AUBURN, Miss. (WTVA) -- If only it would rain.
That's the collective cry of many farmers in Mississippi and well beyond.
Hay farmers also look to the sky in hopes for rain.
Some have had more rain than others.
Tim May feeds his horses with hay that he grows.
"To feed a horse and keep it up the way I do, it probably is $500-$600 a year to maintain a horse," May said.
That can get even more expensive if there is less hay to feed them.
That will not be the case on this farm.
"I have already had three and should easily get a fourth cutting and could possibly get a fifth if the weather falls right, and I've never cut more than four times," May added.
He credits his good fortune to fertilizing his crop when the time was just right.
In Auburn, hay farmer Phil Morgan has a field that's supposed to be cut in three weeks, but he does not see that happening. It's just too dry.
"I've seen a whole lot worse, but I'm probably right now at least 30 percent short of hay as far as what I need," Morgan said.
He's had to reduce the number of cattle in his herd so he won't lose money.
"That's the problem (with rain) in our area. It's sporadic. It's usually this way every summer. I think the drought hit us a little bit earlier this year than it has in the past, which made it difficult for early grazing as well as hay production for the first cutting," Morgan added.
Morgan said without adequate rain, fertilizer may not work as well.
That would result in the need to feed even more hay to an animal for it to receive proper nutrition.
"It's something that you have no control over. You have to have water for hay to grow and pastures to grow, so it makes it difficult when you apply a fertilizer or you apply a chemical and you need a rain shortly thereafter to be incorporated into the soil to make the grass grow," Morgan said.
Morgan said a roll of good hay ranges between $35 to $50, but should the demand outweigh the supply, that price could rise well over $50.
Back at May's farm, he already plans to ship hay to Missouri, Oklahoma and northern Arkansas — areas hard hit by drought.
Last year, the price for a roll of hay soared to $80 in some areas of the country.
