Maine farmers say wet weather responsible for bumper hay crop

FARMINGTON – Farmers are reporting a bumper hay crop this season as they take advantage of the dry weather this week to cut and bale their hay and get it under cover.

Farmers also are reporting they haven’t seen any army worms, those voracious caterpillars whose siege last year was the worst in a decade.

Harold Souther of Livermore Falls said he had harvested 3,355 bales as of Monday, and had about 7,000 more to go for the season’s first cut of hay.

Souther said it’s a heavy crop this year because the soil is wet from all the spring rains. He said he’s getting more than 100 bales per acre – which he considers a good crop.

If the weather holds, it will be a bountiful season.

“We’re taking faith in that five-day forecast, but we’ve done that twice and got licked,” he said.

Farmers weren’t so confident a few weeks ago of having a good crop. And although recent rains have slowed down the haying operations at some farms, most farmers say they’re hitting it hard this week to get the crop in.

“The crop itself is just excellent,” said Gary Raymond, executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Franklin County Farm Service Agency. “It’s really a bumper crop.”

For now, Souther said, the signs are positive that the next harvest of the summer will be as good as the first cut.

He hasn’t seen any Japanese beetles, or the army worms, that can decimate crops, and expects to be busy for several weeks as the second crop comes in.

“Once the field is cut, it comes right back quick,” he said.