FEATURE

Gambling on good weather
Not for the faint of heart
by Mary McIntosh


Everybody knows you have to make hay while the sun shines, but wet weather in the Maritimes has meant that some farmers are struggling to follow that old adage.

According to Environment Canada, record-setting rainfall occurred in southwestern Nova Scotia, with twice the normal precipitation in both June and July. Southern New Brunswick had twice the normal rainfall in June, but conditions returned to normal in July.

Sean Firth, a Livestock Specialist with the agricultural consulting firm AgraPoint in Nova Scotia, said there was a window of opportunity to bring in good-quality, early-cut forage, but farmers trying to bale and store hay have suffered from the poor drying conditions.

"From June 20 onward it has been difficult to make a traditional hay crop, simply because there hasn't been adequate drying weather. For people who have tried to make hay it has been a long, painful process. It has either been rained on, or they've just had to delay cutting to the point where they've had a long enough break in the weather so they can actually make hay. But that affects the quality of the hay so there's a higher percentage of poorer quality hay around."

Firth said although there was a good crop in terms of yield, there were problems with quality, which has caused some farmers to reconsider their method of storing hay.

"Some guys are rutting up their fields pretty badly and in some cases even getting their machinery stuck," Firth said. "So a lot of guys this year, for the first time ever, have gone to wrapped silage or compartment systems for their round bale silage, as opposed to trying to make dry hay because they don't have to dry it down. They just have to wilt it a little bit and then put it up as silage."

Wayne Morgan, of Rusagonis, just outside of Fredericton, N.B., grows and harvests 100 acres of hay every year, which he sells in square bales to clients with saddle horses. He keeps some for his own herd of beef. He has also noticed a trend to move to a haylage system because of wet weather.

"It has been a trying summer, I'll tell you that," said Morgan. "And a lot of guys are switching to haylage, because the last few years, we just haven't had the weather. You just have to keep fluffing it and hope that the wind makes up for the sunshine we are missing."

Albert Neill, of Neill's Farm in Fredericton, stores his hay in square bales to feed his dairy cattle. Although he'd prefer to bring in the crop early in the season, it was a challenge this year because of the heavy downpour in June.

"There's been very touchy weather, there's no question about that," said Neill. "The crop's been good but it has been a hard job to get it in because it rains one day, and you can't mow it, and it gets wet, and so on. It's a good crop but it's hard to get. It has been a lot more difficult this year because of the wet weather."

MIXED BAG

According to Environment Canada, Prince Edward Island was the dry spot in the Maritimes, with 30 to 40 percent less than normal precipitation in May. In June, conditions were near normal levels, but in July, the Island reported 20 percent more than the average precipitation.

Ken Mellish, of New Perth Farms, P.E.I., has been growing hay for dairy cows and horses for more than 25 years. He stores both hay and silage. He said although there was plenty of opportunity to make silage in June, there was rarely a three-day period to allow farmers to dry hay. But he said everyone, especially farmers wanting to put away dry hay, had to be fast off the mark to beat the rain.

"Basically, I think even people who put up silage in some forms had to be on their toes to get it done," Mellish said. "I think there was a lot of good silage that went up, but again, we can get out on the fields sooner after a rain. It was a difficult year. People got out and hustled. I heard of people who worked literally day and night getting it off when the weather was good. Got it off in good time, and got good feed up for their cows."

"The people who got into difficulties were the farmers who started later, and this would be more with the beef people. There were few periods where we could dry hay, and in June and July, when you should be making stuff of reasonable quality, it was really difficult to do that."

Despite the rain, Morgan said he hasn't lost any of his crop this year. He credits both good luck and good management. This year he's using recycled lime from the Irving Pulp and Paper mill in Saint John and has found it really made a difference in the quality of his crop. He uses wood ash in the fall to fertilize.

"It's been a terrific crop, the amount and the quality. I had some of the nicest hay I've baled in a long while, but it goes hand and hand. It takes water to grow it, but it also takes sunshine to make it. So, I mean if you get too much water you could have a good crop and not be able to get it."

Calculating the odds when gambling with weather only works with the help of a reliable weather forecast. Failing that, many farmers have resorted to watching the wind, eyeballing the sky, and just keeping their fingers crossed and hoping for good luck.

"I live by the weather network, but I can't count the number of times the forecaster said it was going to be nice and sunny for the next three days so everybody dumps a big jag. Then before those three days were up, with the hay about made, there'd be a great big slosh of rain," said Morgan.

"I took some awful chances this summer, myself, because after two or three weather patterns you can almost predict it yourself. But it's been hard, terrible hard on the nerves, to try and hay in weather like that."

(Mary McIntosh lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick.)