14 |
SPRING RAIN | BAKER COUNTY
Grass:
Continued from Page 13
(One acre-foot of water would cover an
acre of fl at ground to a depth of one foot.
The measurement equates to about 326,000
gallons.)
Elsewhere, two reservoirs that supply
irrigation water to the North Powder Valley
— Pilcher Creek and Wolf Creek — were
rising through June as the last snow melted
in their basins.
Doug Birdsall, manager of the Powder
Valley Water Control District, said Pilcher
Creek was full on June 21, and some of its
water was supplementing, by way of a ditch,
the slightly lower Wolf Creek Reservoir.
“Current stored water available is about
90% and still going up for now,” Birdsall
said. “Hopefully there will be some carry-
over into next year.”
The more water irrigation managers can
retain in reservoirs when the growing sea-
son ends in early fall, the less winter snow
is needed to refi ll them the following spring.
Alfalfa fi rst cutting delayed
Siddoway, Pickard and Ward all had a
similar experience with the fi rst cutting of
this year’s alfalfa crop.
Which is to say, it was late.
Generally from 10 to 14 days late,
although Siddoway said in some cases he’d
heard that farmers started cutting about
three weeks later than usual.
The chilly spring weather — the average
temperature at the Baker City Airport was
about 6 degrees below average in April, and
4 degrees below average in May — slowed
the growth of alfalfa.
And with rain lingering into late May and
early June, the usual period for the fi rst cut-
ting, growers held off rather than risk having
their hay soaked, which can slash its value.
Fortunately, when the spring spigot
stopped, it did so suddenly, and it was fol-
lowed by weather that Siddoway called ideal
for cutting, curing and baling hay — warm,
occasionally hot, days and a breeze to help
dry the cut hay prior to baling.
In the last week of June the fresh scent of
cut grass and alfalfa was redolent in Baker
Valley, with hundreds of acres bearing the
distinctive, almost artistic, sinuous rows of
curing hay.
Siddoway had to delay an interview on
June 24 because he was, literally, “under a
baler” preparing to put up the fi rst cutting.
He said the one potential downside to the
delay is that the third cutting — the fi nal
one, for most local farmers and ranchers —
could be pushed back as well, into Septem-
ber when the longer, cooler and dewy nights
can make it diffi cult to cure hay properly
before baling.
Both Ward and Pickard acknowledged
that possibility. But they said they would
gladly exchange the potential for a trouble-
some third cutting for the wet spring that
postponed the fi rst cutting.
“I’m not going to worry about it all,”
Pickard said.
Cattle prices
Siddoway describes cattle prices as
“respectable,” although increases over the
past year have been well below the rate of
infl ation.
Pickard said the drought created what
he called a “glut” of cattle on the market,
including many that ranchers sold earlier
this year because they feared, with a con-
tinuing drought, they wouldn’t be able to
fi nd or aff ord feed.
“The cattle market is trying to get better,
and all the fundamentals are there,” he said.
“But it never happens like it’s supposed to.”
Pickard said consumers who are dealing
with rising prices for pretty much every-
thing — including beef at the store — might
think ranchers are benefi ting, but that’s gen-
erally not the case.
With much of the nation’s meatpacking
controlled by four large corporations, retail
prices don’t necessarily track with what
ranchers receive at auction.
Bennett called cattle prices “pretty
good,” but he emphasized, like Pickard, that
production costs — notably fuel, which in
turn infl ates the price of fertilizer and trans-
portation — have increased more rapidly.
Pickard said he’s optimistic about the
market.
But he’s not about to make a prediction.
“That’s asking me to look in my crystal
ball, and sometimes it’s pretty blurry,” he
said.
AGRICULTURE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Eastern Oregon University’s new degree program
is the nexus of business, agriscience and
leadership to innovate the future of agriculture!
eou.edu/agrient
SEE WHAT’S
POSSIBLE
eou.edu
#EasternEdge