From the Fields - Cassie Oyarzum

By Cassie Oyarzum, Modoc County cattle rancher and hay producer

It’s been a lot cooler. We have had significantly more moisture than we’ve had over the last few years. It seems like we’ve had thunderstorm after thunderstorm, so we’re a little bit behind in putting up alfalfa hay in this region. It has grown like crazy, but the thunderstorms have held people up. A lot of people are in the process of putting it up while we have a break in those storms.

We put up alfalfa hay as well as meadow hay. Once we start our alfalfa, we will roll right into meadow hay. A lot of our stuff is fed to our cattle, so we’re not necessarily looking to sell it to the outside, but we will sell a little bit of alfalfa.

We’ve seen great moisture levels, a great snowpack this year. Water has been sufficient enough for most people in the region to grow the crops that they need. But it has been a little cooler than normal, which is good for alfalfa, but the thunderstorms have also put off getting it put up. That affects the quality a little bit because if it starts to go to bloom, then its quality is not quite as great.

As far as the livestock, we run on permitted (U.S. Bureau of Land Management) grounds. The range looks phenomenal. There is lots of feed, lots of water. I don’t think there’s going to be any problems this year. The only thing is if it got really dry later on and still thunderstorming, fire could end up being a problem because of the excess fuel.

Good gains are expected, and the cattle market is holding strong, which is very nice for the cattle producers right now. It’s going to be a pretty good year. Obviously, the cost of stuff is up, which affects us. But with the higher prices on cattle and hay prices holding fairly good, producers in the region should be doing well.