North Coast farm disaster

The driest spring on record has taken a striking toll on the North Coast's pastures and hayfields, with more than $22 million in losses from drought and freeze reported.

Requests for disaster aid from 24 California counties put the losses at more than $124 million statewide, primarily pastureland and field crops that provide livestock feed.

"We just didn't have the growth in the springtime," said Doug Beretta, a Santa Rosa dairy farmer and the president of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau.

Beretta this week drove across his 400-acre valley farm, bouncing along the straw-colored fields that he said normally don't look this dry until August. Weeds usually held in check by the grasses are the only green growth among the giant oak trees.

The farm's irrigated pasturelands had their growth checked by cold spring nights and may turn brown by mid-September because of a shortage of treated wastewater from the nearby regional sewage plant.

Beretta estimates his pastures and fields may produce only half the grass, hay and fodder for future feed of a normal year. For some ranches, the results may be even worse.

The greatest damage on the North Coast was in Marin County, with an estimated $10 million from less forage and extra feed costs.

Very few county ranchers irrigate their land, and "we are wholly reliant on Mother Nature for grass production," said Marin County Agricultural Commissioner Stacy Carlsen. Ninety-five percent of the county's agricultural production is tied to pastureland.

Many ranchers and farmers now face three unwelcome choices: spend more for hay, sell off breeding stock or find more pastureland for the cattle, sheep and dairy animals.

As a result of the drought and unseasonably cold weather, Sonoma County reported $3 million in losses.

In Lake County, cold mornings caused about $4 million in damage to pears, $3 million to grapes and $1 million to walnuts, said Agricultural Commissioner Steve Hajik. The county also reported more than $1.6 million in losses to hay crops and pasture, for total losses of $9.6 million.

Mendocino County has not yet filed a crop disaster report.

The county crop loss reports are the first step in seeking federal farm disaster aid. The total losses could rise as officials from other counties add in other crops that won't receive as much irrigation water this summer.

Ranchers and dairymen already are facing sharply higher hay and grain prices. Beretta recently paid $240 a ton for wheat hay, up $55 from last year.

Many ranchers fear that the costs for hay and grain will continue to rise because of decreased production from both drought and the Midwest floods. Feed costs also may rise because of rising fuel prices and the increased use of corn to make ethanol.

"That's the part that's kind of scary now because no one knows where it's going to settle out," Joe Pozzi, a sheep and cattle rancher near Bodega, said of the feed costs.

The problem of low precipitation was compounded by an unusually prolonged number of cold nights this spring. Some fields also suffered from drying winds.

"The land we own has probably been impacted as much as we have ever seen," said Norm Yenni, whose family owns Sears Point Farming Co. near Infineon Raceway.

Yenni this year harvested 1.25 tons of oat hay per acre, roughly the amount that the same ground produced during the drought that began in 1976. A normal harvest yields 2.5 tons to 3 tons per acre, he said.

Similarly, Cheryl LaFranchi said the hay harvested on her cattle ranch in Knights Valley normally totals 6,000 to 8,000 bales a season. This year her family took in only 2,180 bales.

LaFranchi will buy more hay but also plans to mix in some rice straw, which has no nutritive value for her cattle.

"They're going to see how the poor folk live this year," she said of her 400 head of Black Angus.

Federal officials said the recently approved farm bill will provide aid for farmers who suffer drought and other disasters. The regulations are still being written, but the situation in California appears dire enough to trigger some level of federal assistance.

"Eventually we will probably have these drought designations approved for all the counties in the state," said Larry Plumb, an official for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285

or robert.digitale@

pressdemocrat.com.