OUR NEWEST FARMING COUNTRY

H. A. Schoth

WESTERN OREGON is part of the newest agricultural region in the United States. Farming there is less than a century old. Before that, it had nature's own grassland agriculture; a wide diversity of plants, used first by game and now largely by domestic animals. The earliest lands to be cultivated were the open prairie or semi-open prairie areas; now the major farm activities are many and varied but still are related to grassland agriculture the production of general field crops, forage, grain, and seed; dairying; raising sheep, beef cattle, and poultry; horticultural crops; specialty crops, such as ornamentals and flowers, vegetables, hops, condiments, drug- and fiber-producing plants, and, more recently, growing trees in wood and timber lots.

The wide range of soil types can be grouped into five. The tidelands or coastal overflow lands, limited in extent, are subject to either high-ground water level or overflow at various times. They are relatively level and low, and are used most extensively for forage. They are natural grasslands because of usually high fertility and ample moisture, and are considered ideal for dairy farming. Where they can be cultivated, production can be increased. This land is relatively expensive but, for the most part, can be most profitably used for forage for livestock.

River-bottom lands, near larger streams above tidewater, may be subject to occasional overflows. They are usually sandy, silty, or semigravelly, low and level, and considered desirable for practically every type of crop suited to the section.

First benchlands above river bottom vary in composition, fertility, drainage, and crop-producing value. They are relatively level and low, and are used mostly for general farming.

Low-elevation hill lands are generally considered as the first series of low rolling hills above the first bench-lands. Nearly all were covered originally with brush and trees, but much has been cleared. Some has remained in continuous cultivation, but some has been allowed to go back to native growth and various introduced plants and weeds. Some has been seeded to improved pasture plants. The soil is generally shallow and low in fertility. It washes badly unless well covered with vegetation. It is primarily pasture land.

High-elevation hill lands vary from 500 to 4,000 or more feet and are quite rough. Much is still covered with brush and timber; some has been cut over or logged off. Only a small part has been cultivated. The soil is mostly shallow and low in fertility for cultivated crops, but reasonably good for timber growth and pasture; it washes badly unless covered with vegetation and gets weedy after timber removal unless occupied by better plants. This land is of primary value for range pasture and reforestation. Some natural meadow areas, free from brush or timber, occur in this type.

Precipitation is mostly as rain-100 or more inches in the coastal area, 35 or 40 inches in the northern inner valleys, and 16 to 25 inches in the southern inner valleys. Eighty percent or more of the precipitation occurs from October 15 to June 1. The remaining period is dry, usually with only occasional, light rains except along the coast. In general, but to a lesser extent for the coastal areas, most forage-type growth occurs during the season of highest precipitation, especially in late fall, late winter, spring, and early summer. Winter growth depends largely on temperature conditions. During the dry period plant growth is checked materially. In recent years the use of new and improved grassland plants has helped to equalize seasonal production where summer irrigation is not available. One grass in particular, Alta fescue, has been of primary value in that respect. Long-lived perennials are of more value for the purpose than short-lived ones or annuals.

In coastal sections and in the northern part of the area between the Coast Range and Cascade Mountains, supplemental irrigation, mostly by sprinkling, is practiced. Farther south irrigation is mostly by furrow or flooding. Many persons find it strange that irrigation is done in sections where the precipitation is from 80 to 100 inches or more annually and still is practical. The practice is increasing in the coastal section because it supplies soil moisture during the summer when precipitation is lowest.

Temperatures in general are mild, seldom above 100 F. Plant growth is fairly continuous, therefore, except during occasional extremes of low and high temperatures, if soil moisture is adequate. Use of field or range is possible during most of the year, although in times when the soil is filled with water the use of the fields is not considered good practice. The growing season generally varies between 150 and 265 days.

Hay Grass and Legume

Hay is necessary for satisfactory livestock production because it is used when other forms of forage are unavailable or short. Also, there is a good market for hay in places where it is not economical to make hay or it is difficult to cure it satisfactorily. The hay here, however, is of variable quality and composition.

Annual and perennial grasses are extensively used. The annuals are mostly cultivated, with the cereal grains predominating winter and Spring oats, winter and spring wheat, rye, winter barley, and beardless spring barley, Sudangrass, foxtail millet, and cheat. Some uncultivated annual grasses are also harvested for hay, with these being mixtures of species of fescue, bromegrass, hairgrass, oatgrass,and others. The main cultivated perennials include reed canarygrass, common and perennial rye, Alta fescue, orchardgrass, timothy, tall meadow oat, Tualatin meadow oat, bentgrasses, redtop, sweet vernal, and velvet and meadow foxtail. Some uncultivated perennials harvested for hay are usually in mixture with other grasses and plants, and include quackgrass, blue wild-rye, the German velvetgrass, danthonia, mannagrass, tufted hairgrass, and barnyard grass.

The most common annual legumes are vetches and field peas. Of the vetches, Willamette, common, and Hungarian make up most of the acreage and tonnage. Some hairy vetch is used. Austrian Winter peas and spring peas are used for hay to some extent; the Austrians are grown in the valleys between the Cascade and Coast Range Mountains, and the spring peas are grown in the coastal section. Small amounts of crimson, sub, alsike, and hop clover are harvested for hay.

The perennial legumes used for hay include alfalfa, red clover, Ladino clover, and birdsfoot trefoil and wetland deervetch or big trefoil. Alfalfa is grown mostly in the inner valleys between the Cascade and Coast Range Mountains, without irrigation except in the southern part. Red clover is grown mostly in the northern intermountain area. Ladino is grown wherever soil moisture supplies are plentiful. The acreage of Ladino used for hay is small. The largest acreage of Lotus, mostly birdsfoot trefoil, is in the Rogue River Valley of southern Oregon. The wetland deervetch is most common in the northern coastal section.

Hay Mixtures

Approximately 75 percent of the hay in western Oregon is a mixture of grasses and legumes, often with other plants. The most common mixtures of annual hays are vetch and oats and peas and oats. Seedings of perennial legumes, relatively pure to begin with, soon become grassy or weedy; so, many alfalfa seedings are made in combination with desirable grasses for the particular location to reduce low-value grasses and weeds and improve quality and yield.

Separate mixtures of annual grasses and annual legumes for hay are seldom made. Mixtures of perennial grasses are common. The ones generally used are those that develop to the hay stage at about the same time. Perennial legumes are seldom mixed.

The tonnage of tame hay constitutes approximately 95 percent of the hay in western Oregon; only occasionally is any so-called wild hay made. Sometimes volunteer crops used for hay are called wild hay although it may contain 75 percent or more of cultivated plants.

It is said that western Oregon hay is the greatest conglomeration of plants possible to get together and that the quality is the poorest. It is true that a large number of plants are grown and used for hay, and the mixtures of plants, their varying dates of maturity, poor hay-making methods, and adverse weather conditions at times often make for low quality. Most of the hay is naturally cured. Some is artificially cured, but the methods are quite expensive and slow.

Most of the hay produced in western Oregon is used locally. The market demand is primarily for highest quality straight grain (oat), hay, vetch (Willamette or common) and oats, red clover, weed-free alfalfa, and clean grass cut shortly after blooming stage.

Considerable hay, mostly alfalfa, is shipped into the dairying sections from irrigated sections east of the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest. Such hay is usually of high quality and it costs more, but many dairymen say they have less waste in feeding and better production from it.

Pastures

Many regions consider pastures of primary and increasing importance. Pastures lend themselves to the widest diversification of agricultural possibilities. They are one of man's closest imitations of nature and their values are determined largely by working with nature.

In general, grasses are considered the backbone of pastures. For most of the world, this is probably true. The northern section of the Pacific region is adapted to a wide range of grasses suitable for pasture use, among them annuals, short-lived perennials, and long-lived perennials.

The annuals are both native and introduced. Most of the native species have disappeared, largely as the result of abuse by man-controlled procedures, primarily overgrazing, burning, and land cultivation. Another factor was the introduction of new species, many of which were so aggressive that they crowded out many native species.

The introduced uncultivated annuals are, in general, of little value in comparison to the cultivated ones. The primary cultivated ones include the cereal grains, Sudangrass, and common ryegrass. These are either seeded alone, used as nurse crops for longer-lived plants, or included in mixtures with longer-lived plants to reduce the period from seeding to initial utility.

Short-lived perennials may be called long-lived annuals. The native species are practically nonexistent. Introductions are few. Perennial ryegrass is the most common and most widely used. Timothy is in this category, not by choice altogether, but as the result of its life being shortened by disease infestations. Meadow fescue, while not used extensively, is in this class.