“But the way it’s been with this weather, you have to keep the water on constantly going over it to keep it from drying out.” “Normally, you can irrigate a field and then shut the water off for a couple of days,” Haberman said. “It will reduce the price for the farmer, but if need more hay, they will look to other markets,” Haberman said.īut with the heat wave, the amount of water it takes a farmer to irrigate fields has increased.
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Hay that is contaminated or of lower quality could sell for up to $100 a ton cheaper, Haberman said. By the time it’s shipped there and everything, it’s pretty expensive.” “They want to get what they’re paying for, and you can’t blame them too much. They don’t want other grasses contaminating it, or other weeds,” Haberman said. “They want clean timothy, and they want straight timothy. “Providing feed for cattle is more challenging this year and has resulted in moving cattle to areas with better grazing, selling cattle, and when possible buying feed,” Betts said.īrad Haberman, vice president of the Washington Farm Bureau, said the drought gives other grasses and weeds a chance to grow, which impacts the quality of timothy hay grown in the region.Īnd with reduced quality, buyers from Japan, Korea and Taiwan who typically buy hay from Eastern Washington may go elsewhere, Haberman said. Some producers have started to purchase feed for their animals in June or July, which is earlier than they would in a typical year, Betts said. Even if there was a demand for lower quality wheat, they would be unlikely to be able to service those orders.īetts said farmers are having difficulty growing enough hay to feed their cattle.
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Katovich said this is less of a concern due to their low yield of crops since farmers are seeing up to a 50% decrease in their crop yield this year. Katovich said generally, the lower the protein content the better.Ĭustomers with less stringent standards will go elsewhere to buy their wheat. The temperatures and lack of moisture have increased the amount of protein in wheat. “This is the weirdest start, and probably the most difficult year I’ve seen in my career.” “So when we have quality problems, then we have problems servicing those contracts with our overseas buyers,” Katovich said.
![pacific northwest heat wave bakes wheat pacific northwest heat wave bakes wheat](https://i.redd.it/grhdnyjkwtd71.jpg)
Katovich said there could be difficulty in fulfilling orders of soft white wheat to international buyers, due to their higher quality standards.