Due to a severe drought, the USDA is granting ruminant livestock producers in the following New Mexico and Texas counties with a temporary variance:
New Mexico Counties: Catron, Cibola, Curry, De Baca, Roosevelt, San Miguel, and Socorro. View Letter
Texas Counties: Bastrop, Lamb, and Travis. View Letter
The variance involves the following sections of the USDA organic regulations: ��205.237(c)(1,2) and 205.239(a)(2).
During the grazing season, producers having access to irrigated pasture may not provide more than an average of 85 percent of a ruminant's dry matter demand from dry matter fed. Dry matter fed does not include dry matter grazed from residual forage or vegetation rooted in pasture.
