Winter good to reserves of hay

LITTLE ROCK — Forage experts with the University of Arkansas say a mild winter helped cattle farmers avoid exhausting their hay reserves because of the growth of certain cool season grasses. Hay represents one of the biggest expenses for cattle producers, who feed the animals, typically, from November through April.

A warmer winter also pushed hay crops ahead by two to three weeks, depending on a farm’s location in the state, giving some the hope of performing three or more cuttings this year.

“Some areas are still feeling the effect from last summer,” John Jennings, a UA extension agent in Little Rock, said Tuesday. “The long, hot summer thinned out fields and some were overgrazed.”

Cattlemen in the southwest part of the state resorted to selling off calves months earlier because of the dry conditions.

Quitman native Joe Kennedy said the 190 acres he farmed for hay last year allowed him to sell out of state to ranchers in neighboring Texas and Oklahoma who were scurrying for winter supplies.

“I don’t know if I’ll be selling” to ranchers in Oklahoma and Texas this year, Kennedy said.

In Arkansas, overall hay production is forecast to continue to decrease but experts say growth is dependent on location. Last year, Arkansas produced 2.5 million tons of hay compared with 2.65 million tons in 2010, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

Production will depend on summer rain and if perennial grass will come back, Jennings said.

Robert Seay, an extension agent in Benton County, said recent rain in the northwest part of the state was soaked up by ground, unlike last year’s rainy season that resulted in more runoff than saturation.

Hay farmers are “still depending on seasonal rain patterns to get from point A to point B,” said Seay, adding that hay is an unusual and uncertain crop since rain and fertilizer usage determine yield.

And the big gorilla in the room right now is the cost of fertilizer, he said.

Lingering effects from two years of drought conditions and a lack of fertility will be factors in any production drop-off, Seay said.

But the recent rain showers across the state have been welcomed by hay producers.

Farmer David Sowrheaver said Tuesday that rainfall isn’t a worry until after June, when precipitation drops off.

Now, the 200 acres farmed by the Rison producer in south-central Arkansas “look good right now.”