Producers are still seeing 2022 drought issues linger into 2023. It is impacting cattle producers in several ways, including feed availability.
USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey discusses how hay and cattle are doing as dry conditions persist: “Hay in drought, we have seen significant improvement, especially with the western drought improvement. We have just 43 percent of the U.S. hay production area currently experiencing drought. That is down from an autumn peak of 69 percent, and at the same time cattle in drought, the U.S. cattle inventory 58 percent in drought on January 3, 2023, down from an autumn ’22 peak of 76 percent.”
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