Bray talks drought, hay; calls for better relationships in navigating tough issues

Zandon Bray, of Bray Ranches, told the Forum there’s always some sort of challenge in agriculture; sometimes you just don’t know where it’s coming from. His family was hauling water for their cows this year, but presently they’re not. They’ve moved their cows onto a U.S. Forest Service permit, and he said they’re one of the lucky few not having to transport water. Some are, even on grazing permits. Still, Brays will have to haul water once they come off their permit this fall.

He admitted it’s worse this year.

“There’s no question about it,” Bray said. “We saw it coming last winter, as far as the weather goes.”

He said last fall it was somewhat wet, and a few decent storms rolled in. The local area went into winter in OK shape, but then precipitation stopped.

“It was a lack of winter,” Bray said, “not light, but no winter at all. We saw that early on, and we knew that would be a tough go.”

The Forum asked if Brays ever cut hay. He said they try, but since 2018 they’ve only been able to twice. The other time was in 2023. Basically, their hay crop is nonexistent now. He said their old, developed hayfields of grass and alfalfa haven’t survived the ongoing drought, year in and year out.

“Our long-term hay production over decades is all gone now,” he said.

These days, they’re planting some grains that must be seeded every year. They hope to get forage off those. They’ve planted 300 acres of dryland grass to get something growing in the ground.

Like others, they’ll be buying hay this winter. They’ve got one contact in Nucla, and despite typically having good water, that source is also not operating at capacity. Bray said his family may travel as far as 700 miles to find hay that’s affordable, but then trucking it back has to be factored in. And, they’re not the only ones looking for hay.

With cattle prices good, they aim to hold onto their cows, yet their fall and winter range are in bad shape. They’ll likely send cows out of the area to winter on cornstalk pastures.

The high prices are a good thing amidst the struggle, but the extra money is really going straight toward feed costs; that money is not staying in the bank, Bray said.

“The double-edge sword,” he explained is the drought contributing to the high beef prices.

Is he worried about wolves?

While he’s not concerned about the local area at this point, he’s concerned for other producers, because it’s a problem throughout the state. Bray said there’s still no understanding of management and available tools. He admitted Colorado Parks and Wildlife is in a tough position with what they’re allowed to do in handling conflicts. If things keep moving in the direction they are, wolves will be in the local area at some point.

The Forum asked Bray if he thought things might change with a new administration in Colorado. He said he hopes so, but the bigger picture is about working together in a better way.

“Right now, we have torn relationships with leadership in Colorado. Any new administration, I think whoever is in leadership, they (must) realize challenges have to be overcome.”

Bray said nobody is going to agree with everyone on every issue, but relationships are key. He said politics have become so polarizing that if people disagree on one issue, they tend to disagree on all issues.

“It’s too bad,” he said. “It takes all parties and all sides to make things go.”

Bray said drought affects everybody. He was just at a meeting in Norwood and the question at hand is “How do we live within this drought?”

“That’s the reality,” he said.

Bray talks drought, hay; calls for better relationships in navigating tough issues

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