Rain, cool weather delaying hay
By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
May 21, 2025
Fast facts
- Frequent rain preventing hay cutting
- Crop Report: 48 percent of hay meadows rated good or excellent
(721 words)
(Newsrooms: With art)
LITTLE ROCK — Frequent rain and cool nights are making it hard to make hay.
“Our producers are setting on go,” said Danny Griffin, Van Buren County extension staff chair for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “They have equipment out and tuned up but having to wait on a stretch of sunny weather.”
Before the first of a series of storm waves swept through late last week, Faulkner County Extension Agent Kevin Lawson noted some producers in his county were taking advantage of a last dry day.
“We had several producers trying to get a first cutting on some ryegrass hay fields,” Lawson said. “Most of them got it baled up, but I am afraid the quality isn't going to be great.”
Arkansas might see some drier weather Wednesday and Thursday before another round of storms was expected for the Memorial Day weekend.
Jonathan Kubesch, extension forage specialist said, “we don't generally have conducive weather for a first cut of dry hay, and that often leads to farmers putting up overly mature material.
“We had a lot of fields that were extremely dry and warm in March followed by a wet April and May,” Kubesch said. “Averages don't mean as much when our weather swings to the extremes.”
Growers have warm-season grasses such as bermudagrass and cool-season grasses such as ryegrass. In the spring, they will cut the cool-season grasses, let the cut grass lay out and dry and then get baled. Typically, growers will get their first cut of warm-season grasses in June.
“It’s hard to get hay cured unless the weather is right,” said Brian Haller, White County extension staff chair. “With cool nights and it’s raining every other day, there’s not a chance to do that.
“Some will do baleage, where they harvest it wet and wrap it,” Haller said. Not many hay growers are taking that route in his county because of wrap expense and the relatively low prices for hay. Bale prices were ranging from $25-$40.
Hay supplies aren’t an issue at the moment.
“We had a lot of hay last year, inventories are still high,” Haller said. “A lot of commercial growers are trying to liquidate their supplies to get ready for the summer.”
Haller said cool nights and rain are slowing growth of the warm season grasses. Growers need to get the cool-season grasses out of the fields “so it won’t shade the warm-season grasses so they can get growing and going.”
In Miller County, cool-season haying has had a smoother run.
“A lot of my guys have been able to get in and cut,” said Jennifer Caraway, Miller County extension staff chair. “Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had rain, but it’s typically dried up enough in between” to allow cutting.
Like her counterparts in the northern part of the state, getting nighttime temperatures to stay at 60 degrees Fahrenheit or more to promote warm-season forage growth has been a challenge. Overnight temperatures in the last week of April were still dropping as low as the upper 40s. However, May has been warmer, which has been much to the liking of warm-season weeds like horsenettle and dogfennel.
“The weeds seem to be thriving, but the grass has not yet taken off like you’d expect it,” Caraway said.
Crop progress
Monday’s Crop Progress report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service showed 24 percent of hay acres getting their first cutting, up from 18 percent the week before, but slightly behind 27 percent last year and 25 percent five-year average.
Pastures were rated 9 percent excellent, 44 percent good, 34 percent fair and 13 percent poor or very poor. Hay was 8 percent excellent, 40 percent good, 40 percent fair, and 12 percent poor or very poor.
“Pastures are all over the place,” Kubesch said. “A lot of the ryegrass on warm-season pastures needs to be cleaned up in order to start bermudagrass, bahiagrass, and crabgrass growth. Fescue has come and gone across much of northern Arkansas.”
In Arkansas, spring rain generally gives way to hot, dry summers.
“We don't complain about rain this time of the year knowing that it will quit one day. We never know to what extent it will quit,” Griffin said.
In 2023, Arkansas was No. 25 in the United States in hay production, harvesting nearly 1.2 million acres valued at $318 million.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media contact: Mary Hightower
mhigthower@uada.edu