I guess how you feel about the drought, rain, hail and thunderstorms depends on your circumstances. I live on a cattle ranch in north Fayette County. We are currently in an Exceptional drought, the highest drought designation.
We didn't plant any cool weather forage last fall because without rain, we would have had a giant bird feeder instead of green grass. I sold 60% of my herd in February. Most ranches in this area have no grass at all. It was grazed down to nothing. I count myself lucky. I still have fiber for my cattle if need be, but only because I had every open area seeded and we had enough rain late fall in 2009 and into early 2010. Fertilized twice so the grass grew really high. Rotating the cattle to different pastures helped the grass recover in the pasture they vacated. This winter the cattle were on hay, protein supplements and liquid feed, but they went through 92 hay bales. That is why some cows and their calves had to go. It was hard to do because they were really pets. They were born and raised here
Notice I said fiber in the previous paragraph. There is a thick mat of dead grass in three of my largest pastures. It doesn't provide anything but fiber. Luckily that mat is keeping the soil cool so it doesn't dry out as quickly, but as soon as the green grass goes, I will have to continue giving them liquid feed and other protein supplements. My girls are pregnant so I need to keep them healthy.
At this stage, I'll take water in any form. In the 10 years that we have lived here, if we get hail, it is the size of a pea so we haven't suffered the damage Austin gets. I want rain, but not thunderstorms. We lost 2 pregnant cows a few years ago when they were struck by lightening. I don't like thunderstorms as much anymore.
