He said the impacts of drought can be reduced by supplemental feeding in bad years and developing a variety of browse species in good years. Rollins cautions against the potential exposure of wildlife to aflatoxins when feeding corn. He said aflatoxin levels tend to be higher when corn matures under dry conditions like those seen this year. A doe can pass on the toxin to her fawn through the milk, and these toxins can lead to reproduction problems. Rollins said that practicing some type of deferred rotation grazing system not only benefits livestock production, but also reduces competition for food between deer and livestock.
Water is another concern for wildlife during droughts.
Many species of wildlife benefit from livestock watering troughs and farm ponds. He said it is often desirable to adjust the float valve on the tank so that the trough overflows and forms a seep on the ground. He said the large grasshopper and cricket populations this summer are beneficial to game birds. Fish in the state are suffering where water levels in farm ponds are quickly depleting. Rollins said ponds with low water levels are more likely to have low levels of oxygen as well.