Farmers strive to meet demand in poor hay year

MAT-SU — First it was a dry spring. Then it was the wet summer. And just when local hay farmers had a few dry days to put up some bales last month, the wind dealt them yet another blow.

While the number of bales available is better than in some years, and the quality is tolerable, prices are up and local residents who need hay for their horses or other livestock may feel the pinch this winter.

Winter supplies of hay in the Matanuska Valley are 35 percent short, according to USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Alaska Field Office weekly report from Sept. 17.

It’s been a tough year to raise hay, according to some Palmer farmers who have had plenty of years of experience.

Bob Havemeister has been growing hay most of his life. Havemeister wraps his bales in plastic — a relatively new technology that allows him to put up hay that is at 50-percent moisture. Traditional bales require the hay to be at no more than 15 percent, to keep from molding.

“We may cut three, four days off the drying time,” Havemeister said.

The wrapped bales don’t mold — they ferment. The haylage has high nutritive value but the earthy smell — a cross between fresh grass and sauerkraut — can be a bit off-putting for some horse owners, though not generally for horses, said Norm Harris, associate professor, range scientist and administrator of UAF’s Palmer Research and Experiment Center, where they have been conducting research on the wrapped bales.

“That just means good stuff for them,” said Harris of the odd smell.

Harris, who said he’s tried haylage himself (”It has an olive-like taste.”), said Alaska farmers are able to raise some very good haylage that is well-received by every forage animal they have tested: reindeer, horses, cows, bison and elk. Unlike hay pellets, which don’t generate much heat in an animal’s digestive system, the fermented hay is easy to digest.

“A lot of horses do much better on it,” Harris said, comparing it to bale hay. He said horses with breathing issues particularly benefit because there is no dust in the haylage.

Havemeister uses his haylage to feed his dairy herd. With the poor growing season, he said he isn’t sure if he will have enough hay to keep his cows content over the winter.

“We’re going to be pretty close,” Havemeister said.

There might have been a margin of error, if not for the Sept. 24 wind storm. Havemeister’s hay along Trunk Road, cut for drying, whipped out of the fields and down the road like tumbleweed, leaving about half of the bounty from 50 acres caught in weeds and up against fence lines.

Bill Longbrake of Country Garden Farms may not have lost the hay out of his field that windy day, but it sure was difficult getting it baled — blowing away between the raking and the baling, though the machines were only yards apart.

Overall, he said his hay is overmature but lush.

“What we’re cutting is really thick,” he said. “It’s just old hay and not as good quality.”

With the clouds beginning to spit snow, the hay farmers still have work to do in their fields.

“I have hay I did not cut the first crop on,” Havemeister said. That hay, he said, may only be good for bedding.

“We’ve still got 90 acres still to bale,” Longbrake added.

It has not been a good year for Kevin Frohling, either. Frohling has about 100 acres of his 500 acres of hay yet to put up. He said his yields will be down about 40 to 45 percent from last year, which was his best.

As for quality, it is holding OK, he said.

“It’s down a little, too, but not as bad as I expected,” Frohling said.

Frohling said it is important for buyers of hay to use criteria other than color to judge the worth of a bale of hay.

“It’s not necessarily bad because it’s brown or darker,” he said. “Everybody’s got good hay.”

Even so, it is hard to make sure too-wet hay doesn’t get into the mix, and buyers should watch for signs of mold.

Longbrake said he expects to put up the equivalent of 8,000 to 10,000 square, 50-pound bales of hay this season. A horse eats about half a bale a day in the winter.

“I’m going to have plenty of hay for the winter for the customers I have,” Longbrake said.

Even with hay available, there is concern among horse owners. There is a glut of horses posted on Craigslist and Alaska’s List, said Cindy Stark of Chugiak, a volunteer with Alaska Equine Rescue.

“There’s not people that are taking them,” Stark said. “Some are getting euthanized. People are not getting companion horses.”

While availability and price of hay are part of the equation, Nick Uphus, deputy animal care and regulation officer with the Mat-Su Borough, said having a healthy horse all winter means good vet care and ready access to fresh, clean water.

Uphus said when the borough must seize a horse, it is often not because there was no hay for the animal, but because of other health issues.

When people need to choose between care for family members or the horse, the horse loses. Uphus said it is important to call for help — Alaska Equine Rescue, MSBAC or another organization, before the situation becomes too grim.

“It’s a lot harder to find a home for a thin, sickly horse,” he said.

Stark cautioned people who think they want horses to talk to someone who has one. It’s not as romantic as people think, she said.

“It’s a lot of work,” Stark said. “It’s not a sport everybody should get into.”

Alaska Equine Rescue is online at alaskaequinerescue.com.