In Blue Springs, Mo., a wet spring has the Chapman crew scrambling to make up for lost time in the hayfield. Over the past few weeks, fourth-generation farmer Brian Chapman has been raking, baling and stacking hay 13 to 15 hours a day.
“We’re just getting started so far. It’s been hectic,” Chapman says.
The tidy rows of alfalfa may look orderly, but Chapman and his team have been racing the clock. The culprit is roughly 20" of rain this spring that pushed the operation well behind schedule.
“We’ve had so much rain, we’ve hardly been able to get anything done,” Chapman says.
A June Washout
The wet weather forced the family to put up little hay during the month of June. Then conditions flipped almost overnight.
“So, now all of a sudden, as soon as the warm weather hit, the wheat was ready, the alfalfa was ready, plus we have all the brome and grass ready as well,” Chapman says.
In a typical year, the farm family puts up about 20,000 to 25,000 square bales and 800 to 1,000 round bales.
“We usually have been able to put up 4,000 or 5,000 more bales in the month of June,” he says.
Nationwide, all hay harvested was up slightly in USDA’s June acreage report. Producers intend to harvest 49.8 million acres in 2026.
Big Stems, High Humidity
Chapman says because the alfalfa stems have been large and the humidity high, the hay has struggled to dry out, a critical factor in getting a quality bale.
“We would have at least 75 to 100 acres done of hay ground, and we’ve had maybe 10, and that’s all we’ve really gotten done so far in the month of June,” Chapman says.
A Family Effort
The Chapman operation runs on teamwork, with the whole family pitching in — including second cousin and fifth-generation farmer Dylan Chapman Reiter.
“It’s really whoever can get out of work first, you know, gets the fuel going early in the morning,” Reiter says. “Then it’s really bouncing around who rakes, who bales, who picks up, who has time.”
Despite the setbacks, Chapman says the crop is holding and the window to get it baled remains open.
“It’s still good, and I think it’s going to be good for a little while yet,” he says. “I think we’ve got a good window to get it put up.”
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