Hay There!

Hay There! 'Fill the Barn Hay Drive' is on now!  

Drought and fires this past year caused the dual crisis of decreased hay availability and huge spikes in hay costs, putting farm animals in Washington State in danger of starvation.   Repeated advertisements from hay growers and distributors made references to ‘low yield, drought, fires, prices rising exponentially, and low inventory.’ From all indications, 2022 is set to follow along in the same trajectory, based on industry insights. 

 Kelly Lapham, co-founder of Black Dawg Farm and Sanctuary is very concerned and rightly so.

  "This makes my heart race and my palms sweat. It’s the responsibility of my husband and me to keep the animals fed and healthy. The combined threat of decreasing hay availability and increasing hay prices isn’t just worrisome or alarming, it’s potentially deadly. We see what’s going on daily. There just isn’t that much hay out there and people are buying and hoarding it, like toilet paper when the pandemic began."  

Hay produced in Washington State is at a very low yield overall, due primarily to drought. Neighboring states have seen their hay decimated by fires and drought, and they are buying up our Washington hay for their animals. And hay harvests are a bust: Farmers can have up to three hay harvests a year, and many struggled to just have one.  

Many large animal owners are going to want purchase hay, and it won’t be available and or they won’t have the money to pay the huge price increases to get hay. What will happen to the horses, ponies, donkeys, cows, sheep, goats, and other farm animals that rely on hay to get through the winter? The answer is, we’re going to see more cases of animal starvation, owner relinquishment, and abandonment.      

Did you know that farm animals need to supplement their feeding with hay? Here at Black Dawg Farm and sanctuary, we feed hay year-round.   For example, this is what it takes to feed the sanctuary residents :  

• The horses, cows, ponies, miniature horses, miniature mules, miniature donkeys, a sheep, and goats consume around 550lbs or 1/4 ton daily! 

• The sanctuary residents go through 200,000lbs a year in hay, or 100 tons! Each ton is now between $475 to $500 each. Doing the math, this amounts to $40,000.00! Last year (2021) we paid $333.00 per ton (2,00lbs)- that's an increase of 40.1% ! 

Here is where you come in. Donate today. Any amount, from small to big, is deeply appreciated. Thank you for helping us fill our barn with hay for the winter and spring.

Thank you for you generously supporting our mission at Black Dawg Farm and Sanctuary.