Working with what Mother Nature dishes out comes with the territory in farming life and this summer season has thus far offered a menu of upsets in the weather forecast game.
Even when you've disseminated information from several different sources you find the variety and discord of so called weather models is so major that you simply can't figure out what to do about knocking down hay.
Sadly local news stations like WTEN, an award-winning weather reporting team that was headed by the notable Steve Caporizzo, the former Chief Meteorologist at NEWS10 before his retirement last month, doesn't seem to ever mention weather as it regards to the farmer. Despite the Upstate New York regions heavy reliance on farming businesses. Meaning, give us percentiles and chances of rain and offer more specific regional coverage especially in farming areas the Catskills region rather than always focusing on population hubs like Albany.
Many regional farmers have 'gone for it' with mixed results - working against the forecast variances and calling their own forecast. Basically desperate to get the 1st cut in to try and salvage the 2nd cut being available at all.
There are plenty of hay crop losses to rain, and of course many other farming enterprises are suffering with other types of crop problems too. Flooding, drought areas, fungus/insect damage due to high moisture etc. If you own horses you've likely already experienced the clover 'dribbles' with your herd, as the abundance of both red and white clover due to the heavy Spring rainfall predominates across much pastureland.
It seems that farmers are always whining about the weather. I guess it's a reasonable assessment. Growing and harvesting crops is so weather dependent it's hard not to understand the preoccupation that farmers have on the topic.
No wonder then that many hay farmers choose to eliminate both the need for handling small square bales and succumb to the use of herbicides and drying agents and preservative to harvest their dry hay crop. There are tremendous changes going on with big pharma and the harvesting methods of hay going on right now, alongside a bunch of other nefarious business practices coming your way. If you want to learn more on that topic check out this blog on, "Hey - What's Happening in the Hay Herbicide World". Chemical uses including salts, explain a lot about your horse's gut health, ulcers, leaky gut syndrome, hives, COPD and the like and what likely you are inadvertently doing to contribute to your horse's likelihood in developing these issues.
It's a bit sad really. To see the smaller Mom and Pop farmers go out. Send their haying equipment off to auction and quit the business. Sell their land out for quarrying then development. But not too surprising either. Agricultural machines are expensive to buy, run and maintain. The cost of parts has almost tripled in many cases. Plus the ever rising cost of insurance, and the administrative burdens of collecting forms and tax for state governments. It's truly hard to make ends meet for many.
Labor wise many farmers find their family help all grown and flown the nest, little interested in taking on the very hard work that farming is and that they have experienced first hand.
Clearly horse barn owners running boarding businesses are struggling to make ends meet too - it's not just livestock farmers and dairy businesses.
So - weather woes aside, the days of hay farming for the smaller enterprises are no doubt numbered. Artisan quality hay is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
There are simply too many clouds on the horizon.
It will be a very sad farewell. And for those of us who appreciate what our equine athletes need to reach their full potential, we won't have a place to turn for clean, green and non-chemical forage. And that truly is something worth whining about.