|
Hay & Forage Grower
USDA
Hay Prices
Weather
Send Questions & Comments To...
Rick Mooney, Editor, eHay Weekly, at
hfg@hayandforage.com
For information on Hay & Forage Grower, contact:
Neil Tietz, Editor, ntietz@hayandforage.com
or
Fae Holin, Managing Editor, fholin@hayandforage.com
For specific information from past issues of eHay Weekly and
Hay & Forage Grower, click on hayandforage.com, and use the search
function in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage.
|
|
|
|
With irrigation water in short supply and their dairy producer
customers struggling to deal with low milk prices, California alfalfa
growers are facing a rocky year ahead. That's according to Rick Staas,
CEO of the San Joaquin Valley Hay Growers Association, a cooperative
with 275 members spread throughout the state’s Central Valley.
The water shortage is the critical issue of the moment. “We did get
some moisture at the end of February,” reports Staas. “While that
helped a little bit, most of the reservoirs in the state are still only
at about 25% of capacity. Just about all of our growers are facing
reductions in their water allotments compared to last year, although it
is better in some (water) districts than in others.”
Growers are considering a variety of steps to deal with those
reductions. “Some are talking about taking only one or two cuttings of
alfalfa this year (compared to six or seven in a typical year),” Staas
says. “And growers with crops like almonds or walnuts are talking
about diverting the water they would ordinarily use for alfalfa
production to those other, higher-value crops.”
The net result, says Staas, is alfalfa production in the state is likely
to drop significantly in 2009. “It will definitely have an impact on
how much hay is available. But at this point nobody really has a good
idea of how big that impact might be.”
Some growers believe the likely production shortfall statewide could
lead to a major rebound in prices for alfalfa headed for the dairy
market. But he doesn’t see that as a sure bet. “The dairies are
really struggling right now,” says Staas, noting that dairies account
for roughly 85% of the association’s sales. “They’re now looking
at a milk price below $10/cwt. That severely limits what they’ll be
able to pay for hay. The bottom line is that the financial health of the
customer base will dictate the hay price. And right now that financial
health is not good.”
With the slump in milk prices, Staas says, alfalfa hay prices have
dropped off from a high of around $250/ton at the farm last fall to
$150-160 now. One encouraging sign recently is that, with hay prices
coming down, some dairies have started to feed a little more hay in
their rations. “I’m not sure that we’ve seen the absolute bottom
for alfalfa hay prices. But the week-to-week decreases that we were
seeing at the end of last year and earlier this year have leveled off a
bit.”
To contact Staas, phone 209-835-1662 or email haygrower@caldsl.net.
|
Drought, declining water tables and legal issues are limiting the
amount of irrigation water available in some areas. Grain producers who
expect they won’t have enough water for a good crop this year might
want to take a closer look at forages, says University of Nebraska
extension forage specialist Bruce Anderson.
“Forage crops also need water for highest production,” he says.
“But unlike most annual crops, at least some useful yield can be
gathered when total water available is very low.”
If you’re expecting water limits for several years, perennial forages
would eliminate the cost and time of establishing a new crop each year.
Switchgrass is a good choice, Anderson says, because it is less
expensive to plant, its primary water needs occur in early summer when
water usually is available, and it can be managed successfully for hay
or pasture.
Other good warm-season grass options include big or sand bluestem and
Indiangrass, especially for grazing. Some of the wheat grasses and
bromegrasses as well as alfalfa can work with limited irrigation.
“But these cool-season plants respond best to water applied during
spring,” says Anderson. “For some irrigators, water doesn't become
available until after this most efficient time has passed.”
Annual forages like pearl and foxtail millet, cane, teff and
sorghum-sudangrass are also relatively water-efficient and will yield
proportionately to the amount of water they actually receive, says
Anderson.
|
Higher costs for some inputs and selling prices well below last
year’s peaks will make it tougher to cash flow and/or put money into
savings in 2009, says William Edwards, extension economist at Iowa State
University. Here’s his checklist of possible financial management
practices/strategies for farmers and ranchers to consider this year:
- Prepare an accurate set of financial statements. Highly
variable inventory prices and increasing land values will make this
year’s balance sheet look quite different from last year’s.
- Prepare a detailed cash-flow budget. Many crop farmers will have a
hard time meeting all their cash commitments from sales in 2009. Higher
input costs and rents will increase operating line requirements.
Livestock farmers will need to budget feed purchases carefully.
- Shop around for inputs. Depending on when suppliers booked fuel,
fertilizer, pesticides and other inputs, prices may vary dramatically.
- Consider both cost savings and yield effects when applying inputs.
For example: Cutting back on fertilizer when costs are high can make
sense, but only to a point.
- Know your costs of production. When profitable selling opportunities
arise, lock them in. Watch for opportunities to price crop inputs, feed
and feeder livestock.
- Use flexible lease agreements. Tying cash rents to a formula taking
into account yields and prices will help protect margins. Landowners can
share in high profits when they are available with flexible lease
agreements.
- Postpone capital purchases. When margins are narrower, replacing
machinery, putting up new storage or bidding on more land may have to
wait. Replacement parts and overhauls are cheaper in the short run.
- Defer income taxes. Potential tax bills can be put off until future
years through actions such as using the expense method and early
depreciation, deferring crop insurance payments based on yield losses,
prepaying farm expenses and using income averaging.
- Compare financing rates. Federal interest rates are at historic
lows. There may be wide differences among agricultural lenders.
Marketing loans from the Farm Service Agency are also available for
short-term financing.
- Consider refinancing long-term obligations. Compare possible
interest savings to the costs of rewriting the loan. It may be a good
time to convert variable-rate loans to fixed rates.
- Keep assets liquid. If gross revenue is not enough to cover
production costs and family living expenses, keep funds in savings or
short-term investments rather than assets that would be hard to convert
to cash.
- Use equity in land, livestock and equipment. If cash reserves
aren’t enough, talk to your lender about borrowing against fixed
assets with a multi-year repayment plan.
|
 Silencer®
insecticide maximizes your return on investment in alfalfa with the
premier pyrethroid. Silencer® provides highly advanced chemistry for
immediate knockdown and effective control of a wide spectrum of
yield-robbing pests. Dual action activity, by contact and ingestion,
strengthens performance. Protect alfalfa from competitive insects with
long-lasting Silencer from MANA.
|
The U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center (USDFRC) will host a special
conference on “Getting More From Forages” at the Monona Terrace
Community and Convention Center in Madison, WI, July 29-30. Organizers
say it will update dairy and forage professionals on recent research
results, future expectations and new tools available.
The conference will be geared to people representing forage and feed
companies, universities and other research institutions and private
consulting businesses. The first-day sessions will be devoted to
targeted feed strategies, accounting for variability and quality.
Sessions on the second day will focus on targeted plant modifications.
To see a program brochure, go to www.dfrc.ars.usda.gov/forages.
For additional details, contact USDFRC information specialist Lori
Bocher at 608-890-0079 or lori.bocher@ars.usda.gov.
|
Supplementing pastures with legumes can reduce the need for
nitrogen fertilizer and help producers keep costs in check, says
University of Nebraska extension forage specialist Bruce Anderson.
He notes five years of grazing research in eastern Nebraska show
brome-legume pastures produced almost four-tenths of a pound higher
average daily gain on yearlings than straight brome pastures fertilized
with 50 lbs of nitrogen. “That may not sound like much, but it can add
up to an extra 51 lbs/acre of beef over the whole season,” says
Anderson. He adds that the increased value of heavier yearlings plus
reduced fertilizer expenses resulted in more than an extra $50/acre
profit. Similar research with warm-season grasses had nearly the same
results.
|
Whether you’re looking for proven
performance in a package that offers exceptional value or a tractor that
gives you the latest electronic conveniences and push button simplicity,
the new T6000 Series tractors from New Holland are built for you. T6000
tractors are a natural choice for haying operations and heavy loader
work. To learn more, see your local New Holland dealer or call
1-888-290-7377. www.newholland.com/na
|
- With alfalfa coming to life in many parts of the country,
now is the time to check on weed control needs, say Bill Curran and
Dwight Lingenfelter, Penn State University weed scientists. They’ve
put together a summary of guidelines for available products at fcn.agronomy.psu.edu.
- The University of Kentucky plant pathology department recently
revised “Emergency Inoculation for Poorly Nodulated Legumes.” The
fact sheet is available at www.uky.edu/Ag/Forages/ForagePublications.htm.
- If you still have hay to sell or are looking to replenish supplies
coming out of the winter, check out the list of Internet hay directories
and buy/sell sites compiled by Iowa State University extension marketing
specialists. Go to www.extension.iastate.edu
and scroll to the bottom of the page.
|
Nebraska
A quickly moving March storm on the front end of the calving season had
livestock producers in much of the state feeding a little extra hay
early last week, reports Keith Williams, market reporter for the
Nebraska Department of Agriculture-USDA Market News in Kearney. Even
so, the supply of beef cow-type hay remains hefty. “We’ll definitely
have some carryover heading into the new crop,” he says.
The relatively large inventory has already led to a falloff in prices
that pellet producers are willing to pay for alfalfa. “It’s dropped
off by about $20/ton (from around $100/ton to $80/ton) in the last one
to two months,” says Williams. “It could also affect the prices bid
for standing hay this spring.”
Dairy-quality hay supplies are a different story entirely. “There’s
basically none to be had,” says Williams. “Anything that’s moving
around now was already contracted for last fall when prices were still
pretty high.”
To contact Williams, phone 308-237-7579 or email keithl.williams@usda.gov.
North Dakota
Dickinson horse owner Sherri Kirchen had no intentions of getting into
the hay dealing business last fall. Things just sort of turned out that
way.
Kirchen has three horses of her own and also boards five others. “We
called the farmer we had been getting hay from and he told us he was
extremely short on hay and didn’t know if he’d be able to supply us
through the winter,” she reports. “He also told us other farmers in
the area were in the same boat. We kind of panicked.”
Kirchen then called a South Dakota friend in the hay-hauling business.
“He agreed to supply us with round bales, but we didn’t really need
a full load. He asked if we’d be interested in selling the rest of the
hay on the load for him.”
That was 25 loads ago. “It’s been one of the toughest winters
we’ve had in 10 or 15 years,” she says. “A lot of people have been
scrambling to find hay. We typically get three or four calls from
people looking for hay on Saturday morning, right after the paper comes
out. And it’s not just people from here in Dickinson, but also from
Belfield and Killdeer and really from all over this part of the
state.”
Kirchen still has a few medium-size, round bales of grass hay left from
the latest delivery. She can be contacted by phone at 701-225-9421 or by
email at slewa10064@aol.com.
|
Hay production and beef cattle management will be topics covered in
a March 21 field day at the Louisiana State University (LSU)
Agricultural Center’s Iberia Research Station in Jeanerette, LA.
Topics will include stocker beef production, clover variety
demonstration plots, hay meadow management, pasture and hay meadow soil
fertility, forage-fed beef and stocker research and research on
tropically adapted cattle breeds. The field day is sponsored by the
Louisiana Cattlemen’s Association, Louisiana Forage and Grassland
Council and the LSU AgCenter.
For other information, visit lsuagcenter.com or call the research
station at 337-276-5527.
|
March 24-26 -- Overton Grazing Workshop, Texas AgriLife
Research and Extension Center, Overton. Go to overton.tamu.edu/grazingschool.htm
or call Jennifer Lloyd at 903-834-6191. (Workshop repeated March
31-April 2.)
March 31-April 1 -- Fencing For Controlled Grazing Systems, a
hands-on fencing school conducted by the Virginia Forage and Grassland
Council and Virginia Cooperative Extension. March 31 – Days
Inn, Raphine, VA; April 1 – Southern Piedmont AREC, Blackstone,
VA. Contact Gordon Groover at 540-231-5850 or xgrover@vt.edu.
April 1-2 -- Central Plains Dairy Expo, Convention Center, Sioux
Falls, SD. Phone 218-236-8420 or visit www.centralplainsdairy.com/expo.
April 17-19 -- Midwest Horse Fair, Alliant Energy Center,
Madison, WI. Go to midwesthorsefair.com/.
April 21 -- Georgia 2009 Hay Production School, Stuckey
Auditorium, University of Georgia Griffin Campus. Go to www.georgiaforages.com.
May 8 -- Southwest Dairy Day, Sierra Dairy, Dublin TX. Visit texasdairymatters.org or email
c-holley@tamu.edu.
June 21-23 -- American Forage & Grassland Council Annual
Conference, Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids, MI. Call
800-944-2342 or email info@afgc.org.
Sept. 17-19 -- National Hay Association Convention, Cadillac
Jack’s Gaming Resort, Deadwood, SD. Contact Don Kieffer at
800-707-0014 or visit www.nationalhay.org.
Sept. 29-Oct. 3 -- World Dairy Expo, Alliant Energy Center,
Madison, WI. Visit www.worlddairyexpo.com.
http://www.centralplainsdairy.com/EXPO/index.html
|
|
|
To unsubscribe from this newsletter go to: Unsubscribe
To subscribe to this newsletter, go to: Subscribe
You are subscribed to this newsletter as #email#
To get this newsletter in a different format (Text or HTML),
or to change your e-mail address, please visit your profile
page to change your delivery preferences.
For questions concerning delivery of this newsletter, please contact our
Customer Service Department at:
Hay and Forage Grower
A Penton Media publication
US Toll Free: 866-505-7173
International: 847-763-9504
Email:hayandforage@pbinews.com
Penton Media | 249 W. 17th Street | New York, NY 10011
Copyright 2009, Penton Media. All rights reserved. This article is
protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property
laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, re-disseminated,
transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly,
in any medium without the prior written permission of Penton Media.
|
|
