Mid-Columbia growers report excellent hay harvest

Ingrid Stegemoeller, Herald staff writer

Recent sunshine has put smiles on the faces of many mid-Columbia hay growers as the weather has made for an "excellent" first alfalfa cutting.

Chep Gauntt, a Pasco farmer, said the first harvest started late because of the long, cold spring.

"But we came out with a close to normal cutting," he said.

Bart Whitby, a Basin City hay farmer, also was pleased with the weather. Whitby said he had started on the first of two cuttings of timothy hay.

"We had probably 90 percent put up in good shape," he said. "Ten percent had some moisture. For first cutting, that's pretty good."

Usually the hay gets baled about six days after it's cut, he said.

The success of the first harvest has been dampened slightly by a sluggish market and a big drop in prices since last fall.

Many dairies, which are big buyers of local hay, are operating at a loss as milk prices remain at basement levels, said Lance Cline, livestock and grain market news reporter with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Moses Lake.

Dairies are paying lower prices for hay and buying in smaller quantities instead of all at once, he said.

And exporters who bought hay at $240 per ton last year and had to sell it at lower prices now are hesitant to buy up big quantities of hay, Cline said.

"Other countries were buying less of our hay because it was overpriced," he said, adding California hay sold last year about $60 per ton cheaper. "So we didn't sell our hay until theirs was gone."

Prices for quality dairy hay generally were between $125 and $135 on Wednesday, Cline said.

He also praised the quality of the hay coming out of the first harvest.

"They had a really good spring to put up hay," he said. "There's an abundance of nice hay for sale."

Though demand is light right now, Gauntt is optimistic about the year's crop.

"We have very good hay and I think by fall we'll see inventories go down and demand (firm up)," Gauntt said.

Harold Alexander, who grows timothy and alfalfa hay outside of West Richland, said the second cutting of alfalfa likely will be a good one too, if the rain stays away.

The recent lack of moisture kept the second cutting from growing too soon, he said, which could lead to damage during the first cutting.

His second of four alfalfa cuttings likely will start June 20, he said.

The hay crop continues to be a valuable one for the state.

In 2007, Washington's hay production was valued at more than $516.5 million, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

It was the state's sixth most valuable crop.

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Friday, Jun. 12, 2009

Mid-Columbia growers report excellent hay harvest

Ingrid Stegemoeller, Herald staff writer