July 28, 2011
US ranchers in parts of Kansas are auctioning off their spring cattle because a drought has made it difficult to provide the water and hay needed to keep the animals healthy, a state agency said.
Some auction markets are seeing more than triple the number of cattle at weekly sales than they typically have at this time of year, the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service said. For example, 14,500 head of cattle were taken to sale rings at Pratt, Salina and Dodge City last week. Last year, those auction markets sold just 4,300 head.
The sales are necessary because the hot, dry weather has dried up ponds and pastures. The statistics service said more than half of the range and pasture conditions are in poor or very poor condition.
Some areas of southwest Kansas have not received a good rain for more than a year. Large cattle-producing areas like Comanche County had just 1.49 inches at Coldwater from January through June, according to reports.
Temperatures have reached past 100 degrees more than 30 days in a row for much of southern Kansas, with no significant rain forecast for the near future.
Cattle pens have been packed at Winter Livestock in Dodge City. Prices, however, have stayed high, as supplies have not rebuilt from the past decade's droughts, demand for beef remains high and there is a good export market.
More than 5,500 cattle were sold at the market Thursday. A normal July sale usually brings just 1,000 head, sources said.
The lack of hay means prices for the feed have doubled in the past year. Farmers are selling wheat straw for US$70 a tonne, according to reports. Alfalfa traded for a high of US$180 a tonne in June, the USDA said. The agency also reports 2011 could have the lowest US hay acreage on record.