Tagged: hay

The USDA is predicting that this year’s hay crop will be the worst in decades because of the drought.

Platte County Extension Agent Dallas Mount says most Wyoming hay farmers are producing only half as much hay as usual, and some are producing none at all. He says that’s driving up prices.

New U.S. Agriculture Department estimates indicate Wyoming is facing one its worst hay harvests in terms of acreage in nearly 80 years.
 
Hay is Wyoming's biggest cash crop, and it also is the one suffering the most from a lack of rains earlier in the season.
 
USDA crop yield estimates released late last week project Wyoming's overall hay harvest this year to yield about 925,000 acres of hay.
 
If realized, that would make 2012 the single worst year for Wyoming hay acreage since the Dust Bowl days of 1934.
 

The Natural Resources Conservation Service is warning that the warm, dry weather this spring could drive up winter hay prices.

Wyoming’s snowpack is less than 30 percent of average, and Water Supply Specialist Lee Hackleman says farmers who get their water by diverting streams and rivers will be left high and dry.

“There’ll be a lot of people who will probably get their first cutting irrigated but won’t have any water for their second cutting,”
Hackleman said. “So there’s liable to be a hay shortage again this winter.”