SUDBURY, Vt. (WCAX) - Drought conditions are taking a toll on Addison County farmers. Despite a burst of much-needed rain over the weekend, this summer’s sun-baked conditions are posing a brittle battle for farmers and livestock.
Brian Kemp raises some 900 cows for a New York dairy farm.
Two years on since the 2023 floods, he says this spring was off to a soggy start.
“It’s like a switch got flipped and it went extreme the other way,” said Kemp of Mountain Meadows Farm.
Despite about an inch of rain passing through the region over the weekend, farmers say this summer’s historic drought conditions are taking a toll, cracking dry earth and parching grass.
“It felt like if you dropped a match at one end of the farm, it was going to burn across it was so dry,” Kemp said.
No water means l