ARKANSAS — If farmers need to “make hay while the sun shines,” then the lack of sunshine in late summer of 2009 is responsible for the hay shortages Arkansas ranchers are experiencing, agriculture experts are saying.

Robert Seay, county extension agent for the Benton County Cooperative Extension Service, said hay supplies are either very tight or nonexistent around the state after late summer rains limited harvests and this year’s winter snows raised the demand for the animal feed.

Ozzie Rodgers, co-owner of Rodgers Brothers hay suppliers in Decatur in Benton County, said he sold out of hay in 45 days, a record to the best of his memory.

The family farm usually yields about 5 tons per each of the 800 acres dedicated to Bermuda hay each year, Rodgers said.

Last year’s harvest was down 25 percent to 30 percent because of the rains, he said.

The first cutting - usually in late May to mid-June - was delayed because of rain, Rodgers said.

After the first cutting, a farmer can get additional cuttings every 28 to 30 days if the weather cooperates, he said. But the rainfall dried up into the summer, and the second cutting was nearly two weeks late, he said.

Record rainfall from back-to-back storms in September and October halved the hay crop of some Arkansas farmers, according to state forage experts.

The Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture reported in November that rain limited hay-cutting and baling to about three weeks of good weather for the whole season between May and October.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistics Service recently reported that the total value of hay production in the state dropped 16 percent in year-over-year value, to $229.01 million in 2009 from $273.99 million in 2008.

The nation reported hay production values of $14.99 billion in 2009, down 20 per-cent from the $18.64 billion in 2008.

Joe Vestal, Lafayette County extension staff chairman, said in a November extension report that hay cut past its prime has lower nutrient content.

Darrin Henderson, Madison County extension staff chairman, said hay stored in unprotected lots loses quality with each rain that soaks it. Mold and fungus form in hay that is harvested too wet and then stored, Henderson said in the November report.

Colder, snowier winter weather pushed up the energy each animal needed tokeep warm, thus pushing the animal to eat more hay. Also, snow and ice covered grass available for grazing, Seay said.

Below-freezing temperatures and back-to-back winter storms dropped up to 12 inches of snow on parts of Northwest Arkansas and central Arkansas at the end of January and the first of February.

“Lower hay quality creates a need for more hay volume by each animal, particularly because they waste more hay as they search through bales for the good stuff,” Seay wrote in a e-mail to the Democrat-Gazette.

Ranchers usually try to have enough hay on hand to see animals through until April when pasture grasses start growing again, Seay said.

But some hobby farmers, or a person who keeps a“pet” horse or two, operate in what Seay called the “Quick-Mart mode.” They buy what they need when they need it because they don’t have adequate storage space for larger supplies, he said.

“I have a lot of customers like that. And now they are crying because everyone is out of hay,” Rodgers said. “We haven’t had these kind of conditions in quite some time.” When you have this kind of winter, this kind of snow, it sells out.”

Prices remain steady, Rodgers said, stressing that most hay dealers are also ranchers who have their own herds to feed. “I’ve not seen any price-gouging,” he said.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture’s weekly hay summary priced fairto good quality Bermuda grass hay at $70 to $100 per ton for the week of Feb. 18.

“I just hope I’ve saved enough hay back to feed my own cattle,” Rodgers said.

News, Pages 3 on 03/10/2010