Cost of feeding livestock doubles

Don’t tell Dawn Kingsley we’re not in a recession.

“We are,” Kingsley said while talking about the cost of everything increasing, including the hay she feeds to her eight horses. Hay has doubled in cost since last year.

“I’ve had to cut out some of my grocery money (to buy hay),” the Elmira woman said.

On the other end of the spectrum are Copeland farmers like Mike Rippati and Bob Vickaryous, who also are faced with higher costs for raising and harvesting hay. A few reasons include record-high fuel prices and increased costs for fertilizer.

Ripatti said he is selling his grass alfalfa at a 30-year record-high. When he set his prices at $150 a ton for his first cutting last year and $180 for “the real good stuff,” he thought he’d make a profit.

Then Ripatti calculated his costs. After looking at depreciation on equipment, he had to increase his costs to $200 and $250 a ton this year for the same 80- to 100-pound bales of alfalfa.

“One of the biggest costs is equipment,” he said. “If you buy anything new, you’ll be paying on it forever.”

Vickaryous put up 800 tons of hay this year. He is selling alfalfa for $175 a ton; his costs for the crop were $80 to $90 a ton.

“You have to be able to recoup your cost, or you can’t stay in business,” Vickaryous said.

He blames the high cost on government intervention in the marketplace and subsidizing ethanol. Farmers have turned cornfields into hay fields because they can make more money from corn for producing ethanol.

Kingsley last year paid $85 for a ton of hay. This year, she’s paying $170.

“There’s other people who are paying over $200 (a ton),” she said. “There’s been a lot of cases of horses not being fed.”

Fred Robbins, owner of Selkirk Elk Mountain Farms 13 miles north of Bonners Ferry, is trying to sell 20 to 30 cows from his herd.

“The hay is so expensive,” Robbins said.

He has a herd of 150 after buying elk from another farm that went out of business. Robbins usually has about 80 head.

Robbins also says the cost of hay has increased.

“We pay $180 a ton,” he said. “When I first got here (in 2002), I was paying $70 and $80 a ton. Last year it was $120 and $130 a ton. In the middle of winter I paid up to $150. This winter it will go up to $220.”

Robbins buys as much hay as he can from a neighbor and raises a bit of his own on 60 acres. He needs 250 to 300 ton a year to feed his elk.

He blames the increased cost on fuel prices.