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Wash. ranchers hope cattle have enough to eat this winter

Wet spring and dry summer combine to create challenges

By Racquel Muncy, Skagit Valley Herald
Published: September 8, 2022, 5:58am

MOUNT VERNON — The weather has been posing a threat to ranchers trying to set aside enough hay for their cattle to eat this winter.

Terry Sapp — who owns Hoehn Bend Farm east of Sedro-Woolley with his wife, Jean Eagleston — grows grass on the farm to feed 55 cattle. He usually can cut the grass three times a summer to provide hay for his cattle to eat during the winter. But last year and this year, the farm has been able to get only two cuttings.

June was so wet that Sapp was reluctant to let his cattle out to graze, fearful they would ruin the ground.

“They punch through the sod, and it’s destructive,” he said.

This caused Sapp to use the last of the excess hay saved up from last winter. Going into this summer with zero winter forage saved up and the late start to the growing season did not bode well.

“This year was somewhat difficult in two different ways,” Sapp said.

Cindy Kleinhuizen of Double O Ranch in Concrete is in the same boat.

“We just barely made it through the winter,” she said. “We didn’t have any extra.”

Sapp’s first cutting this summer was pushed back by the wet spring, and the grass cut ended up getting too mature. Thankfully, beef cattle — unlike dairy cows that have a specific diet — can handle the mature feed, he said.

The weather being hot and dry over the past several months has brought its own challenges.

Grass stops growing in July or August, Sapp said. The hot weather led the grass to go dormant early, causing the tail end of the season to come early.

With a late start and an early end to the growing season, Sapp predicts he will more than likely be short on forage for this winter.

Purchasing stored forage is expensive, and Sapp has seen a roll of plastic wrap for hay bales go from about $80 to about $130.

In order to compensate for having less forage, he is considering selling extra cattle.

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