CELINA, Texas - July 27, 2011 - With 75% of the state suffering through an exceptional drought, ranchers have begun using words like “desperation” and “panic” when it comes to finding and affording hay to feed their livestock.

“I can’t remember a shortage of hay like it is right now,” Punk Carter said.

Carter is a cutting horse trainer in Celina, in Collin County. For months, North Texas avoided the conditions with which farmers in the western and southern parts of the state were dealing.

But now, the hay crisis has hit the northern counties. Prices, feed stores say, have risen 20-30% this summer. Some say they’ve gone up even more.

“West Texas, South Texas all around us is just devastated; and that’s been going on for a while now. It’s catching up with us,” said Carter.

Carter owns 30 horses. Hay to feed them now costs him almost $1,000 a month.

One square - 55-65 lbs. of hay - costs $9.75 right now. Last year at this time, it was $2.00 less.

The lack of rain has withered hay crops.

Robby Sims, one of the managers with D & L Farm and Home, said ranchers are calling, desperate for hay.

“(We) get 20-25 phone calls a day. ‘Do you have hay? How much is hay?’ Everybody’s kind of getting to that point where they’re struggling and panicking with it,” Sims said.

Hay isn’t just for horses. Farmers are selling their cattle in record numbers because they can’t afford the hay to feed them.

There’s a surplus of beef now but Punk Carter thinks it will eventually come back to bite us, and customers will pay at the grocery store.

“It’ll take a while to get those herds built back up so to me, I think the prices will go up even more later on when we realize our numbers are down,” said Carter.

Though the future looks bleak, Carter stopped short of calling it “Haymageddon”.

“I don’t know if it’s that bad. But seriously, you know, it’s not fun,” he added.