Making hay is just not what it once was.
Price hikes for fuel and fertilizer, coupled with a lack of fields to grow hay have some local livestock owners over a bale.
Brian Lynch, owner of Amberway Stables, 1100 Bird Road in Groveland Township, said he can sum up the cost of hay in two words: ‘It sucks.?
‘I have 38 horses here,? said Lynch. ‘A year ago I charged $450 a month to stable a horse. Now I have to charge $525. It really costs us $700 a month to take care of these horses. Because I have horse shows and supplement my income by selling stable products and facilities nationwide, I can break even and I am happy with that.?
Lynch said he bought his property two years ago and has a substantial mortgage. ‘If I had the room, I would grow my own hay. A lot of horse farms around here bought their property years ago, so their mortgages are a lot lower than mine. Plus some of them mow their own hay. I don’t have the room to grow hay, I am using all of my 57 acres.?
Hay farmer Barry June, who said he has been baling hay since he was 8-years-old, owns a 90-acre farm in the township where he grows hay, along with barley to sell to horse farms.
June said he has to charge more per bale because the cost of fertilizer has petroleum products in it. He said the cost of fertilizer has tripled over the last year.
‘It costs me $1.25 to produce one bale of hay now. I charge anywhere between $4.25 to $6 a bale now, compared to $3 last year,? he said.
In the fall when June puts down fertilizer on his farm, he said it will cost him $200 an acre. ‘I have to plan my cashflow during the summer so I can afford to pay for the fertilizer in the fall,? said June.
Using diesel fuel for his farm equipment, June said, is expensive. ‘The cost of diesel fuel is climbing up to over $5 a gallon now. It cost me $200 to fill up my tractor today. I don’t get a lot of profit anymore, but this is a way of life for me, I really enjoy being outside, and I at least want to be able to pay the taxes on my property.?
June received his bachelor of science degree in Agricultural Engineering from Michigan State University. He is employed as the facilities director for the Genesee County Parks and Recreation. He also serves as a township trustee.
Wife Cynthia said it’s hard to depend on the weather for the success of their crops. ‘We are dry farmers, we depend on the rain to hydrate our crops. We don’t have any irrigation. When the fertilizer goes down, Barry starts watching the weather forecasts day and night,? she said.
Jim Hilker, a professor at Michigan State University School of Agriculture, has taught marketing and how to sell commodities for 26 years. He said it’s not just the cost of hay that has gone up, it is also the price of corn, soybeans and wheat that are climbing up faster than hay.
‘I think we are going through a change in our nation’s agriculture this year,? said Hilker. ‘What people choose to grow is changing. There is a huge demand for ethanol right now and corn is being harvested for ethanol, which is forcing some farmers to choose to do away with their hay farms and change to grains. The last time corn prices doubled was in the early 70s. They doubled and never went back. That doesn’t happen very often; however, I think that is what is happening this year.?
Besides the costs of gasoline driving up the cost to transport commodities, Hilker said the weather has played a significant role in the crisis. ‘The last really big drought was in 1987. Then there was flooding in 1993. However, what is happening now started in the fall of 2006. We woke up and realized we had really bad crops around the world. Then oil prices started going up. There wasn’t too much we could do after that. Add to that, last year Michigan did not have a very good hay crop, yet the demand for hay was high. As a whole, the last six years our nation has had drought conditions. Texas is having a really tough time right now, because of their drought conditions.?