Wet Hay as Missouri Floods!

BJ · #1 06/30/07, 06:49 AM

Remember all that expensive hay we talked about in another forum? Well now those once beautiful bales of hay and straw and even some cut fields of hay are in standing water! So sad

More tough times for farmers

Some areas close to me have had 10" of rain in the last few days...and it's still raining this morning.

It's rained so much our ponds are full and the fish are going over the spillway!

We've tried to build a barrier of hardware cloth to keep the spring hatch of bass and blue gills in....hope it works!

Gin64 · #2 06/30/07, 07:43 AM

I wish you all could send some of that rain over here. We have had just a little the last couple of days but we are still dry. It is amazing on how these fronts are moving around the area. You can go five miles away and they are getting good rains.

FalconDance · #3 06/30/07, 07:51 AM

Same here, BJ (west-central MO). Rain, rain. Why does it seem this year that it's one extreme or the other with no happy middle?

~Falcon

cindy04 · #4 06/30/07, 09:12 AM

Here in NW Missouri, SOME of the farmer have been very smart. Rather than take the time to cut, rake, and bail a whole field they are doing it in small sections. It takes less time and the hay is put up alot faster. I realize that some do not have this luxury of time, but those that do have made it work for them.
The guy that we are buying from had 2 weeks off work for tonsil surgery, and did his sections at a time and it worked out great.

We wish everyone the best with their hay. At times it just make you sick to think about the price, rain, or lack of.

Cindy

6e · #5 06/30/07, 09:59 AM

It's for sure that way here in SE KS. We've had 10" or so and it's been raining cats and dogs again this morning, but generally we don't start baling until after the 4th. Hopefully it dries out before that time. But all the mud is not doing good things for all the critters. Poor things are just trying to find dry ground to stand on.

**gone-a-milkin** · #6 07/01/07, 01:31 PM

Some of the farmers here have bagged their wet hay, making 'haylage'. It cost some money to rent the bagger, but was better than losing ALL of it. I don't know if that would work for anyone else...it's surely too wet to do it today....at least at my place!

Gin64 · #7 07/01/07, 01:43 PM

We have finally started to get some rain. They are saying we might get 6 inches for today and tomarrow. The feilds here are just starting to show a little color now. Hope this is enough to make a good second cutting. The first was down by 1/3 over last years and 1/2 from the year before. Boy would hate to think we will have to buy all the hay for the milkers.

ozark_jewels · #8 07/01/07, 08:13 PM

I am extremely glad to see the rain......we needed it badly. Its still coming down. We may just get that second cutting of hay!

BJ · #9 07/01/07, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

I am extremely glad to see the rain......we needed it badly. Its still coming down. We may just get that second cutting of hay!

We've had 18" of rain in the last few days....flooding people out of their homes. Some bean and corn crops are ruined and the straw and hay baled a week ago has turned black sitting in the field.

ozark_jewels · #10 07/01/07, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BJ

We've had 18" of rain in the last few days....flooding people out of their homes. Some bean and corn crops are ruined and the straw and hay baled a week ago has turned black sitting in the field.

Its either feast or famine this time of year. We had famine and now we will have feast.

Gotta wonder why the hay wasn't moved from the field after it was baled. It should have been moved inside or to high ground. This was predicted to be coming before it got here. Our neighbor just didn't move his hay out of the fields...no real reason....now he is wishing he had.

linn · #11 07/02/07, 04:20 PM

We live close to St. Joseph, MO. It has rained all around us; but we can't seem to get a good rain. Wish we could have had some of the rain you got.

francismilker · #12 07/02/07, 04:40 PM

I've had 18" of those glorious little rain drops in the past three weeks. I'm not going to gripe or complain because I prayed for it last year during the drought! It just came a little later than I expected. Farmers all around me have round hay sitting in fields that are standing in water with mushrooms and toadstools popping out of them everywhere. The hay never had time to get "sealed" before it got wet. This year, the hay will be plentiful. We just have to make sure we dig in and see if it's ruined before we make the purchase.