Jim Huey with the Person Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) said Tuesday that his office applied for one of the 25 Truax Flex II-88 no-till grass drills the N.C. Foundation for Soil and Water Conservation purchased for use in pasture renovation in hopes of accelerating the renovation of pastures hurt here by last year’s drought.

Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler last week announced the arrival of the first load of equipment that farmers in 25 soil and water conservation districts can rent to renovate drought-damaged pastures.

“The 25 districts selected by the foundation to receive these drills contain more than 15,600 farms and 809,000 acres of pasture land,” Troxler said in a press release. “A lot of that land needs to be renovated before it can be truly productive again. Having these drills available should help speed up the process.”

According to Person County Cooperative Extension Service Director Derek Day, however, “Person County farmers have been on the cutting edge of no-till for years. We adopted [the practice] early on and are well ahead of the curve.”

Day said his office plans to hold a pasture renovation day on Aug. 21 to show farmers the cheapest way to renovate pastures.

There are roughly 35,000 acres of pasture land in Person County, according to Kim Woods, animal science and natural resources agent with the county Extension office.

She said that she had seen a 40 percent reduction in plant species in pastures here this spring, but that is much better than she would have predicted last fall, when the drought was at its worst.

Overall, she said, the pastures she has seen “are not in as bad condition as I would have thought last fall. We were lucky to get winter and spring rains.”

Five of the state-purchased no-till drills arrived last week at the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Mountain Research Station in Waynesville for distribution to soil and water districts in Buncombe, Caldwell, Lincoln, Madison and Rutherford counties. Each district will get a drill.

Twenty additional drills will arrive at delivery sites across the state over the next month, according to Troxler’s office. These drills will go to the Person, Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Chatham, Davidson, Davie, Granville, Guilford, Halifax, Orange, Rockingham, Rowan, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Union, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin districts.

Huey said Person’s drill will be delivered to Oxford, but he has no specific delivery date yet.

The foundation selected districts based on need and pasture acreage, said Cecil Settle, the group’s executive director.

Farmers in the selected districts should contact their district Soil and Water Conservation office about renting a drill. Districts will set the rental fees, but the foundation has recommended a range of $8 to $10 per acre, Settle said.

“They’re really good for small operators who might lack the resources to buy one themselves for a small number of acres,” he said, adding that the drills can be used with a 40-horsepower tractor.

The Person district has not determined the rental fee for the drill here. Huey said the SWCD board would determine the cost soon.

The foundation purchased the drills using an allocation of $370,800 approved last month by the Council of State. The council is composed of the governor, Troxler and eight other elected state leaders.