A local official is writing a letter to the Governor's Office of Emergency Services asking the county to be named a "disaster area" for drought conditions present over the past three years.
Last week, Monterey County was named a "disaster area" by the United States Department of Agriculture due to drought conditions in King City and the southern areas of the county. With that designation, farmers and ranchers now are eligible to apply for "low-interest loans or feed supplemental loans," Matulich said.
In San Benito County over the last two years, Matulich pointed out that the estimates of lost cattle production have been about $8 million due to drought conditions, stemming from a 45 percent reduction in cattle feed or forage.
"The problems is, these guys have to cut their herd size down," Matulich said, "reducing the size of them so they can have enough feed to get them through the year."
Most local ranchers have wells to water and haven't relied heavily on blue-valve water. Many "farmed with wells before San Felipe," Matulich said. But with water becoming harder and harder to come by, many are returning to wells that haven't been in use for a while.
"A lot of (ranchers) are going to have to do well repair because they haven't been used," he said. "Some are even drilling new wells."
For those reliant on the blue-valve water, Matulich added they will "probably" have to cut back due to a minimal allocation from the federal government.
Ranchers have a couple of options to reduce the size of their herds. One is to sell cattle up to eight weeks early, while the other option is to send part of the herd to other areas. Matulich said it is costly to send cattle from California to places such as Oregon or Wyoming, where conditions currently are better. Matulich also projected herd sizes to be reduced by around 30 to 50 percent.
In terms of the actual number of cattle in the county, Matulich said that the "general herd size" for the entire county - including bulls, cows and calves - is around 36,000. This year, it has dropped from 36,000 to somewhere in the range of 28,000 to 30,000 head, Matulich said. He added that these numbers were only "ball-park figures."
To illustrate how dry it has been in the county, Matulich said that over the last year, 8.5 inches fell within the area. These figures are taken from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009. For the previous year, the county received just 7.1 inches of rain, compared with the 100-year average of 13.5 inches per year.
This is the third consecutive year of drought conditions in the county, but "things could change with an early rainy season," Matulich said. However, if the rain doesn't come early, "we're going into the fourth year."
Matulich said he had planned to send the letters after he has county staff and some supervisors read it.
Colin McConville Colin McConville is a reporter with the Hollister Free Lance. You can reach him by email or at (831) 637-5566.
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