By Nigel Maxwell

Ranchers optimistic despite hay shortage: Sask. farm group

Aug 1, 2018 | 10:00 AM

There is a shortage of hay in the province, according to the president of the Saskatchewan Stockgrowers Association.

Bill Huber told farmnewsNOW some parts of the province are worse off than others.

“A lot of areas in the south and southwest are especially dry, and the hay crops are probably half of what they would be normally and maybe in some cases worse,” he said.

According to Saskatchewan Agriculture’s weekly crop report, 63 per cent of the provincial hay crop has been baled or put into silage, while an additional 19 per cent was cut and ready for baling. Hay yields were noted as significantly lower than normal for many producers, and most producers indicated that there will not be a second cut of hay this year.

Huber said producers are doing alright where he lives, northeast of Regina, but he noted his own hay crop is still just 70 per cent of the normal yield. In terms of options for producers, Huber said farmers and ranchers are entrepreneurs and will be pretty aggressive when it comes to looking after their livestock.

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“They’ll be buying more feed grain and maybe hopefully bail some straw, and a lot of them when they saw it wasn’t a wet spring would probably try to seed some cereals like oats or barley they could swath and make green seed out of,” he said.

Huber said Saskatchewan farmers have learned to always have a plan B and sometimes a plan C. 

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell