Hard hay year in Switzerland

Wet weather, short periods of good weather and mice posed major challenges for hay milk producers this year (photo SP). Good hay is especially important for hay milk producers, as it serves as a food source for cows in the winter when they are not using silage. The year of hay this year has been a challenge, writes the Swiss association Lait de hay (Heumilch Schweiz) in a press release published on Monday 20 December. There were big regional differences at the start of the harvest. Urs Kiener, hay milk producer in Hergiswil (NW), for example, started making hay at the end of April, while Christian Schönbächler in Einsiedeln (SZ) was only able to start at the beginning of June. The cold and humid weather alternated with short periods of good weather made it difficult to plan and operate the machines in the mountain area, he said. Due to the rather late cutting, the quality of the hay suffered in some places and some cows refused to eat this feed. Christian Schönbächler also ...