After an unusually wet start to the summer, the sunshine has finally arrived to rescue local hay crops.
Horse Lake area rancher Chris Horn says the weather is, at last, perfect for harvesting.
“Up until [last week], it’s been really bad, but now it’s smartened up and it’s really good.”
The Horns started early since they have so much ground to cover with a couple of hundred acres of hayfields, and he explains there was two weeks of really bad weather while they began to put up the crops.
“What was cut, we got it bailed, but it took about three times as long as it should have done, and the quality was deteriorating every day.
“You have to get it dry enough to bale it, that’s the sticker. You have to turn it, and then it gets wet, so you turn it again, and it gets wet again.”
No one could ask for better weather than what it is right now, the 89-year-old says, but he adds there is a bright side to all the rainy weather this summer.
“The crops are exceptionally better this year. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen crops any better than they are now.”
That moisture was important for their green feed crops, though, as they are planning to cut their oat field for baling this year, rather than harvesting the grain.
They had no problems cutting the thick hay with their disk mower, even wet, he explains.
Chris’ wife of more than 65 years, Helen, says she does know some farmers are having difficulty with the cutting and raking of all the lush hay.
Others say their tractors are getting stuck in the muddy fields, or report their hay is rotting off.
The Horns have had no trouble with that yet, she explains, but if the wind and rain continued much longer there was always the danger of the hay lodging (ground level decomposition).
While the Horns have confined their cutting to the
upland areas, Chris says most folks with lowland meadows won’t be able to cut hay at all with the season’s high water levels.
“We usually put up the meadow here, but I don’t think we’ll ever cut it this year.”
Their farm near Horse Lake is mainly uplands, so Helen explains they are confident if the weather holds through August they will have sufficient feed for their own cattle herds this year.
Hay history
Back in the old days when they lived on High-way 24, Helen says, they were among the many folks who depended on lowland crops.
“In 1948, we depended totally on meadow hay and we didn’t get any. So, it ended up we sold our cattle.”
High ground doesn’t always protect hay crops from excessive rain, however.
“In 1976, we turned the upland hay seven times. When we got it down we had a roll of ‘chocolate’ [rotten] hay. We had no choice, you can’t leave it on the field, because it kills the hay underneath.”
After ranching here all their lives, Chris notes he is now 89 years old and Helen is 87, and their son, Gus, takes on the lion’s share of the farm work.
“We’ve got lots of ground to cover with no help; it’s just the three of us here. If it weren’t for him, I guess we couldn’t do it at all.”
However, Helen says she doesn’t mind all the work involved in hay farming, and Chris emphasizes that sentiment.
“I wouldn’t do nothin’ else, I guess. I like it, yeah. Sometimes I get tired.”
