Created: 4/5/2007 3:24:24 PM 
By Victor Blackwell First Coast News
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Farmers across the South are hunting for hay. The extended drought has created an unprecedented hay crisis
"It's sad. It's really sad," said owner or Marietta Feed and Seed Sally Kerr.
"Everybody's horses are coming down with colic because there's no grass and no hay to give them,? said Kerr.
Many of the coastal grasses that are normally cut to make hay have not grown in more than a year. According to the USDA, production of hay has fallen 16% in the last two years
"We're getting probably 400 to 500 calls per day wanting to know if we've been able to find any coastal [hay]," said Kerr.
Kerr usually purchases coastal hay from a network of suppliers on the East Coast. This season, they have nothing to sell.
The few bales available are double their normal price. Bales that sold last season for $3.50 each are now selling for $6.00 per bale, according to some experts.
Some farmers are turning to alfalfa hay; an expensive and rare alternative.
Kerr found a truckload of alfalfa hay in Idaho.
?I got about 700 bales. Before we could even get it off the truck, we had sold 550 bales that day,? said Kerr.
There are roughly 60 bales left.
Elmer Rudd, owner of 105-acre Rockin? ?R? Ranch, bought 300 rolls of coastal hay last summer. He has enough to feed his cows, horses and miniature donkeys? for now.
"The drought could be as bad this year. Hay is going to be as scarce this year as it was last year," said Rudd.
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