Hay market prices remain mostly steady for both alfalfa and grass hay. Demand is fair to good however trades remain slow for grinder hay and ground and delivered. Most Producers report hot and dry conditions continuing with many dryland crops, including alfalfa, drying up and turning brown. Much of the state received rain on Friday the 13th, but for many it just wasn’t enough to change things. According to the US Drought Monitor for the week of August 10th, small, scattered areas of heavy rain induced localized improvement, but most areas received little rainfall at best, leading to increasing moisture deficits and thus expansion and intensification of dryness and drought. For Kansas abnormal dryness (D0) decreased to 28%, while moderate drought (D1) increased to nearly 10% and severe drought (D2) remained at 1% and isolated to Cheyenne and Rawlins counties.

As the drought continues to worsen for our northern and western neighbors the Kansas Department of Agriculture has created a web page highlighting multi-state hay exchange web links and can be found at www.agriculture.ks.gov/HayForDrought.

Join agriculture leaders from across the state for the Virtual Kansas Governor’s Summit on Agricultural Growth August 26th. More information about the Summit and registration can be found at www.agriculture.ks.gov/Summit.