Feed stores in Sequoyah County and even Fort Smith, Ark., reported they had no grass hay last week. The supply improved Monday, but some livestock owners are hoping rains will prompt grass to grow and the hay shortage to become obsolete.
David Fry of Redland Road, who sells hay to horse trainers at Blue Ribbon Downs and to area feed stores, reported there was no grass hay available last week.
"I didn't get any hay," he said. "I was supposed to get a load from up north but they were snowed in and weren't able to deliver."
Frye said he gets grass hay from Kansas and Nebraska.
"If you were looking for grass hay last week, you would find the needle in the hay stack sooner than you'd find the hay," Fry quipped.
Alfalfa hay, he said, was on hand, but is not usually fed to pastured horses. Because it is so rich, it can be fed to horses that are in use or in training such as for racing.
The county's grass hay crop, Frye explained, was about half of the average crop last summer in Sequoyah County. Hay growers, he said, "only got about half what they usually get in the second or third cuttings last summer because we had no rain in mid to late summer."
In addition, grass fires have destroyed some of the large round bales cattle ranchers feed their cattle during the winter, decreasing the hay supply even further in the county.
