Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Too Dry in Kentucky

Life in Christian County, Kentucky...



Dried-up grass and corn near Fairview, KY


We sure could use a good, slow, all-day rain. If you look through the parched grass in the photo above, you can see how the bottom leaves of the corn have dried up and turned brown.

This corn is growing in a field with a slight slope. Most years, that would be a good thing because the ground wouldn't be as muddy in the spring when the farmer was trying to get his fields planted. This year, though, a well-drained field isn't an advantage.

The corn looks dry but still fairly good in some of the lowest, flattest fields near creeks. It's taller than this corn, and it's not as dehydrated.

According to a recent AP article about Kentucky's hay crop, it's in bad shape too. The first cutting wasn't as good as usual in many areas because of the late freeze, and now the grass isn't growing because of the drought.

Garry Lacefield, a University of Kentucky extension forage specialist, estimated that statewide hay production was off at least 50 percent this spring. Nearly half of Kentucky's pastureland is in poor or very poor condition, a statewide crop report said this week.

"The forage supply in this state is as low as I've seen it" this time of year, Lacefield said.

Source: "Cattle producers face depleted pastures, little hay amid drought," by Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press writer.


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2 comments:

Marathon Pundit said...

We seem to be okay here in the Chicago area...not too much rain, not too dry.

Genevieve Netz said...

That's good, because Illinois raises a lot of crops.

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