Timothy Hay

Work for northern Idaho farmer Keith Damon often includes a breathtaking view. The rolling landscape of North Idaho's Panhandle is rich with beautiful farmscapes. Today at Damon Farms it is load out day with the last of the Timothy hay crop headed to markets overseas. “It is all exported, it goes through Ellensburg, there are a couple of different exporters that we work with over there." It is the major crop grown every year at Damon Farms. “This year we had 2600 acres. That is our major crop now. It used to be bluegrass but Timothy has replaced that in our cropping system. It is a real nice fit for us. We don't have to burn it. It's just working out real well for us.” About half of this year’s crop was rained on which Damon says worked out well in the end. "Because of all the rained on hay in the industry, the value of the nice hay went up so it helped compensate for some of the discounts we are getting on the rained on hay.” Early spring in the hay fields brings a unique threat to the crop and it takes all night surveillance to overcome. "Well the elk and the deer just love this Timothy, especially in the spring of the year. We have tried a number of different things to keep the elk out of our field and the most effective way is to put a guy in a four wheeler and a spotlight at night from 1 April through mid May and patrol all our fields. It takes him all night to get through all our fields but if there are any elk out there he encourages them to leave and it has been very effective.” Timothy hay is native to Scandinavia and is popular because it is one of the most cold tolerant, cold season grasses. Depending on the grade of this cold tolerant grass, it’s worth between $180-$320 a ton in the overseas markets.