Maryland Community Newspapers Online
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Maryland Community Newspapers Online
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Hay shortage in CarrollThe biggest concern Carroll County farmers have as a result of the drought is the lack of foraging materials, such as hay, said David Beall, president of the Carroll County Farm Bureau. Dairy and cattle farmers can usually grow their own hay to feed their animals, but the drought has caused them to buy it from states out West, and the cost of shipping is ‘‘incredibly expensive,” Beall said. The grain market has been hurt as well, but not as severely because crop insurance is available, said Beall, who knows of no such insurance for hay. The federal government’s financial relief loan program is ‘‘nothing new,” he said. The Carroll County Farm Bureau is looking to get another kind of assistance for farmers who rely heavily on grazing, he said. A bureau member plans to explore requesting that land reserved for conservation be temporarily released to allow grazing. Under the Conservation Reserve Easement Program, Beall said, parcels of land are set aside for conservation purposes and are not permitted to be mowed earlier than Aug. 15, grazed or farmed. He said they are ‘‘hoping to get an emergency situation” that would allow farmers to have access to specific areas of land to graze their animals. ‘‘If they could graze on that land, it would be helpful.”
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