Farms that lost crops get a big heap of hay

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bethany Bump

Jim Saddlemire spent his Saturday like he spends most days. Clad in chaps, boots and gloves, he loaded bale after bale of hay onto his truck, stacking each neatly and preparing them for delivery.

But the hay that wound up on his truck Saturday came from Saratoga County farmers free of charge. And it would eventually wind up in Schoharie County free of charge, where it would help feed the livestock at three major farming operations that lost most of their crops this year because of tropical storms Irene and Lee.

By Saddlemire’s estimation, a good bale might run about $3.50 right now. So the approximate 700 bales of hay being shipped from Ballston Spa to Schoharie and Middleburgh was a nearly $2,500 Christmas gift to farmers in need.

“It really makes an effect on them, because it gives them feed and it enables them not to have to go further into debt,” said Saddlemire, of Schoharie trucking company Hole in the Wall Farm, as he took a break from loading hay at Saratoga County’s 4-H Training Center. “They’re right at the point with the feed shortage that they have where they wonder how much more money they can borrow to stay in business another year or whether to sell some animals off, because the animals are their equity.”

By noon Saturday, 28 farmers from the region had stopped by the hay drive, which was coordinated by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Saratoga County, and assisted by the Schoharie County Farm Bureau, the Schoharie County Community Action Program and other local agriculture agencies.

Jennifer Conte was just hoping to meet the 400-bale minimum required to make the trip worth it for Saddlemire.

As extension community educator, she put the word out about the drive and asked for a 20-bale pledge from 20 farmers in the area. It was enough hay to help, and not so much that it would burden a donor, she said.

“Hay is hard to come by right now for everybody,” said Conte. “It wasn’t a great season for hay, so I thought if we divided it up by 20 bales it’s not going to hurt anybody too much. And some people gave more. Some people gave 40. Somebody’s bringing 70. So it’s just generosity driving this.”

A little more than a month after flooding from Tropical Storm Irene tore through the Schoharie Valley, rough estimates from the state Agriculture and Markets Department identified at least 48 farms affected by the storms. Approximately 342 livestock and other animals were known to have been lost in the county.

About 75 to 100 acres of farmland was lost altogether after the flooding, according to the Schoharie County Farm Service Agency.

As farmers pick up the pieces and attempt to get back on their feet, any little bit of charity helps.

It was up to Saddlemire, who is also vice president of the Schoharie Chapter of the New York Farm Bureau, to decide who gets hay and how much they get.

“It’s their usability,” he said. “See, certain people can use little bales better than the large squares here, and other ones can use the large squares just based on their feeding system and needs.”

Beef cattle would get the smaller bales and dairy cows the round bales to help boost their milk production, he said.

The farmers who turned out Saturday agreed that it wasn’t a great year for hay.

Precipitation far exceeded yearly averages in most farming regions. Saddlemire said Schoharie County receives maybe 26 to 28 inches a year on average.

Irene and Lee helped put the county 20 inches over that average, he said.

Even in Fulton County, where flooding was less severe, farmers still had a tough year precipitation-wise, he said.

George Kokinda was the 28th farmer to show up Saturday. He helped load 26 bales from his private farm onto Saddlemire’s truck and offered a bleak outlook.

“Sure, it’s a lot but it’s also a pittance,” he said. “I mean, it’s good that everybody can come out and give this much, but with the size of some of the farms involved, they could go through 700 bales in no time. They need lots more. It’s kind of a drop in the bucket. By next March when things get really tough there may be a lot of farmers in real dire straits.”

Still, Conte was encouraged by the turnout — not just of farmers but also of volunteers who didn’t have hay, only hands to help. She urged people to continue to pay attention to the devastation in Schoharie County because it won’t be short-lived.

“It’s not just the initial loss,” she said. “It’s not that you lost something and you can immediately replace it. This is their whole growing season.”

Saddlemire said he expects to drop off hay to the Larry Van Aller & Sons Farm, which lost 25 acres of a 30-acre cornfield, the Lloyds of Maple Downs Farm and the Prokops, who lost hundreds of acres on their Crossbrook Farm.

“I wouldn’t be here,” he said, “if there weren’t people willing to donate hay out of the generosity of their hearts, a crop that they’ve got money into, spent the labor to make, and now they’re willing to bring it here.”