Mardi Ford

The Observer

COVE

When it comes to water, can there ever be too much of a good thing?

For dryland farmers in the Grande Ronde Valley, probably not though it may seem so to the casual observer.

After an early heat wave, spring rains caused many farmers to get a late start. Making up that two weeks later in the season is sometimes tough to do.

With summer on the rise, farmers are still contending with rain. It’s time to make the first cutting of hay, but the rain is back and the hay is still in the field.

"For those guys who have already got some hay down, it’s probably not good. It could lay there and get even more wet before it can be baled," says Jennifer Isley, the local Farm Service Agency’s executive director.

But for those who’ve not yet cut their hay, she says, the grass will continue to ripen, which affects the quality later on. Either way, it’s a tough call.

Still, even the hay farmers aren’t complaining.

"Well, it’s pretty hard to complain about moisture when we’ve had such a long drought," Isley says.

By the end of last March, which is traditionally known as a water month, year-to-date rainfall on the valley floor was still nearly two inches below normal even with winter’s banner snowpack levels.

Folks hoping and praying for timely spring rain have had their prayers answered over and over again. By the middle of June, year-to-date rainfall for the Grande Ronde Valley jumped from March’s 2.69 inches to a whopping 8 inches less than three-fourths of an inch away from normal recorded precipitation levels.

This year’s weather has, indeed, been capricious. But if there’s one thing farmers can count on when it comes to working with nature, it’s not being able to count on the weather doing what you want, when you want.

Sherman Hawkins, whose family has farmed in this valley for more than 60 years, says the rain is good news for farmers especially those with crops like mint and sugar beets in the ground, but admits it might hurt the hay farmers.

"But, I’ve never seen hay go to waste in this valley. It’ll all work out," he says with the calm wisdom that comes from decades of working with nature.

Sonny Johnson, who owns and runs Conley Farms in Cove with his son, Colby, says early on his father-in-law gave him some of the best advice about farming he’s ever gotten.

After Sonny left his construction business to join the family farm, he was stressed out over the weather all the time.

"My father-in-law asked me why I was fretting over the weather. ‘Why don’t you worry about something you can do something about. You can’t do anything about the weather it’s going to do what it’s going to do.’ He was right. You have to work with what it is. I’ve learned to do that," he says.

Along the edges of a field of wheat out on Gekeler Lane, alfalfa borders Catherine Creek planted alongside the wheat.

While the norm is to grow alfalfa under pivot irrigation, Conley Farms grows approximately 800 acres of its alfalfa hay along the creek, bordering other dryland crops. Johnson says he and Colby discovered the fine tap roots of alfalfa hay go deep enough to self-water and thrive without benefit of irrigation.

"Actually, everything we’ve changed here for hay production is related to the weather," Johnson says.

This field on Gekeler had already been cut last week, and sat in the rain waiting for a break in the weather before it could be raked and baled.

Johnson bends over to pick up a handful of this first-cut alfalfa. Under the top layer bleached by the elements is a sweet, green plant that doesn’t look any worse the wear for the shower it’s been getting.

"Well, if it lays here too long, it will. But all we need now is a little breeze and some sunny days," he says.

Conley Farms doesn’t rake its cuttings into wind rows until they’re ready to bale. On their balers, they’ve installed new technology sensors that gauge the moisture content in the hay as it moves through the baler.

Set at increment percentage levels, one to three pumps automatically kick on and deliver a treatment to the hay to forestall mold damage.

The technology and the liquid treatment are both expensive, he says, but worth it in the long run. Just one more edge to maintain that slim 2 to 3 percent agricultural profit margin.

And though the plentiful rains may be something hay farmers are having to work around, Johnson echoes Hawkins’ sentiments, saying, "Well, it’s good for beets, mint and wheat."