Hot Dry Conditions Create Problems for Area Farms, Hay Shortage Coming in the Near Future
July 20, 2022
Kadee Brosseau DeCourley
Unusually high temperatures and lack of rain is making conditions throughout southwest Missouri very hot and dry. While many people find the drought conditions uncomfortable, area farmers are concerned about how it is impacting their livelihoods.
“With it being as dry as it is this early, it is causing a decrease in the amount of hay being put up in our area. That and the fact that people are going to start feeding hay really early in the year is going to cause a shortage this fall. The last time it was this dry was 2012 and it caused hay to more than double in price,” Cattle Farmer Jason Westrip said.
Westrip is one of many farmers who is dreading having to feed hay months earlier than he typically does.
“We usually have fall pasture that we turn our cows out on, which helps us usually not start feeding hay until November. If the drought continues we won’t have any fall pasture and we will start feeding hay next month, so that extends our hay feeding season three months this year,” Westrip explained.
A longer feeding season means hay will be in high demand and in short supply.
“When farmers have to start going through their hay supply this early, by winter hay will be a scarce commodity. When you combine that with the extremely high cost of fertilizer and fuel, hay will get so high it will force farmers to sell cattle because it won’t be cost efficient to feed them,” Westrip said.
Field Specialist in Agronomy with the University of Missouri Extension Tim Schnakenberg said he’s hearing similar concerns from farmers throughout the county.
“I have been on the phone with farmers who are debating, do they cut hay or do they wait? Because if they cut hay they’re going to expose the crowns of the grass to this heat,” Schnakenberg said.
Many farmers have already started to sell off some of their herds in anticipation of the hay shortage.
“Hay is not being traded much right now because people are hanging on to it. That's a huge concern. So, you’re going to see long lines at the sale barns because people are culling out cattle that they’re not sure they need to keep because they’re not sure they can feed them,” Schnakenberg said. “We are probably going to have a lot of herds thinned down in the coming weeks.”
However, Schnakenberg explained that the drought not only causes the grass not to grow well, but it also can potentially cause harmful materials to be present in the grass that cattle are eating.
“We have the potential for nitrate toxicity and that happens sometimes with certain forages like Sudangrass, Johnson Grass, Millet, where they’ve applied nitrogen but the plant is not really growing very well, so there is potential for nitrate toxicity. I have not heard of anyone losing cattle yet, but it is possible that we could have some cattle deaths as a result of nitrate,” Schnakenberg said.
Similarly, prussic acid can also be present in grasses during drought conditions, which can be harmful to cattle.
“Some extension offices have a solution that farmers can bring their forage in to have tested. It’s a quick test. If they do have a concern, we encourage them to send samples to a laboratory,” Schnakenberg said.
While the drought could cost farmers more money in hay costs, it also means that farmers get paid less for the cattle they sell.
“The drought is already saturating the cattle market and is in turn driving down the prices. Not only is the market saturated, the demand is down because of lack of pasture so I look for the prices to continue to fall,” Westrip said.
That’s why many farmers are praying for rain, as temperatures continue to reach above 100 degrees.
“[The little rain on Sunday] didn’t hit most of us and if you got a shower, it wasn’t much. So, we are still in serious condition,” Schnakenberg said.
The current drought monitor can be found at www.droughtmonitor.unl.edu.
Unusually high temperatures and lack of rain is making conditions throughout southwest Missouri very hot and dry. While many people find the drought conditions uncomfortable, area farmers are concerned about how it is impacting their livelihoods.
“With it being as dry as it is this early, it is causing a decrease in the amount of hay being put up in our area. That and the fact that people are going to start feeding hay really early in the year is going to cause a shortage this fall. The last time it was this dry was 2012 and it caused hay to more than double in price,” Cattle Farmer Jason Westrip said.
Westrip is one of many farmers who is dreading having to feed hay months earlier than he typically does.
“We usually have fall pasture that we turn our cows out on, which helps us usually not start feeding hay until November. If the drought continues we won’t have any fall pasture and we will start feeding hay next month, so that extends our hay feeding season three months this year,” Westrip explained.
A longer feeding season means hay will be in high demand and in short supply.
“When farmers have to start going through their hay supply this early, by winter hay will be a scarce commodity. When you combine that with the extremely high cost of fertilizer and fuel, hay will get so high it will force farmers to sell cattle because it won’t be cost efficient to feed them,” Westrip said.
Field Specialist in Agronomy with the University of Missouri Extension Tim Schnakenberg said he’s hearing similar concerns from farmers throughout the county.
“I have been on the phone with farmers who are debating, do they cut hay or do they wait? Because if they cut hay they’re going to expose the crowns of the grass to this heat,” Schnakenberg said.
Many farmers have already started to sell off some of their herds in anticipation of the hay shortage.
“Hay is not being traded much right now because people are hanging on to it. That's a huge concern. So, you’re going to see long lines at the sale barns because people are culling out cattle that they’re not sure they need to keep because they’re not sure they can feed them,” Schnakenberg said. “We are probably going to have a lot of herds thinned down in the coming weeks.”
However, Schnakenberg explained that the drought not only causes the grass not to grow well, but it also can potentially cause harmful materials to be present in the grass that cattle are eating.
“We have the potential for nitrate toxicity and that happens sometimes with certain forages like Sudangrass, Johnson Grass, Millet, where they’ve applied nitrogen but the plant is not really growing very well, so there is potential for nitrate toxicity. I have not heard of anyone losing cattle yet, but it is possible that we could have some cattle deaths as a result of nitrate,” Schnakenberg said.
Similarly, prussic acid can also be present in grasses during drought conditions, which can be harmful to cattle.
“Some extension offices have a solution that farmers can bring their forage in to have tested. It’s a quick test. If they do have a concern, we encourage them to send samples to a laboratory,” Schnakenberg said.
While the drought could cost farmers more money in hay costs, it also means that farmers get paid less for the cattle they sell.
“The drought is already saturating the cattle market and is in turn driving down the prices. Not only is the market saturated, the demand is down because of lack of pasture so I look for the prices to continue to fall,” Westrip said.
That’s why many farmers are praying for rain, as temperatures continue to reach above 100 degrees.
“[The little rain on Sunday] didn’t hit most of us and if you got a shower, it wasn’t much. So, we are still in serious condition,” Schnakenberg said.
The current drought monitor can be found at www.droughtmonitor.unl.edu.