AR Farmers Getting 20-25 TX-OK Hay Calls Daily, But Drought Now Threatens Their Own Harvests

[hatrack]

(Reuters) - Cooler weather has arrived in Arkansas but a severe drought lingers, bringing bad news for the state's hay and cattle producers. The Climate Prediction Center recently issued a three-month outlook that showed drought persisting or worsening into eastern Arkansas. That means areas that were flooded in the spring now could face drought conditions.

Cattle farmers are already running low on hay. Arkansas hay growers are shipping many bales to desperate livestock owners in Texas and Oklahoma while trying to maintain an adequate amount for cattle producers in their own state.

Some hay farmers are receiving more than 25 requests a day from out-of-state farmers, according to the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture in Fayetteville.

"There's such a demand that people are getting $65 to $70 for rolls of corn stubble," said Jamey Styles, a hay farmer in Coal Hill, Arkansas. He said he heard about one person offering a hay grower $100 per hay bale on the spot.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/18/us-arkansas-hay-idUSTRE78H1DX20110918