January 12, 2006

Wyoming farmers seeded an estimated 150,000 acres of winter wheat for harvest in 2006, according to Dick Coulter with the Wyoming Field Office of USDA NASS. This is a 6 percent decrease, or 10,000 acres, from 2005 but is the same as for the 2004 crop.

Nationally, winter wheat seeded area for 2006 is expected to total 41.4 million acres, up 2 percent from 2005 but down 5 percent from 2004. Approximate class acreage breakdowns are: Hard Red Winter, 29.9 million; Soft Red Winter, 7.3 million; and White Winter, 4.2 million.

Less Hay on Hand in Wyoming

Wyoming farms and ranches had 1.78 million tons of hay on hand on December 1, 2005. This was down 4 percent from December 1, 2004 and down 9 percent from 2003. Hay production for 2005 totaled 2.20 million tons, up 7 percent from 2004. Disappearance of hay from May 2005 - December 2005 totaled 801,000 tons compared with 679,000 tons a year earlier.

Nationally, stocks of all hay stored on farms totaled 105 million tons on December 1, 2005, down 8 percent from the previous year. Disappearance of hay from May 2005 - December 2005 totaled 73.3 million tons, compared with 69.7 million tons for the same period a year earlier.