COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- A Colorado rancher doesn't have any winter feed for her cattle after finding fire ants in hay she bought from a Texas farmer.

Karen Bueche said she felt something biting her legs and then saw a swarm of ants as she helped unload $4,000 worth of hay from Mount Pleasant, Texas last month. She used Sevin dust to try to kill them.

The Gazette (http://bit.ly/TTS6DF) reported Monday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture quarantined the bales and spread poison near them. Ultimately the agency suggested she feed it to her cattle because the insects shouldn't be able to survive Colorado's climate. But she doesn't want to use hay treated with pesticides and has no other feed for this winter.

This year's drought has limited supplies in Colorado and driven up prices.

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Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com

Copyright 2012 The AP.