When Lorne Miller saw his farm’s bottom line threatened by sliding grain prices a few years ago, he decided to diversify into timothy hay.
The Binscarth, Man., farmer wasn’t alone.
While the timothy hay industry is still in its infancy in Manitoba, 25,000 tonnes of the crop were grown for export last year on at least 10,000 acres in the province, said Don Green, a forage specialist with Manitoba Agriculture.
“That might be a little bit on the low side, but it is in the ball park.”
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For Miller, timothy was a good fit. It helped break his field’s disease and weed cycles and, more importantly, it provided profit.
“It was by far the best paying crop comparing it to growing grain,” said Miller, who, with his wife and two sons, has also diversified into bison.
The Miller family planted timothy hay for the first time in 1999. Early successes led them to expand to 580 acres.
For now, at least, they remain confident about the crop’s prospects.
“Unless grain prices improve, it’s going to continue to be a good cash crop for us,” Miller said.
Production for export to Japan and South Korea, the two main offshore buyers, began in Manitoba in 1997.
Today, there are three companies in the province that have compacting plants to process timothy hay for export. One of them is Sunridge Forage Ltd. Its president, Garry Halwas, said with the demand in Japan and South Korea, there is potential to expand timothy production in Manitoba by another 15,000 to 20,000 acres within four years.
“The market is certainly there. Timothy is the crop that is in most demand.”
Medium to good quality timothy hay typically sells for $80 to $110 a tonne f.o.b. at a compacting plant, Green said. Manitoba yields tend to average two to 2.5 tonnes per acre.
Not all producers embrace growing timothy hay for export, however.
One sticking point is the requirement that hay have no more than 12 percent moisture.
Halwas said harvesting innovations are making it easier to hit that mark, but a lot of producers remain leery.
“They think 12 percent moisture in this country is impossible.”
The cost of buying a baler and putting up a hay shelter can also be problems. However, the industry is working to overcome those concerns.
Sunridge Forage Ltd. offers a $10 per tonne premium to producers for timothy hay kept in shed storage before being delivered to its plant near Russell, Man.
Halwas said a cash advance system is also being developed. It would give producers a partial payment for their hay when it’s delivered to the plant or kept in storage on the farm. A final payment would be made once the hay was paid for by a Japanese or Korean buyer.
Now, producers tend to receive payment for their timothy only after it has been shipped overseas and paid for by customers.
Share costs
Halwas also said producers who buy square balers to harvest their timothy hay are finding opportunities to offset the cost by doing custom baling for other farmers.
There are several things a producer should know before producing timothy hay.
Green advises producers to start with a clean field. Japanese and Korean buyers are particular about what they want – and don’t want – in their timothy hay.
Buyers screen for quackgrass, which can carry the Hessian fly, an insect harmful to rice crops.
The crop must be harvested when it reaches the pre-bloom stage. That happens in mid-July with later maturing varieties.
Conditioning the hay is also important.
“The more aggressive you can be with a crop, the better it is,” Halwas said. “The more you can crimp it, break it, toss it and turn it, normally the higher the quality and the quicker the dry-down.”
Japanese and Korean buyers prefer timothy hay that has a colour described as “celery green.”
The hay is valued in those countries as a source of fibre for dairy and beef herds.
Halwas said that in his area of western Manitoba, timothy production was down about 25 percent from the norm this year due to dry weather that moved into the region in early August.
Prices paid for timothy hay delivered to compacting plants this fall have averaged $115 to $120 per tonne. Top quality timothy has fetched $140 a tonne at Sunridge Forage and some prices have been higher.
Sunridge Forage also is working on opening the oat hay market in Japan and Korea. The idea is that the oats would be grown as a cover crop for timothy and then harvested as greenfeed oats for export, Halwas said.
