BUSINESS MEMO: MISSOURI HAY NEEDED

Missouri farmers are being asked to sell, donate or haul hay to help provide feed for livestock producers in drought-stricken Florida and Texas.

Bob Crawford, Florida's commissioner of agriculture, recently asked Missouri Director of Agriculture John L. Saunders to help provide relief.

Missouri farmers are harvesting a good supply of hay this year, said Saunders. "The state's farmers have a long history of reaching to others in need. I encourage the state's producers to extend a helping hand to their fellow farmers in these states.

Farmers interested in selling, donating or hauling may contact the Missouri Department of Agriculture's toll-free hay hot line at 1-800-877-4HAY.

Two years ago, area farmers responded to a "hay lift" to Oklahoma and Kansas, under a program organized by Gerald Bryan, University of Missouri Extension specialist in Jackson, sending several truckloads of hay to ranchers whose pastures and hay had been destroyed by wildfires.