00:00These cows are not supposed to look like this, emaciated, with their ribs showing.
00:10They are the victims of one of Brazil's worst droughts in living memory.
00:15Here in the northeastern state of Bahia, farmers are worried about the extreme weather and
00:20its impact on their herds.
00:24The cattle suffered a lot.
00:26What we mean by that is that they lost weight.
00:29They felt the drought.
00:30The drought was noticeable in a different way.
00:34This year was not typical.
00:36They lost a lot of weight.
00:40The lack of rain affected the pasture on Cleber Diniza's ranch.
00:44That in turn impacted the quality of feed that the cows need to thrive.
00:50Cleber feared some of the cows would not survive because of the lack of proper nutrition.
00:58The worry is exactly that.
01:00The cows become weak, lay down and die.
01:04Despite the challenge, Cleber has managed to get through the year without losing any
01:09cattle.
01:10But he realised, in order to avoid deaths during the next inevitable crisis, he needed
01:16to take action, now.
01:20This involves creating as much food for the herd as possible, by growing more crops, especially
01:26corn.
01:27But to do this, he needs to irrigate larger areas of his farm.
01:34And that costs money.
01:37A lot depends on financial resources.
01:42If you have irrigation, then you are able to control the amount of water.
01:48So if, for example, it does not rain, then you can still guarantee the corn harvest.
01:54So we are spending money on irrigation, and that is not cheap.
02:00Providing food during a drought looks likely to gobble up a large part of the budget of
02:05small farmers like Cleber for years to come.
02:09But facing down climate change is no mean feat.
02:12And Cleber says it's only by taking the right steps at the right time that he'll have a
02:17chance of keeping his herd alive and healthy.
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