Regional Hay Issues Due to Western Drought
Areas affected by drought experiencing severe challenges to get through winter on current hay stocks.
Recent USDA reports provide a picture of the hay situation across the United States. Dec. 1 hay stocks were down a scant 0.6% year over year for the entire United States. Table 1 shows the top 10 states for hay stocks, as well as 2020 all hay, alfalfa hay and other production.
Among the top 10 states for hay stocks, Texas was up 14.3% year over year along with Kentucky, up 27.5% and Tennessee up 1.0% compared to the previous year. Nebraska had an equal level of hay stocks on Dec. 1. The other six states had year-over-year reductions in end-of-year hay stocks. Missouri was down 13.0%; North Dakota, down 11.9%; South Dakota, down 7.2%; Montana, down 5.9%; Kansas, down 5.7%; and Oklahoma, down 2.4%.
Total 2020 hay production was down 1.6% nationwide, with alfalfa hay production down 3.3% year over year and other hay production down just 0.3% compared to 2019. All hay production in Kentucky was up 22.7% year over year, led by a 24.2% increase in other hay production. Texas had a 4.9% year-over-year increase in both all hay and other hay production. Nebraska had a 4.7% increase in all hay year over year, the result of a 9.5% decrease in alfalfa production and a 25.3% increase in other hay production.
Drought persisted across much of the West in 2020 and has extended into much of the Great Plains at the current time. Several states reveal the effects of the drought on hay production and supplies, and the challenges for cattle producers in those regions.
Colorado had Dec. 1 hay stocks down 15.0% year over year, with 2020 alfalfa hay production down 11.9% and other hay production down 32.1%. New Mexico had Dec. 1 hay stocks down 36.4% year over year and the lowest end-of-year hay stocks for the state in data back to 1973. New Mexico alfalfa hay production was down 12.1% year over year, and other hay production was down 21.8% in 2020 compared to the previous year.
While overall U.S. hay supplies appear to be adequate, it is clear that some drought regions are experiencing severe challenges to get through the winter. The 16 western and plains states (not including Texas) had Dec. 1 hay stocks down 5.8% year over year. Texas has some drought regions; however, overall hay stocks in the state are up.
Editor’s note: This article is reprinted with permission from the Jan. 25 Cow-Calf Corner, a newsletter published by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, for which Derrell Peel is a livestock marketing specialist. Photo by Shauna Rose Hermel.
