Hay Report - Tough Times

Without stating the obvious, conditions remain tight as the industry watches the Middle East situation closely. As most watching the media would see, today Iran has opened the Strait of Hormuz for a two-week window, great news for those ships carrying Fertiliser through that passage.

The flow-on effect of the Middle East situation is already being felt in the hay market, with freight costs hitting levels we haven’t seen before. As the sales team has mentioned, we are seeing spot loads move along with the odd parcel being secured.

Speaking with several dairy operators recently, some are already in discussions with their banks about securing silage or hay for the season so they don’t miss the boat if the feed market tightens again.

At the same time, weather forecasters are talking about the potential for a super El Niño developing, and some producers are planning accordingly — although we all know forecasts don’t always play out as predicted.

With livestock prices still strong and worth feeding, let’s hope the rain forecast for parts of the country this week helps kick-start cropping and brings a bit of confidence back into the job.

Back in a fortnight....
Shane Ruyg

What's happened to Hay prices over the last fortnight?

Here are the latest prices.

• Vetch is in the bracket of $280 to $455 a tonne (New Season)
•  Cereal Hay ranges from $200 to $390 a tonne (New Season)
•  Lucerne Hay ranges from $340 to $615 a tonne.
•  Clover & Rye Hay ranges from $350-$380 a tonne.
•  New Season Straw ranges (at the moment) is from $90-$155 a tonne.

We go around the grounds to hear from our Farm Tender Sales team:

Paul Grayling

Over the past fortnight we are continuing to see things tighten up mainly around freight but also getting a lot of pressure from most other input prices. While there is a reasonable amount of supply out in the market, the freight component is once again proving to be a sticking point, with some predicting the season to dry up there could be some pressure on the Hay/Feed Job moving forward. Livestock markets are healthy which is a positive and should help maintain a 'can afford to feed them well' attitude towards production. As it stands stock levels are holding but like most other years things can change at a reasonably quick rate.

Mike Pickard

Jim Oehms

The hay job is still a bit on the quiet side of things with only smaller parcels being sourced. Hay and straw are both equally the same right now. There is still a lot of feed on the ground which has been the reason i would say. Coming into winter i am thinking that this will start to pick up and see an increase in the demand. Prices are still pretty much on the mark across the board and this includes cereals, vetch, lucerne etc. Remember, if you are looking at selling hay, to get a feed test done and if buying, to inspect first.

For more information on selling or buying Hay contact the following:

Paul Grayling – 0447 069 082 or paulg@farmtender.com.au

Shane Ruyg – 0447 922 604 or shaner@farmtender.com.au

Mike Pickard – 0429 677 636 or mikep@farmtender.com.au

Jim Oehms -- 0481 102 288 or jimo@farmtender.com.au

Or call us on 1300 Farming (1300 327 646)