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Kansas cattle producer says rains saved his feed supplies

A Central Kansas producer says he had made significant operational changes to avoid running out of feed for his cattle due to persistent drought.

Keith Miller tells Brownfield he used wheat fields as pasture and “I put a bunch of silage underneath my irrigation so I had feed for my cows if it didn’t start raining.”

He says grazing management has been a significant challenge this summer. “We couldn’t take cows to grass near as early because the grass was still brown into the middle of May because it never greened up.”

But, Miller says, conditions have improved due to several, small rain events. “The rains we’ve been getting are .30, .40 and .50 hundredths.  That’s enough to keep the grass growing but that doesn’t put any water in the ponds.”

He says many of his stock ponds are nearly dry and is beginning to haul water despite some drought relief.