hay

(Runtime 4:33)Exhaustion and frustration: Ranchers in southeast Oregon are battling wildfire. Like many more rural landowners across the West, they’re…

(Runtime 4:11) On the south slope of Rattlesnake Mountain in the Yakima Valley, north of Prosser, water is measured by the puny drip. Jim Willard grows…

When Dee Tomson began boarding horses in the early 1980s, she paid around $35 dollars a ton. That included loading the hay in the barn with a rack and…

Gangs of wild elk are attacking farmers’ haystacks in Washington and Oregon. They’re hungry, after a long drought and record mountain snow this winter has driven animals down to the lowlands. Climate scientists say things may only get worse in the future.

From Oregon to the Dakotas, hay stocks for hungry cattle are already low. On top of that, ranchers say summer pastures are dry from the widespread drought.

An unprecedented number of ships have canceled their calls to the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. So far this year, there have been 32 canceled international sailings since January 1. That has created the shortage of shipping containers at those Northwest ports.

More than a dozen haystacks have been burned under suspicious circumstances in central Washington since early October. It’s concerning to the hay industry and law enforcement.