Farmers were racing to harvest hay off of a south Nanaimo field Monday, before rains started falling.
Alf Gauder, a Nanimo area farmer says his hungry cows and neighbour’s horses are depending on him.
“It’s really stressful. I’m worried about winter. I’m worried about my cows starving to death. I can’t afford to buy hay. Not at the prices it’s going to be this year,” said Gauder.
This year’s soaking spring has already cut off much of the field that he hays and has turned it to muck. Gauder estimates he’ll get 1,000 fewer bales from this harvest, due to so much of the field still being underwater.
READ MORE: ‘I’ve never seen anything like this year’: Wet fields puts damper on hay harvest
“This should be bone dry. There’s over a thousand bales in there. It’s all swimming,” said Gauder.
“I’ve been doing hay since I was five years old,” said Gauder noting he’s never seen fields like this.
It’s a similar struggle for farmers Island wide. Record rainfall in June has set harvesting back up to a month later than usual.
North Cowichan has received 170 per cent more rain for a normal June already. The Victoria airport has recorded 131 per cent more, and Comox has received 174 per cent more.
It has created a hay shortage right across the Island.
“If we don’t get the weather in the next couple weeks like they say we’re going to get I’m going to probably lose most of it,” said Gauder.
So the lifelong farmer expected to work late into Monday night to salvage the harvest he could. Racing against rain, that was forecast to arrive early Tuesday.
Skye Ryan
