#29 When Green Is Gold...

I lived with horses in the East and in Europe but living with them in the desert took adjusting. Here I learned about a new kind of gold. It is green.

Horses are grass eating animals. In my former world, lush, green pastures were everywhere. In this new world this wasn't so.

Native desert plants evolved ways to keep from being eaten. Here they have sharp spines and needles or a bitter taste to keep grazers at bay. Only in the rainy season did grass appear and then only for a brief time. Never enough for livestock.

Early pioneers began seeding the desert with imported grasses. Species which once established, wrecked havoc on the environment. One such is Buffel grass which has become a major environmental problem. Another import... Tumbleweed, (Russian Thistle) the iconic symbol of the American west is a transplant from Europe.

To feed livestock, people began to grow hay.

In other areas, seasons dictate summer hay only but in Arizona it is a year round cash crop. Huge hay fields  were put into production. Large tracts of desert around Yuma and Phoenix were converted to hay fields. Farmers elsewhere were lucky to get two to three cuttings (harvests) a year, in Arizona they often had twelve. The difference... climate.

Once cut, the hay is left to cure by using natures solar dehydrator the sun, a commodity Arizona is blessed with. So sunny and so dry is the air cut hay is baled the same day. In the East, humidity and clouds can slow the same process to a week or more and a sudden summer rain can ruin an entire cut crop. Rushing the process results in hay which doesn't cure properly allowing the green grasses to ferment and making it combustible.

With a summer humidity as low as 7% the problem in Arizona is not under curing but over curing. Hay is baled within a few hours of cutting. Left to cure too long, the hay becomes too brittle and will disintegrate. Timing is an art.

The traditional hay grasses don't do well in the Arizona dryness and intense summer heat. Grasses which grow well in cooler states, do poorly here. Hay growers resorted to growing a plant which took the hay market by storm. That plant, Alfalfa.

Alfalfa is a fast growing plant rich in nutrients and protein, and... like candy, something livestock love. It quickly became the plant of choice adapting to a desert lifestyle. With irrigation, chemical fertilizers and abundant sunshine, hay farmers were in their glory.

Grass fields are rare and usually Bermuda grass. A heat tolerant but less nutritious and much slower growing grass.

Traditional grass hays, Timothy or Clover are not grown here at all. Unable to adjust to the climate they must be shipped into the state. There is also a hefty state tax on imported hay if not for personal use.

So state grown Alfalfa took control of the marketplace. Ease of production, a fast growth cycle with multiple harvests and a sweet taste made Alfalfa the equivalent of an equine's fast food feast. 

Our little ranch used about a semi truckload of hay every month, roughly 25 tons a load. In those days the cost was about $4 to $5 per bale. The hay was stacked on the trailer bed of the semi and a funny little tractor-like machine, which always came along, scooped it up and lifted each stack off. The machine, nick named "the Squeeze", had two arms similar to a forklift which both caught the sides and bottom of the five ton stacks.

Another difference from my previous horse days was evident here. In my past, bales were woman friendly, now they were not. Bales, which previously were fifty pounds, now weighed 125 pounds.

I always hated the new hay days. Someone had to climb to the top of the stack to toss down the first bales. Usually it was me

Climbing a haystack was an art. Using hay hooks, it was similar to rock wall climbing. Using the hooks to lift your body up and then finding spaces between bales in which to tuck your feet.

Each haystack was about 15 feet high and once on top, bales needed to be dropped down to the ground. 

I always loved the vistas from this high point but hated the height. Going up was one thing, but you always had to come down. I was always concerned with falling. To knock down hay, I usually braced my legs against the first bale and while holding on to another, pushed it off. Hanging on tightly to not fall off.

Breaking open a haystack, released an incredible fragrance. To a cowgirl, the scent of fresh hay is intoxicating. It is a horse woman's most delightful fragrance. I kicked down the first bale and then a second. Inhaling as I did, it was then I uncovered a surprise.

Beneath the second bale of hay was another bale and sticking out from it was a snake.

A harmless Black Racer had been caught up by the baler and was half in the bale and half out. How it survived the trip through the baling machine and then the stacking was a miracle. But here is was, very much alive and trying desperately to release itself.

I grabbed wire cutters and snipped the bales bindings. Each hay bale is a collection of smaller sections often called "flakes" or "leaves". These sprung apart releasing the snake. It fell to the ground and sped away. 

A high protein, high energy feed, Alfalfa hay has some drawbacks. It is grown intensively with the use of fertilizers, some of which are absorbed by the Alfalfa. Combined with the mineral content of Arizona water it can create "stones" in a horses gut. Stones which can, and often do, kill the horse.

Times change and with it Arizona. Thousands have moved over the years, to start a life in the sun belt. Thousands of homes have sprung up and with that growth there is a cost.

Hay fields are now housing developments.

Those that still exist now charge a premium for their product. Now bales of hay are from $15 per bale. For a cowgirl, all that hay isn't just hay anymore. Now those green bales are truly gold.