By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

The last couple of months have been devastating for Fayette County's farmers, and homeowners are having an increasingly hard time as well.

“If I was depending on farming, I'd be hungry, that's for sure,” said Travis Hardy, president of the Fayette County Farm Bureau.

On the home front, County Extension agent Sheldon Hammond said fescue lawns are dead or dying, and many homeowners won't know until next year how brutal the weather has been for their trees and shrubs.

Luckily, most commercial farming in Fayette is done on a part time basis, Hardy said. Otherwise, the recent weeks of super heat and nonexistent rainfall, coupled with rising costs of farming and plunging prices for farm commodities would have been a complete disaster.

“It's just about annihilated us,” said Hardy, who grows hay and raises cattle on his farm near Brooks.

“The hay crop has been down 40 or 50 percent because it's been so dry,” he said. “Instead of four cuttings, I've only had two.” And each cutting has yielded less than in wetter years, he added.

Farmers often rely on pumping irrigation water from ponds and creeks to make up for lack of rain, but the drought this year has lasted so long that the ponds are drying up. And farmers are prohibited from drawing from creeks after the level drops below a given point.

Young cattle also are susceptible to the heat and dwindling water resources, he said. “I've lost one calf that I'm sure about,” he said. Another one may have fallen victim to coyotes, he added.

While farm production drops, the ready availability of imports keeps prices low, Hardy said. And constantly increasing federal regulations drive costs up.

“It's something all the time,” he said.

Hammond said homeowners who don't have sprinkler systems or some other way to keep water on their landscapes are out of luck with this year's drought. “I've talked to several people who have given up on their fescue lawns,” he said.

If you have a zoysia, Bermuda or centipede lawn, don't' fret, he said. When the grass gets some water, it will spring back to life.

Brown grass is an obvious sign of drought, but what you don't see may be more devastating, and more expensive, Hammond added. “We haven't had very good weather for trees lately,” he said.

In Fayette's heavily wooded neighborhoods, it's impossible to water all the trees, he said. “Pick the ones you want to save and concentrate on those,” he advised.

Let a hose dribble water on the ground around the tree's drip line for two or more hours, he suggested. A thorough soaking once a week can save your prized specimen trees.

The stress won't show so much this year, but next spring some of those trees may simply not sprout.

Hammond also suggests scaling back any plans for a fall garden. “The long-term forecast is for more of the same,” he said.

If you can water from time to time, mulching will help vegetables and landscape plants withstand the hot, dry times in between watering, he said. “Two to three inches will go a long way to reduce the heat and hold the moisture,” he said.

For more tips on landscaping for Fayette's fickle weather, the Extension Service has a brochure on “xerescaping,” making optimal use of limited water in your landscape. The office is in the County Administrative Complex, 140 Stonewall Ave., Fayetteville.

Even with all the drought, Fayette County's drinking water supply is in good shape, said Water System director Tony Parrott.

“Most people are complying with the odd-even watering restrictions,” he said. The county requires that those with odd-numbered addresses water only on days with an odd-numbered date; even-numbered addresses on even dates. “As long as they're doing that, we're OK,” he said.