Auburn, July 6---Travel down any rural byway in Alabama and you’re likely to notice acre upon acre of freshly baled hay.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Absolutely nothing, especially if you’re a cattle producer in central and south Alabama still recovering from the effects of one of the worst droughts in Alabama agricultural history.

Indeed, as far as cattle producers are concerned, the heavy rains are like manna from heaven.

"From the standpoint of forages, Alabama farmers are in very good shape," says Dr. Darrell Rankins, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System animal scientist and Auburn University professor of animal science.

It’s a far cry from what producers faced almost a year ago as they grappled with one of the driest summers on record. In many regions of Alabama, dry conditions got so bad that cattle producers ran out of fresh water resources and hay.

As drought conditions worsened, many producers pondered the bitter prospect of liquidating their herds and getting out of the business entirely, ending what, for many producers, is a lifetime profession.

In an effort to lend a helping hand, Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture Charles Bishop organized a haylift, encouraging farmers in drought-free areas of the state to donate excess supplies of hay to hard-pressed producers farther south.

Many drought-stressed producers managed to squeak by, often by securing alternative feed sources, such as cottonseed and rice bran, wheat middlings and soybean hulls – anything that could take the place of hay.

Fortunately for producers, heavy rainfall resulted in greener pastures by February 2001, and it’s been smooth sailing ever since, except for an initially dry spring in south Alabama. In fact, for a short time, many producers in southeast Alabama feared a dry spell in early spring was an ominous sign of a repeat of last year’s drought.

Fortunately for producers, the byproduct of Hurricane Allison’s spring visit to East Texas was a hefty amount of rainfall for the driest portions of southeast Alabama.

Since then, producers in the region have seldom gone wanting for rain.

"If anything, wet weather has been a little bit of a hindrance this summer, because it’s prevented producers from harvesting all of the hay that’s available," Rankins says.

But considering all the hardships associated with last year’s drought, most farmers would gladly take inconvenient rainfall over prolonged drought anytime, he says.