Grazing in Drought Conditions with Jedidiah Hewlett

Today we're catching up with Jedidiah Hewlett from Converse County and discussing grazing strategies while in drought conditions and what classifies these drought conditions as well as some real-life scenarios.

Jedidiah can be reached at 307-358-2417 or jhewlett@uwyo.edu

Resources mentioned today include:

• https://www.uwyo.edu/barnbackyard/
• https://uwyoextension.org/ranchtools/
• https://www.wylr.net/2024/06/28/extension-education-can-producers-afford-to-not-rotationally-graze-in-a-drought/

Transcript

AI Edits from Grazing in Drought Conditions with Jedidiah Hewlett Season 1 Episode 4

Makayla Getz: Thank you for tuning in to our fourth episode of From the Cowboy State. I'm your host, Makayla Getz, and From The Cowboy State is the University of Wyoming Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Podcast. We've made it to our fourth episode, and it dawned on me that while all of the guest speakers we've had on the podcast have, given their credentials, and shared how they've come to work with University of Wyoming Extension.

Makayla Getz: I apologize, but I have not really done that for all of our listeners and subscribers. So, I wanted to just share a little bit about myself/my background. I obtained my Bachelor of Science from Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. Immediately following that graduation, I moved to Texas, was there for almost eight full years, and was working in grants and then later digital marketing.

Makayla Getz: [00:01:00] While I was there, I decided to enroll at Tarleton State University where I received my Master of Science in Agriculture and Consumer Resources. And then immediately following my graduation there, that is where I received this role as your Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator for Park County, Wyoming.

Makayla Getz: Loving being in Wyoming, it has been a phenomenal move for me, and here we are now. So, without any further delay, I am going to go ahead and turn it over to Jedediah. 

Jedidiah Hewlett: Thank you for the opportunity, Makayla . I grew up in Laramie, Wyoming and participated in livestock and indoor exhibits when I was growing up.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Worked on some cattle ranches in the area and, did my bachelor's degree at UW in ag business and then went to UNL in Lincoln for AgCon, my master's degree. I worked around on a few different operations in [00:02:00] Wyoming, Colorado, Oregon, and most recently in Nebraska. And I transitioned from that job to Converse County when the position came open in February.

Makayla Getz: So for those keeping track, that is, I believe this is our third UNL graduate who has been on the podcast. We won't hold it against you. No, just kidding. UNL is a great school. So Jedidiah, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Makayla Getz: You mentioned that you were born and raised in Wyoming? 

Jedidiah Hewlett: That's correct. Correct. 

Makayla Getz: So, tell us a little bit about the operations that you were working on. Were those cattle operations? Sheep? Goats? 

Jedidiah Hewlett: So, there was at least one that did both. Pretty, pretty large scale on the sheep operation. So that was a good kind of balance to see but other than that and mostly cow calf, one feedlot.

Jedidiah Hewlett: So, it's kind of been a good mix. It's been good to see different management styles and how people [00:03:00] manage differently in different environments. 

Makayla Getz: That's really neat. And I bet that gives you a really unique perspective as well, working with producers in this area as well. 

Jedidiah Hewlett: Yes. There's a lot of sheep production in Converse County, a lot of range, range operations and yeah.

Makayla Getz: Great. So traditional question on the podcast. Since you do have this diverse background and everything, what does agriculture mean to you? 

Jedidiah Hewlett: Agriculture is a very diverse, uh, industry. I think there's a lot of things that we gloss over. Sure. When you think about agriculture, obviously, beef production is huge.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Sheep is kind of a strong second, but, crops fall in there too. Right. Commercial grain production. We've got, you know, fruit and nut orchards out in California that provide us with produce on a year round basis. The cotton industry is huge for textiles and, even [00:04:00] forestry I think falls under agriculture as well, and we work with the Forest Service a lot as one of our many partners. 

Makayla Getz: Yes, yes, for sure. 

Jedidiah Hewlett: So, agriculture, and it really involves everything from the coffee you drink in the morning to, the ice cream you eat before you go to bed. And the clothes we have on. Absolutely. 

Makayla Getz: And so, and I apologize, I do just want to back up a little bit.

Makayla Getz: How you came about to work in Extension. You have a unique connection to Extension. Yes. Your father works in Extension and has for a long time. 

Jedidiah Hewlett: Yes, my father, John Hewlett, has worked in Extension for 30 years. Yep. And I grew up going to some programs with him, just seeing kind of on the peripheries how Extension works, but it's been really neat to kind of step into a role in the system as well and be able to collaborate on a few things already.[00:05:00] 

Makayla Getz: That's great. And, sorry, I'm just going to keep asking you a couple more questions on your background. Did you always want to work in Extension? Were you worked on operations? Did you always see yourself stepping into an Extension role? 

Jedidiah Hewlett: No, actually. Okay, sure. My plan going through my bachelor's degree was to graduate, get as much, book experience as I could. And then take a branch management position right out of college. I attempted that and it didn't work very well, so I was looking for options. With the qualification of the master's, it was an easy decision. Easy fit to step into Extension, and I'm really glad I did.

Makayla Getz: No, that makes absolute sense. I also didn't see myself working in Extension. I knew I wanted to do something with agriculture, which I also, you know, when I started my bachelor's didn't know that that was the field for me. I just liked agriculture, liked communications, hence the podcast. Right. And. [00:06:00] Was working in, um, well started working actually in insurance when I started my full time working career.

Makayla Getz: Moved to digital marketing. Wasn't happy there, which, who knew? And then just, you know, kind of put two and two together. Agriculture makes me happy. Love that, I guess if you want to call that clientele, love the clientele, love being able to go out and work with producers and farmers and problem solve that way.

Makayla Getz: And so getting my master's, taking those classes, it was just that natural fit and Extension was that. 

Jedidiah Hewlett: You still, you do have your office, but your office is also someone's field. Right. Someone's cow calf operation. And it's a classroom as well, right? It is, yeah. We're educators, so it's easy to communicate in a lot of ways about what we love.

Makayla Getz: Okay, so hopping into today's podcast, we are going to talk about a few things and give some real world examples. We're talking about grazing in [00:07:00] drought conditions. And if you're in Wyoming, even if you're not, this is a Something we'll do, something we deal with all the time. So to get into that, we need to talk about a few other things first.

Makayla Getz: And for those who don't already know who are listening, Wyoming's climate is technically considered semi arid, even though we could argue it is arid and continental, depending on where you are, your elevation and location. Uh, so this type of climate affects a lot of factors, but most of those are going to be your precipitation, temperature, and humidity.

Makayla Getz: Uh, so for those of you who may not be aware, myself, Makayla , I am located in Park County. And so, on average, we get 11 inches of rainfall. We are extremely dry up in the northwest part of the state corner of Wyoming. The US average is 38 inches of rainfall. So most of our moisture [00:08:00] is coming from that mountain snowfall runoff and the county itself averages about 55 inches of snowfall. So Jedediah is going to talk to us a little bit about Converse County and share some info there just to again give us some more perspective on that semi arid continental. Conditions. 

Jedidiah Hewlett: Yeah. So Converse County is a little bit lower elevation. Douglas sits around 4, 900 feet and we get about 12 inches of precip per year.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Part of that is it's snow, part it's rain, but it really comes in the shoulder seasons of spring and fall. Right now we're sitting at about half of our annual precip, six inches or so for the year. And, in June we had three quarters of an inch. Over the whole month and at the end we were climbing into the 90s and some of those days So, yeah, we could definitely use some rain and yeah, you're absolutely right. 

Makayla Getz: So you [00:09:00] said that you were at for what was the elevation? Sorry 4, 900 so Park County is I think 5, 500 give or take. So what are the technical conditions that have to take place to be considered under those drought conditions? 

Jedidiah Hewlett: So generally, uh, people would agree that precipitation is deficient during a drought.

Jedidiah Hewlett: And so, uh, the drought monitor, U. S. drought monitor has come up with kind of short and long term measures to categories that, the land can fall into on the short term side, it's generally less than six months where we would see less than average precip. Sure. And that's mainly going to affect the grasslands and croplands.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Uh, but then on the long term trajectory, it's going to be longer than that six month time frame. And, uh, you're going to see more effects in the hydrologic and ecological systems. So. Lower [00:10:00] reservoir levels, lower groundwater levels, wetlands might be drier than usual, which kind of affects the whole biology of the system.

Makayla Getz: Right. Okay. Perfect. So, to jump back a little bit, because you mentioned, um, that drought scale and everything. So. Just, you know, keeping it on layman's terms in general here. What is the drought scale that's used to measure those drought conditions? Just really getting into that nitty gritty there. 

Jedidiah Hewlett: Yeah, so the U. S. Drought Monitor is, uh, based out of UNL. They use a scale of 1 to 4 to categorize drought. Okay. Uh, if it's assigned a zero, then that just means it's abnormally dry. Okay. But then from there it moves into moderate, severe, extreme, and exceptional drought. So they use a combination of some precipitation and evapotranspiration indices to determine which areas fall under those categories. And it happens on a rolling basis. So this is a, a feed of big data coming [00:11:00] in and there's researchers working around the clock to. And so what we're doing is we're trying to kind of assess what's what's going on and evaluating whether those observations on the ground are a true according to the model and so about every 2 weeks they roll out a new map and that can be found at drought monitor dot UNL dot edu if people would like to To sign up for the update.

Makayla Getz: Perfect. That was going to be my question, how often they rolled that out. So that's great. I know you mentioned that Converse County specifically in June had had 3 quarters of an inch of rain. So that kind of leads, and you guys had had 90 degree temperatures. So that kind of leads me into my next question. You know, every couple of weeks we're getting new information. What conditions are we currently sitting in? 

Jedidiah Hewlett: So, right now, about 58 percent of the [00:12:00] state is abnormally dry. Okay. We've got 27 percent in that first moderate drought category and about half a percent in severe drought. Okay. And there's a combination of short and long term. effects kind of mixed in there, so depending on where you are, you may or may not see these effects, but the High Plains region, which includes Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, are sitting about similar as far as the percentages in each category, but it's a little bit more in the D1 and D2 categories.

Makayla Getz: You've shed light on these conditions that we're currently in and the scales used to measure these, but when you're constantly in these drought conditions within the climate that we've defined Wyoming has across the state, what is [00:13:00] but when you're commonly in these conditions, or when you're constantly in these drought conditions, in this type of client, what effects do these types of conditions have on the different elements that you have on your property? Such as, you know, your crops that you're growing, your garden, etc.

Makayla Getz: Can you discuss Some of those factors or share some examples with us. 

Jedidiah Hewlett: Yeah. So one thing that's really important is a lot of times, especially when we're under rainfall dependence, uh, that drought can be very regional or location specific. Sure. So I was at a branding last week that was South of Douglas and the pastures were a foot thick of crested wheat grass and sweet clover.

Jedidiah Hewlett: It looked amazing. Right. Yesterday I was in the northern part of the county and it looked like grass had already gone dormant for the winter. It was so short and brown that it was [00:14:00] that big of a change. Right. Um, and so yeah, it, it really depends on where you are and what water resources you have, but Obviously, um, if you're going to be pulling stock water out of the ground, or if you're depending on reservoirs for stock water, drought's going to affect all those things.

Jedidiah Hewlett: And so one thing I wanted to bring up was in, in every year, but especially during drought is, it's especially important that we conserve water and try to, uh, increase that plant matter that's on the soil surface, just like a mulch in your garden, uh, to kind of, uh, help keep as much water in the soil as possible and help those grass plants out.

Jedidiah Hewlett: So, and this is going to be a little bit out of left field, if you will, but we have folks that are constantly moving to the state from Arizona, East Coast, West Coast, you know, just all over really. And I think sometimes the mentality, maybe, maybe, [00:15:00] we have a brand new garden, and they may know, or they may do their research, we have a brand new garden, Wyoming has a dry climate, let's just plug it with water.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Get as much water on there as possible. And that's not necessarily the wrong mentality because you do need irrigation, but like you mentioned, you do also have to conserve water. So do you have some advice maybe for those first time either, it could be your first time doing an alfalfa field or planting a garden, you know, just your first time homesteaders, I guess, if you will.

Jedidiah Hewlett: So there are a wide variety of soil moisture sensors that you can buy. And those can help you monitor soil moisture as you're watering. But another really easy indicator is to look at what the water is doing when you put it on the surface. If you're getting a lot of runoff or standing pools, you're probably irrigating too [00:16:00] fast.

Jedidiah Hewlett: And so, uh, one recommendation I found was especially, And so, um, what we did with regards to watering lawns was you water for say a 20 minute period and then let it soak for 10 or 15 minutes. Right. And so you're not constantly running the sprinkler, but you are applying enough water that those plants can thrive, but um, reducing the amount of waste water that's lost.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Absolutely. And there are water recycling systems too, if needed, that you can implement. Absolutely. Absolutely. Great. Capturing rainwater is another easy way to kind of stretch your well or if you're on the city. Use less water. 

Makayla Getz: That's great. So, You recently wrote an article for Wyoming Livestock Roundup highlighting this topic exactly, and you provide a few examples, or I'm sorry, a few different options, and I think it would be a really great opportunity for you to walk us through those different options.

Makayla Getz: Um, And the story example that you give in [00:17:00] that article, if you don't mind. 

Jedidiah Hewlett: Yeah. So I wrote it up as just kind of a, a typical scenario. A couple has a hundred cow calf pairs they're running. Uh, they were wanting to graze four months out of the year on just a native Wyoming rangeland. That's kind of low to middle productivity.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Um, but under drought conditions, they're looking at about, uh, 25 percent reduction in their forage, uh, availability and what their options are for meeting That deficit of forage. So the first option I run through is just to buy hay and feed through the drought. That's a really common one. Um, a second option would be to reduce the forage demand by selling off some of the breeding herd.

Jedidiah Hewlett: A third option would be to implement rotational grazing. Um, there's, there's many more options we could go through, but my goal with this paper was just to get [00:18:00] people to consider what options there are and see where they can save some money, especially, uh, when, when forage is short. And that's, that's a very valuable resource on a grazing operation.

Makayla Getz: Absolutely. And after reading through that, it seems like the first option. Absolutely plausible, especially if you have both the funds, someone to provide you hay, and somewhere to store the hay. And plus, it's possible, you know, you may already be in the hauling, or I'm sorry, you may already be hauling slash buying hay for other livestock on your property, and you could just simply increase, I say simply.

Makayla Getz: Not necessarily simple, but you could just increase your supply, uh, so it would just be a matter of do you have the ability to sustain that over X amount of time. Right. And so, in this scenario, they're only looking at feeding for 30 days. Sure. During the summer, the, the, uh, energy requirements of the cattle would be much lower than in the winter.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Right. So, if they already had those resources available, it's definitely an option. The trouble is, When cattle producers operate on [00:19:00] such slim margins, adding another expense is always kind of a downer. And so, um, just to throw some numbers out there, I think they were looking at buying 36 ton of hay at 200 a ton, plus the cost of delivering it to the cattle, it was going to be around 75 a head.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Which doesn't sound like a lot, but if that 75 a head is the difference between your break even and losing money, it can be a definite, uh, definitely a, an important consideration. Absolutely. 

Makayla Getz: And option two, to me, to me it's a, you never want to have to get rid of your stock. So to me, option two seemed Like, you could argue the worst case scenario, and that, that has a question mark at the end of it.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Right. Yep. And there's, there's a lot of different strategies people can use when they're selling livestock, especially in a coal situation. Obviously, early weaning is an easy one where you don't have to [00:20:00] dig into those cows and bulls that you really value. If that isn't an option, maybe looking at culling the bottom 10 percent of your cows that really aren't performing that well anyway.

Jedidiah Hewlett: You can be kind of selective in that. Uh, it was really interesting that our livestock marketing specialist, Rob, he contacted me with some data he pulled together looking at the seasonality of cold cow prices in Wyoming. And at least historically, the prices in August have been 11 to 20 percent, 11 to 20 per hundredweight higher in August than in January.

Jedidiah Hewlett: So, uh, there, there might be some opportunity to catch some seasonality of the cattle market as well when you're thinking about sowing, um, or selling, selling those breeding livestock. And maybe if you can work it right, buy them back cheaper than you sold them. Absolutely. 

Makayla Getz: Okay, [00:21:00] that's great. Then your third option discussed.

Makayla Getz: Rotational grazing has its advantages. For sure this is something, this, well, I was going to say this is a hot topic right now. It's a great topic across the board, period. Um, but can you walk us through some rotational grazing and how to calculate. One's range resources, because I think this is something that people get hung up on and we as Extension agents get calls about quite a bit.

Jedidiah Hewlett: So I just wanted to kind of define what I mean by rotational grazing. Yes, please. To me it just implies that you're not continuously grazing. There are some episodes during the season where you are allowing those livestock to graze and then Sure. You are rotating them to a different area and letting those areas that were previously grazed recover.[00:22:00] 

Jedidiah Hewlett: And two, for our visual learners, if you have a hundred acres and you divided your hundred acres out in four sets of twenty five, and you rotate those out in twenty five, twenty five, twenty five patches, or even fifty and fifty patches, that's your rotational, you rotate from one to the next, to the next, to the next.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Yes. Yeah. There's a lot of different, um, variations on this. Absolutely. Like high intensity, uh, you can do, I mean, some people go to multiple moves per day, which is on one end of the spectrum and other people, right? You can, you can put them on half the pasture for half your season and then the other half just depends on what works best.

Jedidiah Hewlett: But, um, the goal really is to graze in a moderated fashion so that. Um, as your different grasses respond based on their growth potential, the environmental factors like how much light and water is available, the temperature, [00:23:00] it all plays into how, uh, the grass is able to recover. But the goal is just to set up the grass for the best recovery possible.

Makayla Getz: Right. And to not graze it down so that it's just stubs and bare and, um, Right. Leaving, leaving leaves on the plant is the best way we can help grass because that's the solar collector. Exactly. If they don't have any leaves left when you leave the pasture, they really are stunted in their ability to regrow.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Yeah. And over time, they've done studies where the root mass actually declines under those scenarios and it, it's not sustainable. Absolutely. Yeah. So rotational grazing really depends. On a couple of factors to be successful, one is you have to have water access in all the pastures. Uh, that can be accomplished usually by putting a central watering point and doing kind of a wagon wheel approach to your fencing.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Um, if [00:24:00] that's not possible, you might have to run some extra pipelines or run alleyways, uh, to get around some of these areas you've grazed and, and have, so that the livestock can have access too. Uh, water. Right. The general recommendations that came out of some UNL work is that water should be less than one mile from any given point in the park.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Okay. Another thing that makes rotational grazing successful is to have really good control of your animal location. Usually people do this with, you know, temporary electric fencing and a lot of, a lot of it can be, the infrastructure can be purchased for a few hundred dollars and it then after that it's really just a matter of you putting in the time and management.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Sure. Having boots on the ground, but also doing those observational walks through your paddocks and making sure that everything's going good. [00:25:00] Right. So, um, a rule of thumb that's talked about a lot in grazing research is the take half, leave half rule. Whether that's determined by height or weight of the grass is, uh, is hotly debated, but usually, uh, by weight is more accurate.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Mm hmm. And, um, when we're thinking about how much the livestock will graze, we want to take into consideration if there will be any other uses of that forage. Okay. So, leaving half of the plant is a good thing, but if you take into consideration that wildlife are going to be eating that, insects, there's going to be some trampoline loss.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Uh, those sorts of things, then you really can't take half with your livestock. So, a lot of more conservative, uh, levels generally shoot for 25 35 percent harvest efficiency on the cattle or whatever livestock you're grazing. So [00:26:00] how then Or, um, let me back up. Is there a good way then to calculate your range resources or your range mass?

Jedidiah Hewlett: So what a lot of people do is put out exclosures at the beginning of the grazing season. Okay. So it's basically just like a four foot by four foot kind of hog wire cage staked into the ground. So that you can get a full year's growth on that area and then you go back at the end of the season, clip and weigh.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Is a really, uh, validated. That's the most traditional. Right. It's very, very well validated in, in research. And then, once you have that estimate, say it's 600 pounds per acre of forage, you can take your harvest efficiency, what's 25, 35%, and that's how much per acre your livestock will be able to graze in a sustainable fashion.

Makayla Getz: Okay. [00:27:00] Great. So we chatted about this a little bit, but I really, and I feel like maybe I see this a little bit more up in Park County than possibly here. I don't want to Harp that in. But I, but I feel like that's a fair statement. You know, I feel like we can't discredit those that are caring for animals on small pastures.

Makayla Getz: And by small pastures, I mean less than 50 acres. How do you recommend folks that are caring for animals and horses, goats, Sheep, chickens, etc. You know, just animals in general. Um, how do you recommend those folks dividing up their pasture for this rotational pattern that we just discussed? 

Jedidiah Hewlett: So, my number one thing I want to emphasize is we want to balance the capability of the [00:28:00] land with the demands of the livestock.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Absolutely. So, you might have a pretty productive acreage, might be under irrigation. Sure. And so you can put more animals on those acres. But if you have a dry land spot that, you know, is not very productive, grazing on those acres will be a much, uh, finer line to walk as far as how much the livestock will consume and then balancing that rotation, uh, you might just have to pull them into the corral and feed them for that period of time while you're waiting for the grass to regrow.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Right. And, um, depending on how, how much area you have to work with, like I said, getting water into all those paddocks might be kind of a challenge, so building an alleyway so that they can have access to the corral at all times might be how you get that accomplished. Um, but overgrazing is the number [00:29:00] one way to decrease the productivity on your land, so we want to avoid that.

Makayla Getz: Absolutely. And we've mentioned Jedediah's article in Wyoming Livestock Roundup. There are a lot of great resources in University of Wyoming extensions, publication, barnyards and backyards, almost any topic that you could. want to have covered for small acreage, whether it's supplemental feeds, getting your garden started, soil health, rotational grazing, etc.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Don't hesitate to Google barnyards and backyards slash UW extension. And that publication or all of those publications and the website will pop up and you can view those online. And another great resource people can access for a grazing calculator is the ranch tools [00:30:00] come out of UW Extension as well.

Makayla Getz: Absolutely. So speaking of resources, what other resources do people need to consider under these discussed drought conditions? Certainly anything to do with water is going to be affected by drought. So Uh, we're going to have to be very cognizant about well management, if that's something you deal with.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Livestock are going to need access to clean water at all times. Heat stress, obviously, in higher temperatures, uh, becomes a big concern. So mitigating that with shade, if possible, is really important. Some of our nitrate accumulators on the plant side. Uh, will create a higher risk of nitrate poisoning in drought conditions because of the low water stress.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Right. So these include corn, oat hay, sorghum, sudan, those, uh, if those are cut for hay, uh, keep that in mind. [00:31:00] Koshas and the Russian thistles, if those are grazed, uh, those can accumulate nitrates as well. So, if you have a concern or if you have an area. that is, uh, dominated by those plants, then you might want to get those tested before livestock graze those.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Absolutely. Another thing to consider is a lot of our poisonous plants are forbs, and so if those green up, uh, sooner than the grasses at the beginning of the year because of, uh, low water access, then, uh, Those might become a higher risk of being grazed because they are the most palatable thing out in the pasture at that time.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Yep. Another thing is the wildfire risk is increased, uh, during drought conditions. So, making sure we're very careful if we're building a branding fire, if we're welding outside, uh, burning trash, any of those sorts of things. Make sure we minimize the risk of igniting a fire. [00:32:00] Absolutely. And to jump backwards just a little bit on the topic of, you know, the nitrate accumulators and the poisonous plants.

Jedidiah Hewlett: If you have questions, comments, concerns, if you're unsure what to do. weed slash plants you see growing before what you planted, call your local extension office and or your local weed and pest office. Uh, we are all partners. We work together. Chances are, everybody knows each other. So don't hesitate to reach out, contact either one of us, both of us, all of us, and we're all happy to help you.

Jedidiah Hewlett: We will come out and take samples. We'll find out what's in your field slash backyard, et cetera. And then as far as Jedidiah's comment on the wildfire risks, don't hesitate to reach out to your local forestry office. And if you're not on social media, you know, they always post on social media the, uh, wildfire [00:33:00] bans, but you can also call into that office and they'll let you know if there's a wildfire ban, uh, in effect.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Uh, we talked about irrigation resources, but are there any other Additions that you want to add there also since we did touch on water just on the water conservation side Drought is a great time to check your pipelines and ditches for absolutely that might have crept in Checking your sprinkler heads to make sure you're getting adequate coverage and uh Just make again making sure you're not wasting water if possible.

Jedidiah Hewlett: This is a Something to keep in mind 

Makayla Getz: great That was all phenomenal information. Thank you so much for your time Jedediah. Before we close out, you are here in Douglas in Converse County. Are there any upcoming events, information, general things that you would like to share with [00:34:00] us? 

Jedidiah Hewlett: So there's a lot happening here in the next few weeks.

Jedidiah Hewlett: Um, the Central Wyoming Fair in Casper will be. Beginning, uh, the day after 4th of July, that'll be at the Casper Fairgrounds. Sheep and Wool Festival will be in Thermopolis July 12th through the 14th in Thermopolis. , converse County Fair will be here in Douglas, July 13th through the 20th At the Wyoming State Fairgrounds, we've got at least two rodeos, a bronc riding event.

Jedidiah Hewlett: And obviously the 4 H shows and exhibitions will be going on during that week. Wyoming State Fair will be in Douglas August 10th through the 18th. And we also have farmer markets season beginning here at the beginning of August. We'll have our first one August 10th at Jackalope Square in Douglas from 9 a.

Jedidiah Hewlett: m to [00:35:00] 12 p. m. And those will be continuing every Saturday through the 18th. 14th of September. Then over in our smaller community, Glen Rock, there will be the Sheep Herders Rendezvous, August 23rd through the 25th at the town park. 

Makayla Getz: Well, just a few events. That's fantastic though. 

Makayla Getz: Thank you so much for your time again.

Makayla Getz: Uh, everybody, we will include Jedidiah's contact information, the article that he wrote, as well as a few other resources that were mentioned throughout the podcast today. If this is your first time tuning in, my name is Makayla Getz . I am the University of Wyoming Extension Agriculture and natural resources educator out of Park County.

Makayla Getz: And I am your host for this podcast from the Cowboy state. And we were joined today by Jedidiah Hewlett out of Converse County in Douglas, Wyoming. for the opportunity. all so much. This is

Makayla Getz: [00:36:00] the University of Wyoming extension podcast. The university is committed to equal opportunity for all persons in. all facets of the university's operations and is an equal opportunity slash affirmative action employer. If you have any questions, comments, concerns about this statement, please don't hesitate to reach out to mgets.

Makayla Getz: At uw.edu and we can get your questions answered. And if you have any questions, comments, concerns about the podcast as well, again, don't hesitate to reach out to that email address, mgetz@uwyo.edu . Again, this has been a University of Wyoming Extension, [00:37:00] agriculture and Natural Resources Podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in.