National & World Ag News Headlines Texas Drought Conditions Looking Much Better USAgNet - 05/09/2012 What's surprising in early May is not that West Texas is so dry, but that the eastern half of the state is in relatively good condition, said Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon, state climatologist and regents professor at Texas A&M University. "The thing that was unexpected was having East Texas not be in an extreme drought right now," Nielsen-Gammon said. "We had a second year of La Niña last winter. It just finally ended officially last month. And normally, four years out of five, you end up with a dry winter. So things have worked out as well as possibly can be expected for East Texas." Unfortunately, West Texas is doing as expected, and is in the second year of major drought, Nielsen-Gammon noted. Reports from Texas AgriLife Extension Service county agents tell just how dire the situation is in parts of West Texas. The weekly comments of Ryan Martin, AgriLife Extension agent for Motley County, southeast of Amarillo, is representative of many county agent’s reports coming from West Texas. Motley County hasn’t received any rainfall for several weeks, and hot, dry winds have prevailed. "Ranchers are seeing pastures turn brown overnight, and cattle are running out of grazing very quickly," Martin said. "Producers are being forced to start feeding supplements and hay that has just been bailed up." He says summer grasses are trying to come out, but without any moisture, they have just stalled. At this time there is no moisture to 24 inches deep. If there's any other good news, it’s that North Atlantic Ocean sea-surface temperatures are near normal, Neilsen-Gammon said. "For Texas, that would seem to indicate that we might be getting more rainfall (this summer) than we have for the past several years." Send this article to a friend Other National Headlines Stricter Country-of-Origin Labels on Meat Imposed Senate Farm Bill Floor Consideration Begins House Ag Holds First Hearing in Process of CFTC Reauthorization Global Seed Treatment Market to Reach $4.45 Billion by 2018 Monsanto Launches Online Insect Forecasting Tool Johanns Offers, Cosponsors Amendments to Improve Farm Bill Wisconsin Raw Milk Trial to Continue into Next Week Copyright © 2013 - USAgNet.com. All Rights Reserved.