Two years of drought for Wyoming ranchers
4/8/2022 1:40:16 AM
CATEGORIES:
Agriculture
Plants & Wildlife
Water Supply & Quality
AFFECTED AREAS:
Big Horn County, WY
Campbell County, WY
Hot Springs County, WY
Johnson County, WY
Park County, WY
Sheridan County, WY
Teton County, WY
Washakie County, WY
Start Date: 4/6/2022
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After two dry years in northeastern Wyoming, farmers are weary, but ongoing drought and high prices for hay, feed and diesel continue to test them. Surface water supplies are scarce, and cattle grazed winter range nearly to the dirt as ranchers were reluctant to buy too much hay at exorbitant prices. It’s the same situation from Campbell County west to Johnson and Sheridan counties and into Montana.
If rain does not fall to promote grass growth, producers will have to make hard decisions about what to do with their hungry livestock. A lot of Campbell County ranchers took out loans to buy hay in fall 2021.
Cowboy State Daily (Lander, Wyo.), April 6, 2022
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