|
Become a friend of the Klamath Bucket Brigade All donations are tax deductible |
|
This Website is Dedicated to Alvin Alexander Cheyne January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005 |
GovTrack.us is an independent tool to help the public research and track the activities in the U.S. Congress, promoting government transparency and civic education through novel uses of technology.
More hay in barns than is usual for
March, growers say
Hay prices fall
after frenetic 2008
Craig Reed
For the Capital Press
March 26, 2009
Jake Ruble, an employee
of K Bar Ranches, operates a fertilizer
spreader in a field of orchard grass
March 23. Ammonium sulfate was being
sprayed over the field. Cold mornings
and limited sunlight has been slowing
the growth of the grass in the area as
farmers and ranchers look forward to the
2009 hay season.
That's a big change from just a few months ago,
when the overall price on the hay crop of 2008
was up because the fertilizer, fuel and other
expenses were also up.
Despite contracts at high prices such as $220 a
ton for dairy hay or for pressed hay for the
foreign market, some buyers reneged or sought to
renegotiate. Others purchased feed pellets and
fed less hay. Some dairymen and cattlemen
reportedly culled their herds so they'd have
fewer animals to feed and smaller operations did
the same with their cattle, sheep, goats and
horses.
"There had been no demand from the foreign
market through last fall and winter, but it has
strengthened just in the last month or two,"
said Sam Dinsdale who has been a hay grower in
the Silver Lake, Ore., area since 1974. "It's
been a combination of things ... the price
coming down to a level they're willing to accept
and there's a substantial inventory left over
from last summer."
"In November and December with the economy
falling, dairy prices went in the tank as far as
milk is concerned," said David King, a hay
grower in the Malin, Ore., area and president of
the Klamath Basin Hay Growers Association. "In
the last month or two press hay has started
moving again. Some of those buyers have taken
the hay at contract price and some have asked to
renegotiate.
"Dairy hay is a whole different situation," he
added. "There's been a lot of calls made by
dairymen seeking to renegotiate. Some growers
are selling for less and they could quite
possibly lose money. It just depends on how
badly you need to sell your inventory for money
to operate next year (this summer).
"If you hold out for a higher price, how long do
you go? It's like reading the stock market."
Dinsdale explained that hay growers may have
been hoping for "stratospheric returns." But he
said if the dairymen, the beef ranchers and the
foreign market aren't buying, the hay people
have little choice but to lower their prices.
Both Dinsdale and King said there is more hay
sitting in barns in central and eastern Oregon
than is usually the case in March. They are
optimistic, however, that it will eventually
sell. King said he believes the export hay from
2008 will be gone by June 1 and the retail hay
by mid-summer, but that some dairy hay may be
around for a while.
"You'll have to try to get interest on it or
storage for it," King said of dairy hay.
Don Santos, a Glide, Ore., rancher and hay
hauler, said he's talked to some central Oregon
hay growers who have said they'll be negotiable
in deciding on a price for their hay.
"They know it's the middle of March, and they
know it's getting on the short end of the
feeding season," Santos said.
Tim Bare, manager of the K-Bar Ranches south of
Roseburg, Ore., said the market for his hay has
remained fairly strong through the winter. K-Bar
sells most of its hay to livestock owners
between Medford, Ore., and Eugene, Ore.
"We're about sold out of 2008 hay," he said. "We
did lower the price of our premium hay about $20
a ton (in February from $250 a ton). We feel our
customers' pain. We're all in this together."
Bare said he estimates the ranch's 2008 hay will
be gone by July 1.
"There's no question the economy has bothered
some people," he said. "We've got a number of
customers who instead of 10 ton, bought five or
seven, or they got rid of a horse or two."
Santos said he's had no problem selling the hay
he has hauled west over the Cascade Mountains.
In looking ahead to growing hay this spring and
summer, the growers said they're pleased some of
the production costs, especially fuel, are down
compared to a year ago.
King said, however, that the price of fertilizer
hasn't come down and "I think they're still
gouging us. A lot of fertilizer was made at an
expensive price and they're not dropping it so
it'll have to work its way through the system.
The same with twine."
As far as the supply of water, that'll depend on
how many spring showers there are over the next
couple of months. But King said he believes
there'll be a full water supply in the Klamath
Basin for the first two cuttings and water for
the third cutting will depend on how much rain
falls throughout the summer, saving stored water
for later use.
Bare doesn't anticipate a water shortage in his
area, but said electricity to run water pumps
and lines "is our biggest expense and continues
to increase."
"The bottom line is that the 2009 crop should be
at a more reasonable level ... a reasonable
price, a fair price for good quality, supreme
hay," Dinsdale said.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section
107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit
or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this
information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For
more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml