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Bumper year for hay in Campbell County
GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP)--Heavy spring rains have given ranchers in northern Campbell County one of the best hay crops in recent memory. Shortly after baling wrapped up for the summer, one rancher, Ron Jenkins, took some of his younger workers up to a ridge to admire their work. "'Look across that hunk of country,"' he recalled telling the workers. "'You'll probably never see anything like that again."' Vast numbers of hay bales are not a common sight in most of Wyoming right now, however. As of Aug. 21, only 10 percent of the state was considered well-watered, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center's Drought Monitor. The moist areas generally were in northeast Wyoming. "Overall, I think the hay supply is very short in the state overall due to drought," said Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. But rancher Jerry Kuhbacher was glad for his abundance. Usually Campbell County's ranchers can expect to harvest a ton of hay an acre. This summer, yields are exceeding 2 tons an acre, and Kuhbacher said he's getting as much as 21/2 tons an acre. The grass was growing waist-high in some of his creek bottoms. "It's hard to say when we've had as good a year as this year," he said. "It's every bit as good as '99, or it may be just a little bit better." The same rains that helped Kuhbacher's hay grow have helped his pasturelands, too. He doesn't expect his cattle to need any hay until sometime after the first of the year. Date: 8/29/07
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