Farmers feeling the effects of a drier than normal Nebraska Spring

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Across Nebraska, farmers have been dealing with less moisture than they’ve needed, causing drier pastures.

Combined with the high heat, it’s made keeping that land productive more difficult.

“Our pastures are short, and in the spring, it didn’t rain so much,” said farmer Tom Peterson. “So a lot of our cool-season grasses didn’t grow as they should have.”

Peterson is having to pivot when it comes to what they’re feeding their cows.

They’re now using some of their own crops in what’s known as green chopping.

“Doing it green, you have to take it, chop it and feed it right away,” Peterson said. “You can only chop as much as they’re going to eat in less than an hour. I think twenty pounds is what we started with. We might go higher, cause they clean it up pretty fast. They’re not short, they’ve got grass, but we’re trying to get them all the way through the fall. Otherwise, our grass will be gone before we get to corn stalks.”

Green chopping helps provide the nutrients the herd needs.

Although there is more work involved, it’s a cheaper alternative, especially with rising costs across the board.

“There’s other ways to feed, but we’re short on those products too,” Peterson said. “Just because of that spring set up, we didn’t harvest as many grass bales, alfalfa bales, all of the products we normally bale are short. Times are a little tough, even in the cattle side. Cattle prices are good but products are short so the input prices go up because things are short. Drives the price up a little bit.”