out of water"
by praenomen
David Horsey posted an excellent commentary in yesterday's online issue of the L.A. Times. Under the heading: Republicans have a medieval mindset about climate change, Horsey says:

In California, plans are being made for the decades ahead when coastal highways are swamped, Yosemite waterfalls run dry, agricultural areas turn to dust, the San Francisco airport floods and the famous beaches near Los Angeles are reclaimed by the Pacific. (all emphasis in this article mine)

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/lat-na-tt-medieval-mindset-20120925,0,6709952.story

If you live in the Southland, then the early symptoms of climate change are familiar. Twenty of the first twenty-one days of this month have exceeded normal September temperatures. Two of those days -- the 14th and the 15th -- exceeded mean temperature by 20 plus degrees.

But we are not alone. Dramatic heat spikes have occurred in other parts of our country. Sixty-three percent of the contiguous United States has been suffering from drought. Already, in 2012 -- as of July 13th -- over 40,000 heat records in the United States have been broken. That is 15,000 more cases than were recorded in 2011 (the hottest year on record).

The intense heat is beginning to impact our food supplies. That is why you have been reading about the looming "Aporkalypse." And while it is too early to know yet if there will be an actual shortage of pork, we do know that feed supplies and water resources for livestock and farm animals have been disappearing at an alarming rate.

The depletion of grazing land for cattle and the lack of feed (specifically, corn) for hogs is forcing cattlemen and farmers to intentionally increase the number of animals they are sending to market, essentially reducing the size of future herds.

“I’m holding right now, but I don’t know, if I don’t get some water, can’t hold, can’t keep on a holding,” said Larry Springfield, a cattle raiser in Springtown. “They’re out of feed, they’re out of pasture, they’re out of water, so what else are you going to do with them.”

Ultimately, the drought will affect what customers will pay for beef at the grocery store, cattle owners said.

Since a mature cow only has one calf per year, it will take years for the ranchers to rebuild their herds. That could cause the price of beef [to] go up as early as the end of this year.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/27/1132416/--They-re-out-of-feed-they-re-out-of-pasture-they-re-out-of-water

Chris Hurt, a Purdue University agricultural economist, recently told Indiana farmers that the drought of 2012 “could become the second-most expensive weather event ever, ranking behind only Hurricane Katrina.”

From Boston.com

BOSTON -- The U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday declared a national fishery disaster in New England, opening the door for tens of millions of dollars in relief funds for struggling fishermen and their ports.

Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank said the declaration comes amid "unexpectedly slow rebuilding of stocks," which is forcing huge fishing cuts for 2013 that are jeopardizing the New England industry. Blank said her agency also determined the troubles with fish stocks have come even though fishermen are following rules designed to prevent overfishing.

http://www.boston.com/business/news/2012/09/13/feds-declare-fishery-disaster-new-england/qwxJkv7lUFFFlM4HjS0Y7H/story.html...

Salon magazine recently reported that some U.S. farmers are resorting to extreme measures to keep their livestock fed:

Cows Fed Candy - "With corn nearly $9 a bushel due to the drought, Nick Smith, the co-owner of United Livestock Commodities in Kentucky, said his farm had to come up with a cheaper way to feed his cattle. The remedy? A concoction of candy rejected for human consumption, an ethanol byproduct and a mineral nutrient.

Joseph Watson, also a co-owner of the farm, said, “Just to be able to survive, we have to look for other sources of nutrition.”

From the Independent, U.K.:

Food price spikes caused by extreme weather events like the US drought will become the norm over the next twenty years, leading to millions of deaths from malnutrition among the world’s poorest if Governments do not act on climate change, Oxfam has warned.

While the average price of staple foods is already expected to double in the next twenty years, the UK’s leading poverty charity predicts that separate catastrophes such as droughts, floods and bad harvests will also become more common as a result of climate change, leading to regular and dramatic jumps in prices.

The world stands at a critical juncture. The effects of climate change are accelerating and the predicted rise in global temperatures will have an increasingly devastating impact on food security, human settlement and our ability to survive as a people and a planet.

Yahoo News

NOTE: Initially, when food and water supplies disappear, many vulnerable biological species become extinct. And since every link in nature is interdependent, the remaining species are threatened by the disappearance of any part of its ecosystem.

Here is a partial list of endangered species (scroll down):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_species...

Humans are not exempt from this domino effect. Some very important parts of our food chain are on life support and we should take notice,

A shortage of food is just one of the crises facing our children and grandchildren if we don't take immediate action to reverse global warming.

Edited to include this comment by Dave Horsey:

If we lived in a rational society, any Republican who insisted climate change is not real would be as shamed and ostracized as the backwoods snake-handlers in the GOP congressional caucus who say a woman cannot be impregnated if she is raped. As a country, we should all be embarrassed. Americans, not the Dutch, should be leading the world in dealing with the imminent calamities being brought on by the rise in global temperatures. But we will not be able to take the lead until one of our two major political parties stops shilling for the big energy companies and abandons its medieval scorn of science.

6:39 AM PT: Many thanks to Neapolitan who updated the 40,000 number of broken heat records listed in the diary.

Just an update: as of yesterday, the U.S. has seen 56,120 record daily high (or high minimum) temperatures this year. More tellingly, it's seen just 10,581 record daily low (or low maximums). That's a very lopsided high-to-low ratio of 5.3 to 1.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/27/1132416/--They-re-out-of-feed-they-re-out-of-pasture-they-re-out-of-water

[porphyrian]

1. Aw, I thought you meant the Romney campaign.

Good thing obstructionist republicans blocked the relief bill, huh?

[Sekhmets Daughter]

2. Perhaps I missed it

but the article left out the very important fact that FRACKING is water intensive. So while the 2/3 of the nation tries to survive a drought, the oil and gas industries are pulling million of gallons of water from our aquifers...water that becomes too polluted to be used for irrigation or drinking. When will Americans get it through their thick heads that while there are alternatives to oil and gas, there is no substitute for clean water? And that it is NOT in limitless supply?

[ananda]

3. And their brains are like flat volleyballs..

.. out of air too.

[FourScore]

4. I am shocked that this post is dropping like a stone with no recs. The message is SO important.

[laundry_queen]

6. Very important.

I just rec'ed. Really grossed out by what farmers are substituting for feed. Ew.

Everybody who can should have a garden. Even if you are a condo/apartment dweller, there are many ways to grow food on a balcony or in a window. And this makes me sound like a doomsdayer, but these skills may come in handy in the next little while if climate change keeps going at the pace it has been these last couple of years.

[riderinthestorm]

5. I'm paying $10/bale for my next load, 2x normal cost. Feed costs jumped 20% last week.

We're not even into March and April when everyone's looking for that last load of hay before first cutting and its REALLY expensive.

I'm deeply worried.

K&R

[magical thyme]

12. have you tried stretching the hay with beet pulp?

If hay gets high enough, beet pulp becomes a viable alternative to keeping their guts filled less expensively or in an outright shortage. I usually mix it with bran at 2.5:1 by dry weight to keep the calcium:phosphorus ratio correct.

[riderinthestorm]

14. Yes but then I get horses craving more fiber and roughage w beet pulp, they start chewing the stalls

They quickly turn into beavers. They're only out 4 hours/day at my place. I have more than 40 horses and only 20 acres of grass pasture. I have 6 all weather limestone lots that I rotate into in order to "rest" the grass areas for re-growth but the boredom factor is immense, particularly for a few horses that don't get enough work by their owners!

I've switched to a cheaper feed (Nutrena vs Purina) and can sustain my costs at the moment but I foresee a hay surcharge for my clients in the near future....

How are you finding hay prices by you?

[magical thyme]

15. Oh well. Don't want them eating the barn...

I got lucky last year. A guy around the corner from me with a hayfield advertised in the convenience store. A farmer hays his field for him for a small fee. He only gets 500 bales/year -- not enough to sell to the dealers -- so I'm getting it this year for $4/bale, up from $3.50 last.

The bigger farmers were getting $6+ 2 years ago; I have no idea what they've gone up to. I know someone in CT who was paying $12/bale a couple years ago...

I'm also (sadly) grateful to have lost my old gelding last winter. My little arab mare lives on air. She grazes 12 hours with a grazing muzzle and then I give her 8-10 pounds at night. I had them living out 24x7 the last couple years, but she gets a little too nervous to leave out overnight by herself.

[mopinko]

7. i seriously doubt i would be a mini-farmer now if it weren't for this.

i would hardly have given a second thought as to where my family will get their food if i didn't know that we are screwing the pooch, and it wont be pretty.

[mindwalker_i]

8. When the Earth/Civilization test fails...

It will return 0xDEADBEEF.

[Care Acutely]

9. K & R

[magical thyme]

10. I'll be almost vegan by next year, in part for health

but also for this.

I recommend reading "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman, MD. You can get all the nutrition you need without trying to "balance" grains versus legumes, by centering your diet on "nutrition-based" foods...the kind you can grow organically if you have a yard.

The more you are able to feed yourself, the better.

I've been on the diet for over a month now. I've lost the cravings where I would stare at the fridge or vending machine thinking "I need...something" and not knowing what. I've also lost a couple inches around my waist.

Basically you fill yourself with lots of nutrition-based food (leafy greens, carrots, etc), lots being up to 2 pounds/day for a larger person, plus small amounts of beans (up to 1 cup/day), 1/4 cup of grains and a couple tablespoons of raw nuts and seeds. <10 percent of your diet as meats and sweets. He considers commercially frozen veggies (flash pasteurized/flash frozen) as nutritionally equal to fresh, for those of us who live far north with a short growing season.

I don't feel like I'm missing *anything,* it doesn't cost any more than a meat-based died and I'm feeling better physically than I have in a long time.

If you can't grow your own, feed yourself as much as possible from local growers and farmer's markets.

[LongTomH]

11. Another reason we need to take the House and keep the Senate!

A Republican Congress can be expected to block any and all attempts by the Obama Administration to address the issue of Global Warming. They will also block any attempt to provide relief to drought-stricken areas, unless programs for the poor are cut to pay for disaster relief.

Sometimes I think John Carpenter's 1988 movie: They Live is right, and our mega-rich - and the Republican party - are aliens bent on destroying this planet and selling it off to the highest bidder.

[Royal Sloan 09]

13. K & R, Wake the F*%$CK UP!

[tavalon]

16. Scary, and yet, there is a small silver lining

Too many cows for our ecosystem now. We need to become vegetarians fairly rapidly and many, if not most, of us, won't do it until we can't afford beef.