Pacific Northwest Hay Update

Pacific Northwest Hay Update

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

Well, the first cutting of hay is begun in some areas of the Pacific Northwest. I checked in with some growers to get the latest.

Stokrose Farm Foreman and Washington State Hay Growers Board Member Shawn Clausen gives a Washington update.

Clausen: “Through most of Washington state, it has been an excellent first cutting for weather. We’ve had a lot of wind and very little dew. Especially the last week we’ve been putting up some nice hay. Even the rained-on hay doesn’t look too bad. Quality wise there has been a lot of excellent quality hay being put into bales.”

President of McIntyre Farms, Loren McIntyre shares that the first cutting happened about three weeks early in Idaho’s Treasure Valley.

McIntyre: “We actually started earlier than I’d like but when we saw this big window of good weather ahead of us, you take advantage of that weather. We have contract with most of our hay. We get paid on quality, so it didn’t hurt us to start early as we are paid extra for the quality and it was fabulous hay.”

Mountain Home area Farmer Jim Blanksma shares:

Blanksma: “It’s coming along pretty good. Quality is a little spotty in places as there has been some rain showers that caused a certain amount of damage through it. I wouldn’t say that it was heavily damaged, but it is uneven.”

USDA’s weekly Oregon hay report for June 1st says that some Oregon hay growers have hay down but have not yet baled it, others are still three weeks or more away from their first cutting.

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.