Camas Hay

 Cold, wet spring weather was a hindrance to some crops, but over in Camas County, hay producers couldn’t be happier. I’m David Sparks and that story’s next. Camas County Farmers near Fairfield are cutting their first crop of hay about now which is not the norm. Typically, this time of year, they should be looking toward making a second cut soon. There is a positive side to this story however. Farmers say the quality is excellent. So even though the hay crop is two to three weeks behind schedule because of a late spring that saw snow into June and 30-degree morning temps over the 4th of July, a better product is the result! Here’s Camas County hay farmer Danny Ferguson in the field with his certified alfalfa grass blend: “It’s good quality, fine stemmed, we got it up without the rain on it and the rain this spring has made all the difference in the world for our irrigation.” The funny thing is that the spring rains were more of an enemy in the Treasure Valley yet in Fairfield it was a help. “It filled the reservoirs. Our canal company was discussing sending letters out to curtail our water in the middle of July and now we haven’t even used our decrees. It’s made a tremendous difference in the quality of our crop over here.”