Northwest Arkansas farmers are loving the Winter weather, and they're hopeful even more will come to replenish groundwater lost during a hot and dry 2012.
Fayetteville sees an average of 48.51 inches of precipitation per year, but in 2012 the total was just 30.37 inches, leaving farmers in the lurch.
However, totals are back on track for the year, and farmer David Dickey hopes the snow continues to fall.
"I think right now we should take all we can get," Dickey says. "If (roads) get too bad just stay at home."
Dickey says last year's drought forced him to pick and choose which plants to water.
"I had a little over an acre of corn, that I just let go," he says. "The hot dry temperatures really affected all of the crops later on in the Summer."
Johnny Gunsaulis of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture's Cooperative Extension Service says many farmers were forced to sell off livestock when feed supplies ran out.
"There's a lot less animals in this country than there was 12 months ago," he says. "A lot of people sold their animals to match what hay resources they had."
But with this month's wet weather... Things are looking up.
"We are actually starting to see mud on some farms, now where we haven't had in several months," he says. "Some ponds have filled back up. Some streams are starting to flow again."
Lower soil is still dry, Gunsaulis says, and it's still too early to know what 2013 will bring.
"At this point last year it looked like things were going to be great and we were recovering from 2011, but once the rain stopped it stopped," he says. "I think you'll see a lot of early spring fertilization this year on pastures, trying to get as much growth as they can early in the year in case we do have that dry summer and fall like we did last year."
Fayetteville sees an average of 48.51 inches of precipitation per year, but in 2012 the total was just 30.37 inches, leaving farmers in the lurch.
However, totals are back on track for the year, and farmer David Dickey hopes the snow continues to fall.
"I think right now we should take all we can get," Dickey says. "If (roads) get too bad just stay at home."
Dickey says last year's drought forced him to pick and choose which plants to water.
"I had a little over an acre of corn, that I just let go," he says. "The hot dry temperatures really affected all of the crops later on in the Summer."
Johnny Gunsaulis of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture's Cooperative Extension Service says many farmers were forced to sell off livestock when feed supplies ran out.
"There's a lot less animals in this country than there was 12 months ago," he says. "A lot of people sold their animals to match what hay resources they had."
But with this month's wet weather... Things are looking up.
"We are actually starting to see mud on some farms, now where we haven't had in several months," he says. "Some ponds have filled back up. Some streams are starting to flow again."
Lower soil is still dry, Gunsaulis says, and it's still too early to know what 2013 will bring.
"At this point last year it looked like things were going to be great and we were recovering from 2011, but once the rain stopped it stopped," he says. "I think you'll see a lot of early spring fertilization this year on pastures, trying to get as much growth as they can early in the year in case we do have that dry summer and fall like we did last year."
