Drought

[DrWazzock]

Well it’s only July and the leaves are starting to drop off the trees here. Apple tree foliage visibly wilting. Grass completely brown.
Strangely the beet is coping well. I reckon there is a spring in that field and/or it’s because it’s a BCN tolerant variety.

 

[BredRedHfd]

I've noticed quite a few sycamore branches breaking for no reason... seem very dry in the centre

 

[Gong Farmer]

Had just under 5 inches of rain in the last three months here

 

[Jontym]

Had just under 5 inches of rain in the last three months here

Flooded in here, just had to rescue 50 cow’s and calves at 5:30 this morning.

 

[spin cycle]

Had just under 5 inches of rain in the last three months here

thats plenty #envious

 

[faircomment]

307mm this year, 154mm less than this time last year. Still dry in East Yorkshire.

 

[Chae1]

Well it’s only July and the leaves are starting to drop off the trees here. Apple tree foliage visibly wilting. Grass completely brown.
Strangely the beet is coping well. I reckon there is a spring in that field and/or it’s because it’s a BCN tolerant variety.

Do you think the leaves are falling off cause its so dry? Drought stress

Or because they've had there quota of heat/sunlight hours for the year? And think its autumn.

Same is happening up here.

 

[Wombat]

Do you think the leaves are falling off cause its so dry? Drought stress

Or because they've had there quota of heat/sunlight hours for the year? And think its autumn.

Same is happening up here.

Me and dad were discussing this earlier when we went to pick some parts up, starting to look a bit autumnal and we put it down to the fact they have had their sun for the year and moving into their autumn stages. Probably wrong though

 

[gone up the hill]

Me and dad were discussing this earlier when we went to pick some parts up, starting to look a bit autumnal and we put it down to the fact they have had their sun for the year and moving into their autumn stages. Probably wrong though

I would say here the trees are dying from thirst more than just turning for autumn, the leaves are not going brown or lots of colours like they normally do in the autumn but instead the leaves are just shrinking up and withering away to nothing the last 2/3 weeks.

 

[Neddy flanders]

nothing forecast for august

 

[Kidds]

Do you think the leaves are falling off cause its so dry? Drought stress

Or because they've had there quota of heat/sunlight hours for the year? And think its autumn.

Same is happening up here.

100% due to drought.
Some trees in my orchards went bright yellow and subsequently fell off leaving a tree full of golf ball size apples which have no chance of growing without leaves.
The trees that were not quite so yellow have pretty much fully recovered now, they lost the yellowest of leaves but the rest have turned back to green again
This is all since our drought broke. Just after those hottest days we had a good amount of rain and it pretty much has rained nearly every day since. We are no longer in drought but it will take a lot to replenish groundwater reserves.
Copper Beech on the roadside dumped all of its leaves one day last week. I think Beech are struggling around here from drought/heat stress and the rain just came too late for them.

 

[Kidds]

 

[Y Fan Wen]

40mm over the last 24 hours, 100 in the last fortnight. No drought here anymore.
Neighbour tried 5 acres of hay last week, gloom and despondency.

 

[Lakes Nash]

117mm. Some where here in cumbria in the last 24 hrs, just been out with the dog, bottom of lake Windermere was teaming with canoeists, lake must be up 4ft,

 

[Hjcarter]

Absolutely nothing and nothing forecast. Putting on 4000 litres a night with IBCs and a pump but its hard work and can only do a couple of hundred trees a night.

Off out to do my rain dance.... :-(

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

We are now over 3 months without any serious rainfall. In fact only 3mm since the first week of May.

It is odd how you adapt to the conditions though, as do the livestock. It is the humidity which is the killer, last week when it was over 80% it was very hard work night and day.
While it is scary that we are feeding around 12 bales of silage a day to sheep and cattle, we do have around 12k mouths on the ground to feed at present, having only sold around 700 lambs and 60 cattle since May.
The low ground, at sea level still grows a little over night and when the temperature drops and you get a little dew at night the north facing slopes will green a little especially where it has been well managed and with plenty of Clover.
The worst is when the temperature rises above 30'C as it is about to again, all growth seems to stop.
The sheep look ok but as we are unable to wean the ewes on the Marshes (there are no longer any wet fences!) some are losing condition. Fattening cattle are on 6kg of concentrates and are going forward well. they just eat and sleep.

We were I thought understocked for a normal year and we did have a lot of rough grass in the fields, nearly all gone now though.
When it rains we will have a tremendous amount of compensatory growth.
I keep thinking about my late Father's comment about if the grass grows in January (which it did) it won't grow in June, well it hasn't grown in July or will in August either!!

 

[Werzle]

We are now over 3 months without any serious rainfall. In fact only 3mm since the first week of May.

It is odd how you adapt to the conditions though, as do the livestock. It is the humidity which is the killer, last week when it was over 80% it was very hard work night and day.
While it is scary that we are feeding around 12 bales of silage a day to sheep and cattle, we do have around 12k mouths on the ground to feed at present, having only sold around 700 lambs and 60 cattle since May.
The low ground, at sea level still grows a little over night and when the temperature drops and you get a little dew at night the north facing slopes will green a little especially where it has been well managed and with plenty of Clover.
The worst is when the temperature rises above 30'C as it is about to again, all growth seems to stop.
The sheep look ok but as we are unable to wean the ewes on the Marshes (there are no longer any wet fences!) some are losing condition. Fattening cattle are on 6kg of concentrates and are going forward well. they just eat and sleep.

We were I thought understocked for a normal year and we did have a lot of rough grass in the fields, nearly all gone now though.
When it rains we will have a tremendous amount of compensatory growth.
I keep thinking about my late Father's comment about if the grass grows in January (which it did) it won't grow in June, well it hasn't grown in July or will in August either!!

Some cows get bloody miserable being fed in the summer, nothing worse than cows bellowing in the night to keep me awake. They have grub or only run out for short periods. Some of the miserable sods bawl everytime i turn up with load of straw too while on harvesting.

 

[JP1]

Feeding seven groups now. One in village is 3 bulls on 20 acres

The first pictures are 6 lives on 28 acres at Assington

The last two are in the next village and one field left to move to (of 4)

Then I'm out of options without feeding them as well

No rain for 17,5 weeks . None on forecast

 

[Werzle]

A neighbours lovely green aftermathe has been the envy of the parish but that is curing like hay now and dying before he has got round to grazing it

 

[Bury the Trash]

grass all burnt here except down along the valley bottoms thats still fairly green. . even RC is giving up on heavier ground.
no cattle to feed atm so not worried sheep are doing fine off not a lot ,very similar now to '76 iirc, definatley drier than any other time since anyway.

biggest potential problem will be fire i think, minimise risk obviously but that's going to be a bit new for everyone, going to have to adjust of course.