Reporter
rseaborn@ pickenssentinel.com
UPSTATE - While Upstate residents use water sparingly, and local water system set in place plans geared at safeguarding this natural resource, area farmers are breaking open hay intended for pastured animals' winter feed and pray for a series of soaking rains.
"I'm worried," said Doug Mason, of Six Mile. "The grass in my pastures is gone, but it's the water that's got me most concerned."
While South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford didn't mandate water restrictions for the drought-stricken Upstate, the Drought Response Committee added nine more counties to the already five suffering from extreme drought conditions.
With Pickens, Oconee, Greenville, Spartanburg and Cherokee Counties falling into extreme drought levels last month, Anderson, Laurens, Union, Abbeville, McCormick, Edgefield, Saluda, Greenwood, and Newberry Counties joined the growing list Tuesday.
State Climatologist Hope Mizzell said just because Sanford didn't call for mandated water restrictions during last week's committee meeting, the possibility remains for future ordered limitations, depending on the amount of rainfall the Upstate's receives.
"There's no way to predict this," Mizzell said.
Pickens County, and surrounding counties, would need several days of a soaking rain to recover from the deepening drought situation, she said.
"It really depends on the amount and duration of the rain events, and the time of year," Mizzell said. "As we get into fall and winter, you have to factor in the reduced evaporation and water use."
Mason said he is already feeding his cattle the spring cutting of hay while hoping for a good rainfall so grass will mature to produce enough for a fall harvest of hay to see him through the winter months.
"It's going to be a bad winter if it doesn't rain," he said. "But if it was to rain, we'd have plenty.
Purchasing feed for the winter months isn't an option, Mason said.
"It's just too much money," he said. "A roll of hay might cost $40, but it is going to cost an additional $20 to haul it.
"Shipping feed for cattle is really costing us," he said. "Right now, we're just doing the best we can."
With increasing fuel prices and limited sources of grain due to the extended drought driving up the price of feed for pastured animals, Mason said selling some of his cattle may be the only avenue he could take in saving the rest.
"If it comes right down to it, we'll just have to sell," he said. "It's looking bad.
"It is looking real, real bad."
Although food costs is a serious problem for farmers, the decreasing amount of water on farmlands pose even a bigger threat to local farmsteads, Mason said.
"My water supply is less than half of what it normally is," he said. "We conserve water here, and we don't waste it, but our animals have got to have water."
Mandatory water usage restrictions are already in place in Pickens and Clemson due to the ever-diminishing levels in water reserves. with Central officials are asking residents to voluntarily conserve water
Yet, local farmers are facing a dismal fall and winter unless climate changes result in rainfall.
"I just don't know what is going to happen," Mason said. "I am just praying to the Lord to send rain."
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