You have to mow as long as the weather remains good. Farmers need several days in a row without rain to start making hay. This ranges from a range of about three to four days for forage intended for silage up to five to six days for dry crops. This is an ordinary situation for professionals, like Benjamin Roy, who is careful not to complain about the sky: “It’s not something exceptional (…), but it’s true that it’s more complicated than usual.” The Porrentruy farmer specifies that there is no deadline. Grass simply loses some of its nutrients, and therefore its quality as fodder, over time. There is also no miracle solution in the event of prolonged wet weather. “It’s happened before that I didn’t have two dry days in a row for a long time. (…) There is no alternative, we have to wait to have better conditions,” explains Bruntrutain.
Too wet soil risks being damaged by the work of agricultural machinery. Double the penalty, it settles more easily if it is waterlogged, which limits regrowth. The absence of rain is therefore mainly necessary to prepare the ground. Mold can develop in grass that is too wet after harvesting and ensiling. Another consequence of the unpredictable weather in May could be noticed in just several months: “if the fodder is of poor quality, it will be clearly felt on milk production during the winter,” explains Benjamin Roy.
The Roy family decided to take advantage of the few days without rain this week to start haying. “It’s clearly a risk. We are really afraid of causing damage to the land,” recognizes Benjamin Roy. The gesture was weighed by weighing the quality of the fodder and the weather conditions. The next step is swathing, a step which consists of creating a strip of grass (the windrow) in preparation for harvesting, which should take place this Friday, approximately three days after cutting.
The Valley and the Franches-Montagnes are not spared
The problem affects the entire region, even if the calendar is different in Franches-Montagnes. Indeed, the development of vegetation is more timid at altitude. “We are lucky to be at 1,000m. The fodder will still be of good quality next week, but it will be the last moment to mow,” explains Lise Rais, a farmer based in Bémont. Another taignon farmer, Jérémie Gerber from Lajoux, for example “forced” mowing last week. Result: “quite a bit” of soil was mixed with the crop, which reduced the quality of its fodder. When contacted, other Vadais and Ajoulot farmers declared that they had still not started mowing to date. /jad
