Gov. Mike Rounds has issued an executive order temporarily allowing the transportation of over-width baled hay in Custer, Fall River, Pennington and Shannon counties.

Under current state law, people can transport over-width baled livestock feed from a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset.

Rounds' executive order temporarily expands the hours for transport of over-width hay to three hours before sunrise to two hours after sunset.

The governor is providing the temporary exemption to help livestock producers in the southwest part of the state who are struggling with persistent drought and livestock feed shortages, according to a news release from the Department of Public Safety.

The executive order went into effect Friday and will run through Monday, Dec. 31, with the exception of the Thanksgiving and Christmas travel weekends (Nov. 21-26 and Dec. 21-26).