BEDFORD COUNTY, Tenn.- The hot and dry weather has been taking a toll on everyone including many farmers, especially south of Nashville.
Some areas have been without significant rain for weeks. Crops are drying up and some farmers worry there won't be enough hay to feed livestock. Bedford County is one of the counties hit the hardest.
For several farmers in Bedford County it's been too hot and too dry for their hay harvest to be enough to feed their livestock.
"It's pretty discouraging when it happens over and over again. Last year wasn't as bad, but it was dry and we managed," said local farmer Sam Taylor.
Sam Taylor runs a family farm in Bedford County. Most of his income is dependent on dairy cows and the production of milk. If his cows don't produce it's a bad year and they don't like the heat.
"It's hard on the cattle. It's hard on us because the milk production goes down so much because the cows will divert their energy from milk production to trying to stay cool," said Taylor.
2012 is not looking too promising. Taylor guesses the farm has received less than two inches of rain since March. In one field he's trying to raise beans, which will be used in a mix to feed his cows.
"We just totally lost, lost these beans. If we don't get any rain they're not going to grow. They're just going to dry up," Taylor explained.
All over Southern Middle Tennessee it's the same story. Many farmers and ranchers are in desperate need of moisture. On some farms crops are only one third of what they should be. It's so dry on Taylor's farm that two local creeks on his property have both run dry.
Taylor cuts between two and three thousand bales of hay every year. He says this year he'll be lucky to cut 500.
"If we don't get some rain we're going to have to supplement buy from somewhere else," said Taylor.
If it doesn't rain soon Taylor says he'll go all the way to Montana to buy feed for his dairy cattle.
