The Silo Boom in Richland
Farmers are banking on corn and dairy to survive the rising cost of hay.
It would seem that the Richland district would be a fine place for any silo firm to demonstrate the benefits of the silo method of feeding, judging from the number of new ones which have been built this year. The past week sees three more in the process of construction. Geo. F. Zurcher has already completed and filled a large silo on his ranch north of town, being the first farmer in the Fruitvale district to do so. B. T. Simmons was a close second, and now K. G. Larsen and James Kaas are putting up silos as well. Farmers are finding that with hay at prohibitive prices, corn fed as winter ensilage reduces the cost of keeping cattle over the winter significantly. Additionally, in the Richland district, potatoes can be harvested in July, allowing corn to be grown on the same land for winter silage.
“With hay at such prohibitive prices as it has been for the past two years, that corn fed as winter ensilage reduces the amount of hay necessary.”
A century ago, the Richland Valley was transforming into a intensive dairy and orchard landscape, driven by high commodity costs for feed. Today, that same land has shifted from silos and orchards to the massive industrial and laboratory footprint of the Hanford Site, but the cycle of land-use intensification—and the pressure on farmers to optimize every acre—remains a core theme in the regional history of the Tri-Cities.
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