Area Cattle Farmers Having Tough Time Keeping Stock Watered and Fed

Usually Betts Berry just clips and grazes one particular field at Huntland Farm, but not this year. Betts Berry, Huntland Farm, "People are really desperate for hay." This year she and a fellow farmer made a deal. He cuts and bales it and they share the profits. It's the longest drought this 27-year cattle farming veteran has seen. Finding food and water for cattle is becoming a challenge. Betts Berry, “A lot of producers, if they don't have enough pastures to graze their cattle, they're having to sell their cattle. If they're not selling their cattle they're scrambling around trying to find enough hay to feed.” With hay in high demand, prices have jumped dramatically "The 800 950 pound rolls that usually sell for anywhere from 20 to 35 dollars a roll is going for 35 to 45 dollars a roll," Berry says. Catoosa County welcomed a quick Monday afternoon shower. Lancaster, "We've gone week after week without having any. In fact for a while there we didn't get any of the late afternoon thunder showers like we're getting right now. There's just been no moisture in the air at all,” says County Extension Coordinator Charles Lancaster. He says more and more cattle farmers are selling early for less profit because they can't afford to keep their stock watered and fed. “Water, natural springs drying up some of the creeks that they normally use for their water source those kind of going away and the water's just not there,” Lancaster says. That all adds up to higher production costs for farmers like Betts Berry. And we all end up paying the price at the grocery store. “It's not just a situation that people in agriculture are desperately concerned about but everyone should be concerned about it,” Berry says.