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Moisture is going quickly in Missouri

A cattle and crop producer in southeastern Missouri says his farm got some rain in the last week, but conditions are dry again.

“Normally, I’d call this muck boot weather, but I haven’t really had to wear them at all this year.”

Jeff Reed in Wayne County says the half inch of rain helps the fescue and crops, but more is needed to improve the dry spell. He says another half inch of rain is forecast by Saturday night, but he’s not optimistic it will come.

“If we do not get rain soon, we’ll be set up to be worse than last year, because the moisture we typically get this time of the year holds us through,” he says. “But we had dry conditions all last summer and into the fall. Basically, moisture is not re-established into the ground.”

Reed says he is preparing to buy more hay for livestock if the situation doesn’t improve. He also says it is possible farmers could sell cattle.

“It’s a decent time to have cattle and have some flexibility, because prices aren’t bad. If producers have to sell cattle, they could buy back later on.”

In the last week, USDA says pasture conditions improved slightly in Missouri, likely due to the light rains, but precipitation remains below average for this time of the year.