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Winter outlook bleak for drought-weary cattlemenWICHITA, Kan. (AP)--Plagued by water shortages and shrinking hay supplies, Kansas cattlemen face a bleak winter with little end in sight for a lingering drought that has dried up many stock ponds and water wells alike. Although the state could get some rain or snow with a storm system next week, the long-range climate outlook for Kansas does not include any relief, said Ken Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Wichita. Much of Kansas remains abnormally dry, with the worst drought conditions in south-central Kansas, along the Kansas-Oklahoma state line, he said. For livestock producers like Woodston cattleman Jerry McReynolds, this is the seventh-straight year of drought in his area. Even his home water well is not keeping up with his household water needs as groundwater levels continue to drop. Almost every day for the past seven months, McReynolds has hauled water from the local rural water district to a herd of cattle. Each day he twice fills the 1,500-gallon tank on the back of his Wheat truck and drives about 50 miles with it to the three pastures where his animals are grazing. A cow can drink between 10 and 12 gallons of water a day, he said. "I am not sure which will happen first: whether some of us die off or the weather cycle changes," McReynolds said as he took a break from hauling rocks on his ranch. He has cut the numbers of animals in his herd, keeping 170 cows to feed and water through the winter. Earlier this year he culled 20 cow-calf pairs; a year ago he culled 50 pairs. He will decide in spring whether to cut back further depending on the weather. But McReynolds was grateful that he has enough feed to make it through this winter, thanks to an emergency drought assistance program that allowed him to cut Conservation Reserve Program grass. "I took advantage of that and put up quite enough CRP bales--I swathed everything that was green," McReynolds said. Kansas hay production this year plummeted to 5.5 million tons, down from 6.68 million tons a year ago. Alfalfa hay production this year fell to 2.7 million tons from 3.4 million tons the season earlier, according to the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service. The state has especially tight supplies of alfalfa and grass hay, although there is plenty of the Sudan, cane and millet hay stocks, said Steve Hessman, hay market reporter for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's office in Dodge City. "The whole state--as far as supplies available for sale--is tight. There is not a good place to look, and what little is left out there is in strong hands. Those guys know what they have and they are not going to sell it cheap," Hessman said. The price of stock cow-quality hay across most of the state is running between $130 to $140 a ton--almost double what it was selling for a year ago, he said. "What I would recommend to our local cow people is to get your feed needs covered," Hessman said. "In the last two weeks demand has picked up from areas south of us. Those folks know they need some hay--and they are coming after it." Date: 12/19/06
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