EDMONTON – The lucrative timothy hay export market is a well-kept secret in the agricultural world.
While other producers struggle to cover their costs of production, timothy growers cover their costs and more.
“We make very good money on our hay,” said Kate Whenham of Outlook, Sask., who grows timothy on 640 acres of irrigated land and 250 acres of dry land.
In 2002, producers were paid $230 to $300 a tonne for timothy in the field. In 2003, it was worth $170 to $190 a tonne, a drop of about 40 percent caused in part by the rising Canadian dollar.
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Despite the lower prices, Whenham sees a bright future for timothy. The grass crop requires less herbicide than cereals and will be an important rotation for producers once the Kyoto Accord is adopted.
Depending on the field, timothy can stay in production up to 10 years.
“As a producer, it’s a very sustainable crop choice,” Whenham said during a Canadian Hay Association conference.
Frits Dekker of Bow Island, Alta., said he can earn a living from one timothy field.
“The money is good in it,” said Dekker, who grows hay on one irrigation circle, which is about 130 acres. He also grows dry edible beans and sugar beets.
Dekker expects to break even on the crop in the establishment year. In the second and best production year, he said it’s easy to clear $500 an acre on the first cut of hay and $100 an acre on the second cut.
Profit drops by about $100 an acre in each subsequent year until the fifth year, when the field is usually taken out of production.
Growing timothy is not without risk. On average, about 15 percent of his crop is not export quality. Rain can bleach the hay from a bright green to a dull green, enough to have it rejected for export.
Last year about half of his hay crop didn’t meet the tough export requirements.
“Once the colour is gone, it’s not exportable any more.”
Canadian Hay Association president Eric Boot, whose family is one of the largest export timothy producers on the Prairies with 2,000 acres in Alberta and 3,500 in Saskatchewan, said the crop is a good fit for producers who pay attention to detail.
“To be in the export hay business you have to be focused.”
But that attention can pay off. Boot said on the irrigated land, timothy is the second most lucrative crop next to potatoes.
Chuck McNeil with Green Prairie International, a Lethbridge hay export company, agreed producers need to pay attention to details. His firm has Japanese clients that request or reject hay from individual Canadian producers depending on the quality.
Hay can be rejected because of weeds, clumps of soil and insects. McNeil has found the occasional beer can, dead skunk and old hay teeth in the bales.
Alberta Agriculture’s Tracy Dow said the trick to growing premium timothy is to start with a weed-free field.
“If you don’t start with a clean field, you’re beat from the start.”
