The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1904-06-22
THE YAKIMA VALLEY HAY
MUST Be PROPERLY BALED
Careless Handling Will Ruin the Market
Complaints from Seattle-A Local
Dealers Views.

81 have Just read an article in the
said John Gourley of the Yakima Pro-
duce company, that your paper ought
to publish. Now that the having sea
son has begun, the farmers should be
warned that they are not only iniuring
themselves. but hurting the reputation
of the valley as well by their careless
manner of baling They must allow
their hay to sweat before it is baled
on in Il short time they will find that
there will be no market for il. Many
of the hay growers do not realize what
an important matter this is, but the
commission men, who dispose of the
product, can see that the careless nand-
ling of hay is running our market. This
Is also true of potatoes; the failure to
sort them properly is the cause of many
of them being rejected on the Sound
markets. As long as hay and potatoes
are high and there is an active demand
for them the injury that is being done
is not so APPARENT. but when the prices
90 down. as they are sure to do. and the
markets become overstocked. then this
thing of selling damaged hay and poor
~ sorted potatoes is going to react on
the growers. The Times article is true
and the farmers should heed what il
says.
The article referred to by Mr.. Gour-
ley is given below
Carelessness on the part of farmers
in baling hay for the market is resulting
in Joint loss to dealers and growers
Damaged hay sent out bv farmers has
nf,,l1 -
hay dealers and rebaled. while the loss
has ben charged to the account of ship
pers. This has caused friction between
growers and Dealers which the dealers
are attempting to avoid in the future
by giving the farmers explicit instruc-
tons on the handling of this years
crops.
The farmers have grown careless in
handling tneir hay during the last two
years. while an era of high prices has
prevailed. The heavy government de-
mand that has created market for all
the surplus hay grown in the north
west has kept prices nigh and the farm
ers' principal thought has been to get the
crop to market as quickly as possible
This is the policy that dealers will warn
farmers against
Hay should be allowed to stand in the
stack or IN sheds for thirty or forty
days before it is baled. All the trouble
has grown from the practice of baling
hay direct frcm the shocks.
Hay will not dry out thoroughly when
only strewn upon the ground. This is a
fact well understood by both growers
and dealers and it has been customary
when big operators handled their crop
to leave the nay in stacks or under sheds
for period while it seasoned. Within
Il week or so after the hay has been
stacked it begins to sweat" and in the
inside of the stacks the hay is damp
This moisture does not disappear for
three or four weeks after the time the
hay is stacked
In the past when Hy was command
ing fair price and the farmers were de.
sirous Of shipping the best quality. care
was taken to let the hay become thor
oughly sweated and dried out before il
was compressed into bales So long a
this policy was followed the quality was
of the highest and it won from army
officers for eastern Washington timothy
the declaration tnat this state produced
the finest hay in the world.
With the heavy demand from the
government and Alaska, hay farmers be-
came eager to get their crops on the
market. and baling commenced too early
The hay has been handled direct from
the shock without having been given an
opportunity to dry.
This policy has resulted in baling hav
that had not been sweated. When the
hay was forced into bales too early il
sweated and the hay inside has been
sent into Seattle markets widowed and
unfit for use.
Seattle dealers have refused to handle
hay in this condition and have recon-
pressed it. taking out the damaged hay
and throwing il away The result of this
enforced policy has been that shipments
sent here by farmers have been short
when the sorting process has been com
pleted. This has resulted in loss Ia
farmers and consequent friction between
growers and dealers.
In sending out a warning to farmers
this year the dealers have asked them
to be careful to allow their hay TO lie in
stacks until it has been thoroughly