It's getting more expensive to feed farm cattle corn. Jamie Rauch does grow corn on his cattle farm near Little Hocking. But at some times of the year, he still has to buy corn to feed them.

"This last year, we had 450 head of cattle, and this year, we're going to be off a third," Rauch says. "It will be 300 to 350."

Corn he says is currently costing him $6 a bushel.

"A year ago, it was $3.50, and we thought that was high," he says. "We're not going to put ourselves at risk and buy corn in the spring, so we're going to book our numbers down."

That may mean fewer cattle, but it's also going to mean what they're feeding on, at least to start out the season.

"We're going to graze them as long as we can on grass," Rauch predicts, "then move them into the feed lots."

Corn crops have done well the last couple of years...including during last summer's drought.

But corn is in demand more as well, largely because of the push to develop ethanol and other bio-fuels.