A6
BUSINESS
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Making hay: Farmers fi nally get to cut fi rst crop of year
knocking on the door of
$350-$400 a ton, maybe
more.”
He attributes this to the
fact that competitors in the
Ellensburg,
Washington,
and Columbia Basin areas
had trouble with their crop
getting rained on.
“If we can get our hay in,
it’ll be premium,” he said.
Premium quality is the
highest with the largest
nutrient percentage.
Coppin said his farm
sells mostly as an export
crop to Japan.
“I’m already selling hay
from last year for more than
last year,” he said.
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY
— With the rains apparently
done for a while, Wallowa
County farmers are making
hay while the sun shines, as
they mow their fi rst cutting
of alfalfa across the county.
“It looks like we have a
really good window toward
putting hay up,” said Mark
Butterfi eld, chairman of the
Wallowa County Hay Grow-
ers. “I don’t think anybody’s
complaining about extra
moisture. It’s been a bless-
ing both for the stockgrow-
ers and us.”
“It’s fi nally turned into
summer,” said Tyler Cop-
pin, who with his father,
Mike, has about 1,000 acres
in both timothy grass and
alfalfa in the Upper Prairie
Creek area. “I just hope the
hot weather will last.”
That’s critical to get the
mown hay to dry on the
ground before baling.
Short crop
Most hay growers agree
the cold, wet spring hindered
growth of the hay crop.
Tim Melville, who owns
and operates Cornerstone
Farms Joint Venture with
his wife, Audry, sons Kevin,
Kurt and their wives, said
their farm has about 300
acres in alfalfa and about
250 in timothy grass in
various fi elds around the
county.
“It’s a little bit short and
a little bit later than usual,”
Tim Melville said. “It’s been
colder and it didn’t grow as
much as usual.”
But, he said, the slower
growth will make for good
quality because it won’t be
too mature.
Son, Kurt, who is in
Production cost
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Kerry Searles swaths alfalfa hay on a Cornerstone Farms Joint Venture fi eld just north of Joseph on Wedensday, June 22, 2022.
It was the year’s fi rst cutting of the alfafa crop.
charge of the farm’s hay har-
vest, got a bit more technical.
He said Wednesday, June
22, the alfalfa is “a little bit
lighter than usual because
we haven’t had as many
Butterfi eld said his two
types of hay were mixed.
“Alfalfa’s behind and
timothy’s is ahead, but
everything looks good,” he
said.
to predict the price.
“It’s a bit of a jinx to pre-
dict hay prices,” he said. “It
should be as high or better
than last year.”
He said he sold his hay
lighter than normal,” he
said. “Until we actually get
some up, sometimes it’s a
bit deceiving, but I think
it’ll be about 20% less than
usual, but I could be com-
“I’M ALREADY SELLING HAY FROM LAST YEAR FOR MORE THAN LAST YEAR.”
— Tyler Coppin, hay grower
heat units, but it looks like
a good window to knock
it down. The forecast has
about 10 days to take that
fi rst cutting.”
The timothy grass takes
a bit longer, he said, adding
that it should be another two
or three weeks before it’s
ready to cut.
Butterfi eld has about
1,900 acres east of Joseph
evenly split between the two
types of hay.
Market price
Most
growers
are
expecting higher prices for
their hay once it’s baled.
Butterfi eld was hesitant
for $190-$290 a ton last
year on the farm — where
the buyer loads and hauls it
from the farm.
Kurt Melville agreed it
will likely be comparable
to last year, but he said he
hasn’t been keeping close
track of the market.
“It’ll be a little bit
pletely wrong until start
running balers through
fi elds.”
Tyler Coppin, on the
other hand, is quite optimis-
tic as to the price this year.
“I’m thinking this is
going to be highest prices
we’ll get in anyone’s life-
time,” he said. “It’ll be
& Skylight
Gallery
But it’s not all about the
quality of the crop. Grow-
ers have to contend with the
cost of production, as well.
The growers interviewed
— to a man — agreed the
high cost of petroleum is
aff ecting nearly everything.
“Fuel prices are terrible;
oil prices are terrible,” Cop-
pin said.
This not only aff ects fuel
used in farm machinery,
but the cost of transport-
ing crops to market. It also
boosts the cost of fertilizer
and other chemicals heavy
in petroleum.
Tim Melville said it
also aff ects the availabil-
ity and cost of parts for
farm machines.
“Some of the parts have
doubled in price in past 12
months,” he said. “Fertiliz-
er’s double what it was last
year.”
Coppin said the produc-
tion costs are also seen in
the availability of parts.
“Everything’s hard to
get,” he said, estimating costs
are up 30%. “I don’t know
anything’s not hard to get.”
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1. Cruel smile
6. Makes a pick
10. Folk singer Guthrie
14. “Parallel Mothers”
director Almodovar
15. ___ talk (honest
conversation)
16. Stink
17. Elite crew
18. Tracy Chapman, vocally
19. Bike selection
20. AOL rival
21. 23andMe competitor
24. Persnickety
25. “The Little Mermaid”
collectible
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29. Four-sided dice, e.g.
(Note the last 3 letters of
this answer + the start of
34-Down)
35. Go by, as time
37. “Jane ___”
38. Shofar horn source
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40. Prop for a ball
41. Haim of “Licorice Pizza”
43. Fish kissed in
Newfoundland
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letters + the end of
53-Down)
59. Woman in Progressive ads
62. Word before “a blank”
or “the line”
63. Steamy resorts
64. One may be forwarded
66. Vibe
67. Grin’s “ends”
68. Smoothed, as a sand trap
69. Gym shorts material
70. ___ mater
71. Has to have
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Joseph United
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Grace Lutheran
Church
3rd & Lake St. • Joseph
409 West Main - Enterprise
10 AM Worship
Online AND In Person
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Lostine
Presbyterian Church
Summit Church
Discussion Group 9:30 AM
Worship Service 11:00 AM
at the Cloverleaf Hall in Enterprise
Childrens program during service
Blog: dancingforth.blogspot.com
2. Clears after taxes
3. Starter home?
4. Part of BCE
5. Like Mercury or Venus (First 4
letters + the start of 21-Across)
6. Prophet
7. One-named soccer legend
8. Pieces of body art, for short
9. Toy racer
10. It has many diamonds
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12. Like low-fat meat
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22. Comedian Bargatze
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26. “Home Alone” co-star Joe (Last 3
letters + the start of 47-Across)
27. Standoffish
28. ___ Arabia
30. Itty-bitty
31. Bread that might be marbled
32. Cleaning product that
anagrams to 33-Down
33. Total stranger, informally
34. Build up
36. “Help!”
40. Black ___ (dress code)
42. Deficiency
45. Shrunken Asian lake
46. Takes legal action
48. “Sad trombone” sound
49. Texan city supposedly named
after a Ukrainian city
53. Not lenient
54. Spare rib supplier?
55. 50-50 test guess
56. Does some paving
57. Australian gem
58. Toasty
59. Like fair-weather friends
60. Twisted the truth
61. 12-year-___ (some tweens)
65. Hollywood legend West
107 E. Main • Enterprise • 541-426-3351
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Cloverleaf Hall • 668 NW 1st St. • Enterprise, OR 97828
Wallowa
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702 West Hwy 82
Wallowa, Oregon
541-886-8445
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723 College Street, Lostine
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