By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The January weather has been a mixed bag for local agriculture producers.
"The cattle guys are really the ones that are impacted, of course," said Stacy Campbell, Cottonwood Extension District agriculture agent for Ellis and Barton counties. "I think they're faring OK."
He said some ranchers had cattle still out feeding on crop stalks when the extremely cold temperatures and snow hit a little more than two weeks ago.
"But I heard them say, 'We got to get them home.' So, I think everybody got them home and off stalks. They do that during the winter because it's calving time, too," Campbell said.
"I think everybody's in pretty good shape, and we love the moisture, so I haven't heard anybody complaining. It's just going to get a little messy and muddy for a while."
Hays received almost 9 inches of snow on Jan. 8 and 9, according to the National Weather Service in Dodge City. The storm started with rainfall. Another 2 inches of snow fell on Jan. 15 as a record overnight low of -14 degrees was set.
Temperatures have been well below freezing for most days since the beginning of the year. On Wednesday, 1 to 2 inches of snow still remained on the ground, as officially measured at the K-State Agricultural Center on the south edge of Hays.
"Overall, the moisture has been great," Campbell said. "We need more of it, of course. A lot of the ponds dried up last year, so that's still a big question, but hopefully, we'll get some spring rains.
"Right now, we should get off to a good start this early spring."
That's good news for local wheat farmers.
Records at the research center show the 154-year cumulative average of January moisture in Hays is 0.45. As of Thursday, Hays had received 1.21 inches of precipitation.
All of Ellis County was reported to be out of extreme drought for the first time in months as of the Jan. 12 report from the U.S. Drought Monitor. However, most of the county still remains in moderate drought according to the Jan. 25 report.