North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has set up a new hotline for ranchers affected by drought.
Goehring said the hotline will connect ranchers in need of hay with those who have hay to sell or available pasture land.
"In the last couple of weeks, we've probably heard more concerns about the fact that we didn't have much rain this entire spring season," Goehring said. "Couple that with above average temperatures and wind, we don't have hardly any forage."
As a result, Goehring said ranchers are starting to sell off their herds, and some auction barns are planning to hold more sales because of that. He said the ranchers are getting stressed. And he said the ranchers remember when they sent what they thought would be excess hay to Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska -- states that suffered damaging wildfires.
"They sent hay, not thinking that they would need it," Goehring said. "Now we're going to be short, and farmers and ranchers have begun to look at alternatives."
That hotline number is 701-425-8454.
Goehring said he’s also asking USDA’s Farm Service Agency to allow emergency haying and grazing of CRP land. And Monday (June 12th), he plans to visit with ranchers at Bergen, ND (southeast of Minot) and Taylor, ND (east of Dickinson) to talk about the situation.