Long live the Hay King

GRANT COUNTY — To the untrained eye, the 13 entries in this year's competition are merely bales of hay.

But instead of the proverbial needle, one of those bales possesses the key to royalty.

Since the early 1980s, the Washington State University Grant-Adams Area Cooperative Extension has been putting on the Hay King competition at the Grant County Fairgrounds.

Extension forage agronomist John Kugler has been part of the competition for about four years.

"The Hay King contest is a way to show the public the quality hay products that we sell in the Basin, to highlight that," Kugler said. "It's a chance for growers to bring in their best hay to show it off."

The Hay King winner gets a sign to put on his fence. The attention he draws often helps attract buyers for the hay, Kugler said. Hay Kings are also recognized at an annual conference in January, which is attended by about 300 people.

The hay is tested visually, with characteristics being judged including the stage of maturity, leafiness, leaf retention, texture and odor. Points are deducted if the hay has too much moisture or foreign materials, such as dust, weeds, odd grasses or garbage like tin cans or plastic bags.

The hay is also tested for quality, and analyzed at Soil Test Farm Consultants, which provides free testing.

The visual and quality scores are combined, and the highest score for either domestic or import alfalfa wins the Hay King competition.

The visual score is weighted 80 percent for export, and 40 percent for domestic.

"For domestic hay, the (quality) feed test is much more important for dairymen," Kugler said. "The export hay goes to Japan, and they aren't near as interested in chemical tests as they are in visual attributes."

The competition also has grass categories.

Kugler said the competition doesn't get as many entries as the extensions office would like.

"These guys are awfully busy, and they've usually been baling all night, cutting in the daytime, so it's hard for them, if the weather's good, to get their samples in here," he said. Growers only have from 1 to 6 p.m. Monday to turn in their entry. "I called several to remind them, and they said, 'Well, I'm just too busy to get the samples in.'"

There were 13 entries last year, as well.

Entries can hail from Grant County and some from Adams and Whitman counties as well. The 1998 winner was from Marlin, Kugler noted.

Growers usually have enough experience to know how the hay will test by looking at it, Kugler said.

"If they know there's no weeds in it, and they know it got put up very quickly, had no rain on it, and it wasn't bleached by the sun and no dust in it, that kind of thing, they'll bring that in," he said. "If it's real fine and leafy, that they know will milk good, they'll bring that in. Some of them will tarp it, just for the ride in in back of the pick-up, keep the wind from blowing it around and blowing the leaves off."

The higher the quality of the hay, the more milk per pound of feed that comes out, Kugler explained.

He said that the reason he participates is because he considers the contest an educational event.

"We are always trying to inform the public on the value of agriculture, where milk comes from and how valuable it is to the Basin," he said. "Give them an idea of what it takes to grow it, what good hay looks like, how much it costs to produce it and how good it is for the environment. Those are the reasons I do it."

The visual scoring was done Tuesday morning, and the lab results were available later that day. Warden resident Keith Rupprecht was named Hay King for 2005.

"It's a wonderful honor and there's always lots of good competition in Grant County," Rupprecht said, giving part of the credit for his victory to his wife Marilyn, as well as Jonathan Gallop, a Warden High School senior who takes care of the water on his farm and neighbor Tim Yackley, who fixes equipment for him. "To win it was really a surprise to me."

Rupprecht said it's not the first time that his farm has won the contest; the previous owners also took home the crown. This is his first Hay King victory.

"We know the farm has good quality soil," he said. "We just like to see how we're doing as far as the other hays."

Kugler said that the growers take a lot of pride in their product.

"It's a quality product, and it's the best in the world, and they want to show that," he said.