USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds drought-impacted ranchers that they may be eligible for financial assistance through the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) to cover above normal expenses for hauling water or feed to livestock or hauling livestock to forage or grazing acres.

“Severe and widespread drought conditions are having a catastrophic impact on crops, grazing acres, livestock and agricultural operations statewide,” Kelly Adkins, state executive director for FSA in Texas, said. “Livestock producers should check in with FSA to request available ELAP assistance to help offset the above normal economic impacts of providing water, feed and forage to carry livestock through these extremely harsh weather conditions.”

For eligible producers in qualifying counties, ELAP provides financial assistance for:

• the transportation of water to livestock;
• the above normal cost of mileage for transporting feed to livestock; and
• the above normal cost of transporting livestock to forage/grazing acres.*
  • *Hauling livestock one-way, one haul per animal reimbursement and no payment for “empty miles.”

Eligible livestock include cattle, bison, goats and sheep, among others, that are maintained for commercial use and located in a county where qualifying drought conditions occur. A county must have had D2 severe drought intensity on the U.S. Drought Monitor for eight consecutive weeks during the normal grazing period, or D3 or D4 drought intensity at any time during the normal grazing period. Producers must have risk in both eligible livestock and eligible grazing land in an eligible county to qualify for ELAP assistance.

Transporting water

For ELAP water transportation assistance, ranchers must be transporting water to eligible livestock on eligible grazing land where adequate livestock watering systems or facilities were in place before the drought occurred and where water transportation is not normally required. ELAP covers costs associated with personal labor, equipment, hired labor and contracted water transportation fees. Cost of the water itself is not covered. The ELAP payment formula uses a national average price per gallon.

Transporting feed

ELAP provides financial assistance to livestock producers who incur above normal expenses for transporting feed to livestock during drought. The payment formula excludes the first 25 miles and any mileage over 1,000 miles. The reimbursement rate is 60% of the costs above what would normally have been incurred during the same time period in a normal (non-drought) year.

Transporting livestock

ELAP provides financial assistance to livestock producers who are hauling livestock to a new location for feed resources due to insufficient feed or grazing in drought-impacted areas. As with transporting feed, the payment formula for transporting livestock excludes the first 25 miles and any mileage over 1,000 miles. The reimbursement rate is 60% of the costs above what would normally have been incurred during the same time period in a normal (non-drought) year.

An online tool is now available to help ranchers document and estimate payments to cover feed and livestock transportation costs caused by drought. Download the tool and view the demonstration video.

Reporting losses

For calendar year 2022 forward, producers must submit a notice of loss to their local FSA office within 30 calendar days of when the loss is apparent. Producers should contact FSA as soon as the loss of water or feed resources are known.

For ELAP eligibility, documentation of expenses is critical. Producers should maintain records and receipts associated with the costs of transporting water to eligible livestock, the costs of transporting feed to eligible livestock, and the costs of transporting eligible livestock to forage or other grazing acres.

Additional drought assistance

ELAP assistance is also available to producers impacted by wildfire. Contact the local FSA office for more information on ELAP resources for wildfire losses. Beekeepers also can benefit from ELAP provisions and should contact their county FSA office within 15 calendar days of when a loss occurs or is apparent.

FSA is now accepting applications for the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) to provide financial assistance to eligible producers for 2022 grazing losses due to a qualifying drought or fire. The deadline to apply for 2022 LFP assistance is Jan. 30, 2023.

More than 200 Texas counties have met the drought severity levels that trigger LFP eligibility for the 2022 program year. For LFP, qualifying drought triggers are determined using the U.S. Drought Monitor A list of LFP eligible counties and grazing crops can be found on the FSA Texas webpage.

More information

Additional disaster assistance information can be found on farmers.gov, including the Farmers.gov Drought Webpage, Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster-at-a-Glance fact sheet and Farm Loan Discovery Tool.

Farmers and ranchers can determine if their county qualifies for FSA Livestock Forage Disaster Programs here.

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New season hunting, fishing licenses available

Texas hunters and anglers will be able to purchase new-year hunting and fishing licenses online and at retailers statewide starting Monday, Aug. 15.

Single-year licenses, unless otherwise noted, expire at the end of August before dove hunting season begins for the north and central zones.

This year, license types will remain the same, but hunters and anglers will have a new option for proving they have a valid license.

“A couple of years back, there was some legislation that passed that allowed for an electronic version of a license to be displayed any time you are hunting or angling for a species that does not require tags,” Mike Hobson, license manager for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said. “Obviously, with a digital license, it’s a little bit different this year, but if you have a print super combo, and you want to go freshwater fishing, as long as you have either a picture of that license on your phone, or if you have one of our apps synced to your license account using your customer number, you can pull up the license that you’ve purchased and display that to a warden if asked.”

Hunters and anglers can enter their license information in the Outdoor Annual app under the licenses section.

A paper license and tags are still required when targeting game that requires tagging, like white-tailed deer or turkey.

This year, the department is also testing a new feature with some license holders.

“We’re doing a pilot program with our resident super combo, senior super combo and lifetime super combo holders,” Hobson told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “Those individuals have the opportunity to participate in a completely digital experience that would involve no print license at all. Everything would be done through the Outdoor Annual App and My Texas Hunt Harvest app.”

Tagging would also be digital through the pilot program.

“The digital tagging is done through the My Texas Hunt Harvest App. There’s actually more information currently available on our website at TPWD.texas.gov/digitaltags. There is an information page that gives the details on what to expect and how to digitally tag a harvest,” Hobson said.

Participation in the pilot program is not required.

“You’ll have the option, online, to select whether you would like to go print or digital. If you go to a retail location, then it’s obviously going to be a print license,” Hobson said.

There are several different options for those needing a hunting and/or fishing license in Texas.

Single-year licenses are available as licenses for youth, seniors and non-residents.

Combination licenses and lifetime licenses are also available.

“We have several different combo licenses. Our most popular is our super combo license, which includes everything that you could possibly want to hunt or fish throughout any season in Texas,” Hobson said. “We have a combo hunting and freshwater license. You can do a combo hunting and all water license or a combo hunting and saltwater license.”

The combo licenses do not include a federal duck stamp that’s required for waterfowl hunters or the Harvest Information Program (HIP) certification because those are federal programs.

Several licenses will have new names this year.

“We have our item 107, which was formally known as a non-resident special hunting license. That’s been renamed to the non-resident special small game/exotic hunting license,” Hobson said. “Item 157, which is a non-resident five-day special hunting license, has been changed to the non-resident five-day special small game/exotic hunting license. We found that individuals were purchasing those licenses, thinking that they could hunt deer, turkey or big game, and that’s actually not accurate.”

Hunting and fishing licenses may be purchased at about 1,700 locations across the state, at TPWD offices and at Texas state parks.