If farmers need to “make hay while the sun shines,” then the lack of sunshine in late summer of 2009 is responsible for the hay shortages Arkansas ranchers are experiencing, agriculture experts are saying.

Robert Seay, county extension agent for the Benton County Cooperative Extension Service, said hay supplies are either very tight or nonexistent around the state after late summer rains limited harvests and this year’s winter snows raised the demand for the animal feed.

Ozzie Rodgers, co-owner of Rodgers Brothers hay suppliers in Decatur in Benton County, said he sold out of hay in 45 days, a record to the best of his memory.

The family farm usually yields about 5 tons per each of the 800 ...