Corn, Corn, Corn, Corn and Hay
Summer heat is here. Time to make hay. Well, we don’t actually make any hay, but the last ten days we’ve seen farmers making hay. Hay. And more HAY! Hot, dry, but not too dry. Got to make the hay while haymaking is good. Farmers everywhere are up at 6, in at 11. Now everyone is talking about putting hay away. See, it works like this….hope for rain on June 1st. About three days of rain. Wish the rain would stop on about June 5th or so. Wait 2 or 3 days and hope for no rain. Cut hay. Bale Hay. STORE hay – before the rain comes again. Put the hay away before the rain. It’s all wishful thinking, and somehow almost every year it works out that way for the hay farmer.
Which brings me to hay and corn. There’s a lot less hay this year. Most farmers are betting on corn prices going through the roof. So they’ve tilled their hay fields under and planted corn. Not the kind you feed animals though. They’re all planting ethanol corn in hopes of a new pick up truck or John Deere something or other at the end of the season.
Which brings me to our dilemma. Corn prices are up. That’s feed corn. Because the speculation is that it will be hard to come by. Hay prices are up. Because all the hay fields are now corn fields. And not the feed kinda corn. The ethanol corn. For us, that means feed corn and hay prices are up. That means we pay higher prices for everything…just on the speculation that ethanol corn is going to buy all the new equipment every commodity farmer wishes for next year. Hmmmmm.
That’s why we’re sustainable farmers. Other than the fact that we need hay and feed, that is…..oh well. All we really want is rain right now.
Which brings me to hay and corn. There’s a lot less hay this year. Most farmers are betting on corn prices going through the roof. So they’ve tilled their hay fields under and planted corn. Not the kind you feed animals though. They’re all planting ethanol corn in hopes of a new pick up truck or John Deere something or other at the end of the season.
Which brings me to our dilemma. Corn prices are up. That’s feed corn. Because the speculation is that it will be hard to come by. Hay prices are up. Because all the hay fields are now corn fields. And not the feed kinda corn. The ethanol corn. For us, that means feed corn and hay prices are up. That means we pay higher prices for everything…just on the speculation that ethanol corn is going to buy all the new equipment every commodity farmer wishes for next year. Hmmmmm.
That’s why we’re sustainable farmers. Other than the fact that we need hay and feed, that is…..oh well. All we really want is rain right now.
