N.S. farmers struggle with wet hay, high fuel prices

Crystal Joyce Manning runs a tight operation here at Evangeline Trails, a horseback riding business and farm. But this year, it's been a struggle. Her cattle stock has dwindled. So many people that kept livestock and didn't feed them. We made the decision to call. She's worried about what she's going to feed the rest of her animals because she doesn't have enough hay. 200 round bales in there. The barn goes down quite a ways. But usually it would be full. We like to say that we use probably about 1,200 round bales for the horses. Our cattle don't eat a lot of hay. Manning is no stranger to a near-empty hay barn. Last year, there wasn't enough rain to grow it. And this year, there's too much. We can't get tractors into the fields because we're burying them because the fields are too soft. So we can't get the machinery in to get the hay out. And running those tractors costs a lot more. Diesel prices have soared. This Cape Breton farmer is in the same boat. He sells his hay for $6 a bale. But that puts him at a loss when he factors in the price of running his tractor. We're really, we're kind of pinched because there is increasing input costs, but your output costs have to be fairly stable or else you can lose your market share. Farmers say these challenges and the effects of last year's drought have given them no time to recover. In a statement, the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture said the province is not currently offering support for purchasing hay, but says farmers can get help through last year's drought recovery initiative. But for Manning, the downsizing continues, going from 40 horses to 22 in only a year. As she's uncertain of what the future holds. Gosh knows what Nova Scotia's going to bring us next year. Juliana Grillo, CBC News, Stanley.