Thursday, July 5, 2012

Cattle producers in parts of drought-stricken Kansas are running short of ways to feed and water their herds. And that has some producers thinking about taking their herds to market.

At La Crosse Livestock, a sale barn in northwestern Kansas, owner Frank Seidel tells The Hays Daily News he's planning four full days of cattle sales in July instead of the usual two. Seidel says he's hearing from cattlemen about the lack of grass almost daily.

Pastures are parched, some producers have depleted their hay supplies, and the drought's effects are already evident on some crops intended as winter feed.

Stock ponds are a critical problem in some places. Cattleman Chase Rogers says that of seven ponds on about 700 acres he uses south of Ellis, only one has water.