AUBURN, March 28---Alabama cattle producers are beginning this spring in earnest after enduring one of the worst summer droughts on record and squeaking through last winter with scant hay supplies.

"The biggest concern following the drought was the hay supply," says Dr. Darrell Rankins, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System animal scientist. "Because of the prolonged drought, I would say most producers by December 15 last year had about half the hay they normally would have."

By February, many producers, especially in the parts of Alabama most severely affected by the drought, ran out of hay.

Fortunately, Rankins says, cattle producers are a "resourceful lot," and drastic reductions in hay didn’t prevent them from scouting around for alternative feed sources.

Producers relied on a variety of other products, especially the old standbys in time of scarcity, including corn and whole cottonseed, as well as rice bran, wheat middlings, soybean hulls and a relative newcomer, citrus pulp.

While citrus pulp was a popular alternative feed years ago, it was not readily available in the United States until three or four years ago, thanks to heavy demand in Europe.

Producers also benefited from the relatively cheap costs of more common feed products, such as cereal grains, corn and corn byproducts.

"All of these were readily available and not excessively priced," Rankins says. "If producers bought these grains before winter feeding, they didn’t have to worry about outlandish fees," Rankins says. "On the other hand, producers who lacked sufficient storage for these feeds and waited until winter feeding to buy them paid high prices."

Fortunately for producers, ample rains have produced green pastures throughout Alabama. Coupled with that fact, cattle prices have remained high. If producers avoid another drought this summer, Rankins believes most will be on their way to a full recovery.

"Cattle producers are an optimistic group of people," Rankins says. "They assume cattle prices will remain high and that pastures will stay green."

While weather is one of the most difficult factors to foretell, some weather experts already have predicted a wet, mild summer – something on which every Alabama cattle producer is banking, Rankins says, because a drought of the magnitude of last summer would be catastrophic to the Alabama cattle industry.

"If we end up with another prolonged drought like last year’s, it will be difficult for many producers to hang on, especially for people whose sole source of income is cattle production." Rankins says.

(Source:  Dr. Darrell Rankins, Extension animal scientist, 334-844-1546.)