"When we don't get snow in North Dakota, that hurts us a lot in the spring 'cause we need the snow to make it grow right away in the spring. "The historic drought has put a serious strain on forage, which are the plants animals graze on. The average age of a producer in North Dakota is 56. "Ziegler opened this barn"People just did not get in a position where they felt comfortable going into winter," Ziegler says. There's gonna be more decisions that have to be made here as we go through the next thirty days.