Dry conditions, prices driving more cattle to market

? With temperatures hovering at 102 degrees, Hoisington farmer Dean Stoskopf took refuge in the air-conditioned comfort of his tractor cab as he turned his attention to some dirt work filling ditches and maintaining terraces.

The last significant rain was June 10, when Barton County got about 1 inch of rain. The scattered rain since then has done little to alleviate the drought.

What dryland corn was planted in this area was cut for silage or baled a long time ago. Dryland soybeans are in serious condition; there won’t be much of a crop. Even milo has been severely hurt.

“And that is the good news,” Stoskopf said. “The bad news is that the pasture conditions are just horrible.”

Most stock ponds in the area are dry. In addition to the lack of water, there is a lack of grass for grazing.

“The livestock (situation) is getting pretty critical in this area — it all is,” Stoskopf said.

At Russell Livestock, manager Jay Sweeney said cattle sale numbers have picked up the last three weeks because of the drought.

Usually at this time of year, the Russell livestock auction sells between 500 and 700 animals, he said. Last week, it had 1,550 animals — many of them calves that producers usually keep to fatten and sell later in the season.

“Prices are excellent — that is another reason they are selling. … Total numbers (of cattle) are down, so the feed yards are wanting to get them bought right away — that is one of the reasons they are getting these prices,” Sweeney said.

Stoskopf, who has a cow-calf operation in addition to growing wheat and milo, said ranchers have started culling their herds a lot earlier because pastures are drying up.

On Monday, the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported pasture conditions as 35 percent very poor, 40 percent poor, 22 percent fair and 3 percent good.

Producers were moving their cattle off pastures and starting supplemental feeding because of the dry conditions, KASS said.

The agency also rated stock water supplies as only 32 percent adequate statewide.

It rated hay supplies as 73 percent adequate or surplus.