Mules make hay for farmers

By MELANIE THOMAS
Glasgow Daily Times

May 26, 2007 03:29 pm

— Local farmers are finding creative ways to cut back on gas consumption — including reverting back to the old days of using animal power over machine power.
“Every little bit helps,” said farmer Tony Morgan, who uses mules to plow his hay. “If you can’t do it one way, you do it another way. It might be a little longer and a littler harder but with the way things are going up and up, it would be good for them and save a little too.”
Gas is expected to climb to $4 per gallon this summer, said Roger Boyd, AAA Louisville director of public affairs.
“Almost anyone in any type of business that runs on fuel is going to be affected,” Boyd said. “It doesn’t matter if you are running a tractor or a truck that delivers tractors, gas prices are going to put a pinch on you and your operating margin.”
As the prices increase, consumers can expect to bite the bullet this summer.
“Those prices are absorbed by the margin or they are passed along to the consumer,” Boyd said. “Usually, those are always passed along to the consumer.”
Morgan, on a 10-acre farm, rakes and bales the hay for feed this winter.
He uses the mules for almost everything he would use a tractor for, such as raking hay and hauling manure.
“We all enjoy fooling with our horses and mules and higher the fuel gets ... the more we can find we can do with them,” Morgan said. “And the cost balances out ... I would feed them anyway.”
Another farmer, Gale Woods, gets pure enjoyment out of working with alternatives to tractors.
“I do a good job with them and enjoy working with them,” Wood said. “It does cut back on gas consumption, but that’s not the reason I’m using them.”
Wood tries to cut back on gas as much as he can, said wife Wartha Woods.
“(He) does whatever he can with the mules,” she said. “It takes him a lot longer to plow with the mules but he’s retired and has plenty of time.”
Woods has been plowing with the mules for roughly 10 years, she said.
Southern States is also feeling the affect of gas prices as it delivers fertilizer to farmers, said manager Billy Beckham.
“Right now we are just trying to make it through,” Beckham said. “It’s hard for us to complain when everyone else (in the country) is paying more than we are.”
“We don’t change our driving because of gas prices,” Beckham said. “We just complain.”
Southern States has seen an increase in delivering fertilizer to farmers because of the increase in gas, Beckham said. From Jan. 1 to May 24, Southern States delivered 19,240 acres of fertilizer, up from 14,350 from the same period in 2006.
“Fewer farmers are driving to (us), hooking up their buggy and spreading it themselves,” Beckham said. “They feel they can pay us cheaper to do it between fuel and time.”