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Article: Winter wheat crop at risk
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- October 15, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2000 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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OKARCHE, Okla. About 70 cattle trudged over patches of dried grass
and dust on Paul Ludwig's pasture to chew on the hay, corn and cotton
seed that are eroding the 54-year-old farmer's chances of making a
profit this year.
To feed the 500-pound calves on his Okarche farm, Ludwig spends
$90 a day on grain. The wheat plants that normally cover half of his
1,000 acres and help sustain his herd with cheap forage at this time
of year are nowhere in sight. It has just been too dry to plant the
autumn crop.
Ludwig and a growing number of Great Plains farmers have delayed
sowing wheat because of a drought stretching from Texas to Kansas.
Time is running out. If rains don't come soon, U.S. wheat ...