HOWARD — Hay is feed for farm animals, and is an essential crop most farmers grow for their livestock herd. Depending on the amount of hay grown and the number in their herd, farmers may have some hay left over which they can sell. Conversely, there may be a shortage and farmers may need to purchase hay.
There are some farmers, a very few, who grow only hay as a cash crop. Chris Fletcher fits into that farming niche. He describes himself as a hay farmer who grows clover, alfalfa and orchard grass, not to feed to his livestock, but to sell as his livelihood.
Fletcher, who grows the hay on 235 acres on Nunda Road north of Amity, said he knows of only four or five farmers in Knox County who grow only hay on their land. Growing hay is a no-brainer for Fletcher. He and his wife, Althea, have no children to help with a farming operation; growing hay is essentially a one-man operation. So that is the niche he chose.
Planting hay is done with a grain drill and one man driving the tractor. Then, you wait until it’s time to cut and harvest the hay. Again, it’s a one-man operation, driving the tractor pulling a haybine that cuts and conditions the hay to cure faster.
Baling the hay only requires pulling the baler and letting it do the job. Fletcher needs only one tractor for all three operations. His choice is a 1973 Allis Chalmers, 65 horsepower diesel that drives both the haybine and baler through the power takeoff at the rear of the tractor. He bales both square and round bales.
The square baler kicks the bales into a wagon towed behind the baler. There is some labor required, as he has to unload them by hand and stack the bales in his storage barns. The round bales are collected with a “spear,” or prong, that goes through the center of the bale; the spear is attached to the back of another tractor. All of Fletcher’s hay is stored inside.
Growing hay starts with planting the seed, but it doesn’t have to be planted each year. Fletcher said a good growth of alfalfa will grow crops for five-plus years. Clover hay has a shorter life, but orchard grass grows without reseeding.
Fletcher said a major cost of growing hay is the fertilizer. In the past year, he said, the cost of fertilizer has gone up dramatically, which will increase the cost of hay.
Selling hay is done in a number of ways. Fletcher said he has about 20 steady customers, mostly people with a horse and perhaps some livestock as a hobby. They may buy hay several times throughout the year, as need and money dictates. This market may expand or contract with the economy, as owners may be forced to sell animals if feed costs become too high.
Fletcher also sells to farmers who need hay to feed beef cattle. He said he does some advertising and sends out Christmas cards to his steady customers. But the best advertising is word of mouth, as his customers spread the word he has hay for sale.
Fletcher takes some of his hay to the Hershberger auction at Danville. Selling hay is either by the bale or by the ton. Prices very widely depending on market demand. One development in agriculture is that farmers are leaving hay and other crops and growing more corn in order to feed the demand for ethanol fuel. That, too, can force up the price of hay. An average 65-pound square bale brings between $4.50 and $8. Prices for first or second cutting of hay sell for $210 to $220 a ton.
Fletcher delivers some of his hay to his customers, loading three of the 650- to 1,000-pound round bales on his flatbed one-ton Chevy truck. Figures that Fletcher quotes indicates his niche farming for hay earns him a good living.
