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East Texas hay farms trying to beat the heat

The excessive heat has been impacting hay crops. This could lead to a domino effect that will impact livestock ranchers.

HENDERSON, Texas — As the excessive heat continues to beat down on East Texas, many hay farmers are starting to feel the impact. 

David Powell is the owner of East Texas Hay Company and he said this year’s crop is taking a hit.  

"You've got the lack of moisture that is impacting the quality and the volume of the grass," Powell said. "On top of that,  we got this excessive heat. The heat is through the roof."

According to Powell, the grass is supposed to be up to people's knees, but as of today, it’s only up to the ankles. This shows how the lack of rain is really impacting the grass production on the farm.

In a normal season, the farm should have four cuttings, but Powell said the second cutting only produced up to 60% of its' average harvest.  

"We're doing everything to hold down the prices to the consumer but that means that we will suffer a substantial financial loss this year," Powell said. 

That loss won’t just come from a lack of product, but also from input cost.

"Fertilizer has tripled in price," Powell said. "The herbicides that we use for the application and controlling the weeds has gone up 40 to 50%. Then if you look back over the last 18 months, diesel [has] doubled."

This problem isn't just in East Texas. 

"It's the whole state of Texas, and then into some other states as well that border us," Powell said. "So all of those states are pulling hay to try to keep their cattle fed, their horses fed, and to keep their operations open. But there's just not enough."

Speaking of cattle, the lack of hay will trickle down to the ranchers. 

"Typically, a rancher isn’t even going to put hay out until November or December," Powell said. "But here we are in June, and they're starting to feed on the first of July. There's just economically not enough hay. The hay that is available is extremely expensive, so they can't make a profit at all."

Powell also said it’s important to support local growers from crops to livestock. He's praying for more rain to come through East Texas soon. 

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