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Made in Washington: Making hay in Washington’s sunshine |
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Written On: September/October 2006 |
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Written By: by Shawn Sullivan |
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Some would say that hay farming produces the smallest profit for the most work. Removing grass and common weeds from 1,500 acres of hay every week, measuring the amount of dew at 10 p.m., harvesting all night until 6 a.m., and even spontaneous combustion — though extremely rare — are only a few of the problems hay farmers face. Any one of them could ruin a harvest. Any one of them could put them out of business.
Despite this, some farmers embrace the risk to provide us with one of the most essential products on earth. Dairy farmers, cattle and livestock ranchers, horse trainers and pet owners all depend on hay. Everyday people buying milk, cheese or even lamb chops depend on it, as well.
Dave Manterola, owner of Manterola Hay in Pasco, knows all too well the difficulties of farming hay. "We plant in August and begin harvesting the following May," Manterola said. That equates to nine excruciating months of weeding, pest control, proper irrigation — and that’s just the beginning. "We usually have four harvests each year," Manterola said. "We usually check the moisture around 10 at night, and if it feels right we begin baling."
The average hay farm in Washington sits on at least 1,000 acres of farmland. "With the increased cost of growing hay, the day of the 300-acre farm is gone," Manterola said. "A lot of people perceive that $130 to $140 (per ton) is a lot of money, but the bottom line is, with the rising costs of fuel and equipment, it is not."
As prices continue to rise, hay farmers hope that the price of dairy products and beef will rise before they go out of business. "The prices for our parts have doubled since last year," Manterola said. "Unless the profit margin per acre goes up with the price of growing it, it will take more acreage before growers can make enough of a profit to feed a family." That means growers like Manterola — who took over for his father a few years ago — will have to either expand or close shop, and most growers lack the capital investment resources needed for expansion.
With all of the work involved, why do local farmers continue to grow hay? "In 2004, Japan imported 2,818,000 metric tons of hay," said Tim Woodward, Columbia Basin College’s dean of agriculture, education, research and development. "Of that, almost 2 million came from the United States — 63 percent from Washington — and that number continues to rise. The Japanese have always noted Kittitas Valley for its high-quality Timothy hay."
Exporters like Ward Rugh Inc. have been shipping hay across the Pacific Ocean for several years. "About 95 percent of our exports, totaling more than 300,000 tons, go directly to Japan," Ward Rugh President Rollie Bernth said. "We also supply a lot of hay to racehorse owners in California, Kentucky and Florida."
Washington exports most of its hay because the cost of shipping to Japan from Washington is currently cheaper than shipping to Nevada. "We are actually quite fortunate that ocean streamliners are at over capacity," Bernth said. Without the exportation of hay, Washington’s ports would have a large amount of imported containers that would otherwise return to Asia empty, resulting in significant losses in profits. "The ports love to export hay because it fills up extra containers," Woodward said.
Without hay as an export, more than 127,000 containers would make the costly trek across the Pacific Ocean empty. Because of this, both the Port of Seattle and the Port of Tacoma sell space in containers at a significant discount.
The responsibility for transport of the hay from the grower to the ports rests solely on the exporter’s shoulders. Exporters have specialized forklifts and trucks that travel to each farm and pick up the crop. "We develop good working relationships with our growers and look at the crop during the growing stages," Bernth said. "Then, after the growers bale the hay, we test each bale for the appropriate moisture level."
In alfalfa, that level needs to stay around 18 percent. In Timothy, 10 to 12 percent is optimal. "Anything over 12 percent and you have a good chance it will overheat and cause damage," Bernth said. Damaged hay is unusable and is usually discarded, resulting in a loss for the grower. Wet weather not only causes damage to the crops, it may also cause, on extremely rare occasions, baled hay to catch fire spontaneously.
"With anywhere between 45,000 and 50,000 acres of hay farmland in the Columbia River Basin, there is a possibility of over-producing hay," Bernth said. "But thanks to the weatherman, it hasn’t happened." Statisticians, growers, exporters and port officials all see the same thing: Hay farming will continue to be strong for many years to come. Hay farming — and the thousands of jobs it provides — is perhaps the most necessary crop in the world. As long as humans consume products that are dependent on hay, the need for hay will remain.
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