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June 30, 2008

Abundant rain makes haying difficult

By KATELYN MOCKRY

Contributing Writer

and DENISE A. RAYMO

Staff Writer



CHATEAUGAY — June’s wet weather might dampen the hopes of some North Country farmers planning multiple harvests from their hay fields this season.

Average rainfall last month in the Tupper Lake area was 5.25 inches, while Newcomb measured an average of 4.18 inches and Malone 4.96 inches, according to the National Weather Service in Burlington.

Arnold Lobdell of Chateaugay said that even with that much rainfall, farmers putting up silage or chopped hay to sell on the horse-feed market are right on target for their harvest.



BALING CONCERNS

But farmers who bale their hay that are behind schedule by about two weeks because of the lack of consistent dry days needed to remove the extra moisture from the standing fields.

“We need about 48 hours of continuous rain-free weather before we can get our first cut of dry hay,” Lobdell said.

First cut usually occurs in mid-June, and the second crop is then planted.

A third and sometimes even a fourth crop can be harvested before the growing season ends, Lobdell said.

“But if you’re not getting at least 48 hours of dry weather, you can’t get the first cut done, and it prevents the second crop from coming up.”



HAY QUALITY

The quality of the hay is also impacted the longer it remains in the field.

First-cut hay, which is preferred by horse owners because it’s greener, moister and less dusty than later yields, is a cash crop for farmers.

But second-cut hay and subsequent hay crops have a higher nutrition value, which farmers store away for their cattle for winter.

The higher the protein content, the less commercially produced material the farmer has to add to the feed, which can save a significant amount of money, Lobdell said.

At the same time, lesser quality hay left standing too long has lower protein and requires more subsidizing to maintain the delicate nutritional balance that dairy cattle need, he said.

Weather across the region is expected to be warm and dry toward the end of the week, Lobdell said, which may get farmers back on track if they can find enough workers to help get the crop in.



CHALLENGING

Rouses Point farmer Henry Gooley said he is disappointed in the crop so far at his Hayford Road property.

“We haven’t had much of a season to do haying,” he said. “You can’t have the hay that wet.”

The longer farmers have to wait to cut, he said, the poorer the hay quality. That, in turn, causes the milk produced by the cows that eat the hay to also be of lesser quality.

Gooley hopes the excessive rain will decrease.

“We don’t have much control of the weather, but we’ll get through it.”

“It’s definitely been challenging,” said Simon Conroy, owner of Conroy’s Organics farm in West Chazy.

“In the short run, we’re alright because we have some hay from earlier in the season. But in the long run, we’re going to need to get the hay before it gets too old and loses its high protein content.”



PRODUCE MIXED

On the positive side, the produce at Conroy’s farm has benefited from the wet weather.

“The plants are flourishing with all the water,” he said.

Produce growers are also feeling the effects of heavy June rainfall.

Ralph Child, who plants about 260 acres of potatoes and 240 acres of leafy greens at Childstock Farm in Malone, said his crops are not maturing as fast as he’d like.

At one point earlier this month, 4½ inches of rain fell in a week.

“It’s almost like two separate planting seasons,” Child said. “We had our first planting, then there was a 10-day stretch when we got that bad weather where we couldn’t do anything, then we did a second planting.

“But we didn’t get the hot, dry temperatures we needed to go with it. The soil temperature stayed cool, and it was cloudy. The plants weren’t germinating as well as I’d like, so that will have an impact on the maturity of the potatoes.”

He said as long as the weather continues to warm up and rainfall returns to normal, his first crop should still be ready to harvest the first part of September.

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