By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Farmers had their share of weather-related troubles last year, so the last thing they needed was more of the same in 2008. But prolonged precipitation coupled with last week’s heavy rain throughout the Midwest have created less than desirable conditions as spring planting approaches.
Some locations received as much as a foot of rain leaving rivers and streams overflowing into homes and fields alike. In Missouri, rainstorms brought flooding to many areas prompting President George Bush to declare it a disaster area.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels toured flooded areas in southern Indiana and said Hoosiers were fortunate that water had crested earlier than anticipated. Jim Ade, a Purdue University ag extension agent based in Crawford County, Ind. said his county had been hit hard.
“We’ve been knee-deep in mud, and it doesn’t look like we’re going to get any relief soon,” he said. “It’s a real problem for our cow-calf operations. With the dry conditions last year, we came into this year already short on hay and now pasture grazing is a ways off and the pastures won’t rebound as fast. But most grain crops in this area are no-till; so with a couple of weeks of sun and wind, there should plenty of time for that.”
Ade also said the first cutting of hay this year will be less than normal; and without a good hay season, many more producers could sell their herds.
As the rain came to Kentucky, hay or the lack of it still remains a concern as well. Tom Keene, hay marketing specialist with the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture said last year’s shortage isn’t being helped by this year’s rain.
“Certainly, when all is said and done, we will see the lowest carryover we’ve seen in many, many years,” he said. “It’s going to put a lot of pressure on the 2008 crop. With spring just around the corner, many livestock producers are counting down the days until they can get their livestock off hay and back on pasture.”
But the wet fields may delay that, explained Keene.
“It seems like we get one strike against us, then another, then another,” he said. “Last year at this time our forage was much further along than this year. We grazed so heavily last year and didn’t get enough moisture for regrowth and with all the rain since then, our pastures are just beaten to the dickens.”
Keene did note that some hay still remains, but it is expensive.
“It’s going to be tough on producers, and they will have to be good managers in 2008,” he added.
“But they have been good managers with all that happened in 2007. I think within a couple of weeks, with warmer temperatures, things will be remarkably better. They always say it’s darkest before the dawn. We have gone through that dark period, and we’re just about to see the dawn.”
But some farmers may be tempted to try their luck elsewhere with the continued high prices for wheat, corn and soybeans as they decide whether to turn hay fields into grain crops, a move Keene said may leave some livestock producers looking for alternative suppliers of hay.
Keene expects to see Kentucky farmers baling as much hay as possible to meet their needs either as a producer or a seller.
He said livestock producers need to figure out how many cattle they will feed and how much hay they will need to feed their herd from November until April 2009.
He also cautioned producers to be careful of cutting hay on seldom used pastures especially those with lots of weeds as they may get low quality hay. He encouraged them to have their hay tested.
The current weather pattern is being blamed on a weather phenomenon known as La Nina. The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center noted that La Nina conditions could be moderate across the United States through June with normal to above normal precipitation during that period in the south and Midwest. Above normal temperatures through much of the south are also expected.