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Hay & Forage Grower
USDA
Hay Prices
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Rick Mooney, Editor, eHay Weekly, at
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Weak demand continues to hold a lid on grass-seed prices in many
parts of the country. “In general, orchardgrass seed prices have
slipped considerably from where they were a year ago,” says Steve
Wallace, Midwest territory manager for Barenbrug USA. “Prices for
other grasses are off marginally.”
Sluggishness in the general economy is a major factor holding some seed
prices in check. Wallace notes that grasses like tall fescue and
perennial ryegrass are used for turf and forage production. “There’s
been less demand for turf,” he says. “People haven’t been building
homes. And when they’re not building homes, they’re not putting in
sod. As a result, right now there’s a pretty good supply of seed out
there, and that’s driven down prices.”
Oversupply also underpins low orchardgrass prices, says John McCulley,
administrator for the Oregon Orchardgrass Seed Producers Commission.
Noting that Oregon producers grow 98% of the country’s orchardgrass
seed, McCulley reports that production in the state dropped to around 10
million pounds last year. That’s down from 15-16 million pounds in
previous years. Even so, a flood of cheap imports, mostly from Denmark,
has more than made up for the domestic production shortfall. “A lot of
the seed that’s coming in is selling at prices below the cost of
production for our growers here.” Net result: Oregon growers saw
prices drop from a record high of $2/lb in 2008 to the 50¢/lb range
last year.
While U.S. production is expected to increase to 13 million pounds in
2010, McCulley says improvement in the dairy and beef industries could
lead to strengthening seed prices later this year. “Many livestock
producers struggled to survive last year. A lot of them put off seeding
new pastures or renovating existing pastures. We think there’s a lot
of pent-up demand. As things continue to get better in those industries,
demand for seed and prices will likely pick up.”
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more, see your Garst seed advisor, Golden Harvest dealer or NK
retailer.
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Planting a less expensive alfalfa variety might seem like a good
strategy for reducing input costs, but weigh the consequences carefully,
advises Steve Orloff, University of California Extension farm advisor in
Siskiyou County.
Speaking at last month’s Western
Alfalfa & Forage Conference in Reno, NV, Orloff noted that the price
difference between a top-yielding new variety with improved germplasm
and an older public variety or a VNS (variety not stated) bag of seed
can easily top $30/acre. “This is an example where being penny-wise is
likely to be pound-foolish,” Orloff said.
He also pointed out that it takes less than one-tenth of a ton yield
increase annually to pay for a $2/lb higher seed price. Research
conducted in California’s Central Valley shows an improved variety can
boost yields up to $900/acre over a three-year period.
His bottom line: “If you want to save money during seeding, adjust
your seeding rate downward and do a more careful job (seeding time, weed
control, etc.). But select a top-yielding variety with high resistance
to diseases, insects and nematodes. It’s worth the price.”
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As you might expect, the debate over the proposed deregulation of
Roundup Ready alfalfa and other genetically engineered crops has been
generating plenty of cyberspace buzz in recent weeks. Advocates and
opponents have been flooding the blogosphere and the opinion pages of
traditional media Web sites with posts and commentaries aimed at nudging
public opinion.
There’s no way, of course, to get an accurate count, but our general
impression is that the “against” crowd is outdoing the “for”
group when it comes to sheer volume of material. Click on the following
to get an idea of what’s being posted:
- An “anti”
posting from the founder and director of the Organic Consumers
Association. The blogger appears to be equally upset with the Clinton,
Bush and Obama administrations for not doing more to stop the advent of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) during the past two decades.
- A “pro”
commentary by a high-profile physician, molecular biologist and
fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. The author takes
deregulation opponents to task for launching lawsuits that “prevent
the marketing of products that offer palpable, demonstrated benefits to
the environment and to the welfare of farmers.”
- An “anti”
posting by a Canadian blogger encouraging her fellow citizens to
send comments opposing RR alfalfa deregulation to Canadian politicians
and to the USDA/APHIS
public comment site as well.
- An “anti”
posting by a blogger describing himself as “writer, researcher and
world curious.” The thrust of the post (as we read it, anyway) is that
there is some kind of corollary between genetically engineered crops and
Agent Orange, sold to the U.S. military to defoliate the jungles of
Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
Ready to give your opinion? View the draft
environmental impact statement and make your comment.
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tractors are a natural choice for haying operations and heavy loader
work. To learn more, see your local New Holland dealer or call
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A forage seminar that will focus on hay prices as well as
producing high-quality hay and corn silage will be held Feb. 9 at the
International Agri-Center in Tulare, CA, as part of World Ag Expo (Feb.
9-11).
The seminar will feature noted speakers such as Seth Hoyt, author of The Hoyt Report, and
Limin Kung, University of Delaware ruminant nutritionist, in addition to
several University of California (UC) forage experts. It is hosted by
Hay & Forage Grower
and Mycogen Seeds and
will be held at the Expo Seminar Center.
Hoyt will lead off the program at 10 a.m. and speak on what the future
hay market may hold.
Producing, sampling and measuring high-quality hay for milk production
will then be discussed by Dan Putnam, UC Davis forage specialist, and
Shannon Mueller, Fresno County farm advisor.
By noon, participants can take a leisurely lunch or explore the expo
before the 1 p.m. presentation by Kung, who will outline how to produce
high-quality silage. At 2 p.m., a session on what goes wrong in silage
management – and what growers can do to prevent such problems –
will be presented by UC Extension farm advisors Noelia Silva del Rio,
Tulare County, and Jennifer Heguy, Stanislaus/San Joaquin counties.
Visit worldagexpo.com and go to
General Info, Seminars.
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- University of California (UC) Extension has put together
an extensive collection of background materials to help producers and
others get up to speed on the issues related to the debate over Roundup
Ready alfalfa. To see the publications, visit the What’s New section
on the UC Alfalfa and Forages Web
site.
- All 14 of the 2009 Forage
Variety Test Reports for Kentucky are now available on the
University of Kentucky (UK) Forage Web site. Summary reports detailing
the average performance of all the named varieties that UK has tested
over the past 10 years are included as well as links to trial
results in other states.
- Tracking
The Energy Use On Your Farm is a new publication from Iowa State
University Extension geared toward helping farmers monitor the use and
costs for various energy sources – electricity, diesel fuel, gasoline,
propane and natural gas. The publication includes an energy log that
can be downloaded for use with Microsoft Excel or printed and completed
by hand. The spreadsheet automatically calculates a farmer’s per-unit
cost by kilowatt hour, gallon or cubic foot and also keeps a running tab
on total energy costs month-to-month and throughout the year. Download
the publication.
- More and more farm organizations, government agencies and ag
businesses are using social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube to communicate with producer audiences. If you find yourself a
little bit overwhelmed by all these new communication tools, you might
want to download a copy of Discover
Your Social Web: An Ohio Farm Bureau Guide To Social Media.
After spending some time with the easy-to-read guide, you should have a
pretty good grasp of just about everything you’ve always wanted to
know about tweets, posts to a wall, friends management and more.
- Hay & Forage Grower and eHay Weekly are conducting an
online “quick poll” to learn more about how readers are utilizing
social media and other Internet technologies. The poll will be up until
Friday. To participate, click
here and scroll down to Quick Poll.
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 New from National Alfalfa &
Forage Alliance and Hay & Forage Grower
The Fall Dormancy & Pest Resistance Ratings for Alfalfa Varieties
2010 Edition is now available in print and online. National Alfalfa
& Forage Alliance produced and Hay & Forage Grower published the
2010 Varieties Guide. The 2010 Varieties Guide is well-regarded within
the alfalfa seed industry as the most accurate listing of alfalfa
varieties ratings available. Click here for the
2010 Alfalfa Varieties Guide.
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Nebraska
A tough stretch of winter weather in late December-early January has
sparked a pick-up in demand for beef-quality hay in the eastern part of
the state, reports Andy Stock, owner of Stock Hay Company near Murdock.
“We had a lot of snow in December. The cow-calf guys didn’t have a
lot of stalks to run their animals on, and a lot of people had run out
of hay by Christmas.
“Then right around the start of the year, we had a week or so where
the daytime highs didn’t get above zero. The feedlots were feeding a
lot of hay.”
Just a few months ago, the supply of medium- and low-quality hay seemed
plentiful. “We had a wet, cool growing season that made it challenging
to put up high-quality hay,” says Stock, who grows alfalfa, teff and
bromegrass on 400 acres. He markets his top-quality alfalfa (RFV of
150-200+) in 3 x 4 x 8’ bales to dairies in Nebraska and as far away
as northern Indiana and Mississippi. Local beef feedlots and horse
owners are secondary markets.
"This fall, everybody was saying there was too much beef-quality hay
around and that it would be a long time before the market for it came
back. Now people are buying anything they can get their hands on. If it
keeps up, by spring there won’t be a bale of cow hay left in this
area.”
According to the Nebraska/Iowa Hay
Summary issued by USDA Market News and the Nebraska Department of
Agriculture on Jan. 14, large square bales of premium alfalfa were
selling for $120-150 (at the farm) in northeastern Nebraska. The price
range was the same in the Platte Valley. Good-quality grass round bales
in the Platte Valley were bringing $80-95/ton.
To contact Stock, call 402-867-3341 or email andy@stockhay.com.
Pennsylvania
With overall supplies running on the short side due to a tough weather
year in 2009, prices for dairy-quality hay are holding steady, says hay
grower Don Myers of Spring Mills.
He reports that a quick check of hay auctions around the state showed
premium-quality dairy hay was fetching around $190-200/ton in early
January. “That’s pretty close to where it was a year ago.”
Myers specializes in producing high-quality alfalfa baleage, packaged in
4 x 4’ round bales. When he finished his fifth cutting in mid-October,
he still had about half of his total production left to market. By
mid-December, he was sold out. “We put a notice on our farm Web site that we had high-quality
baleage for sale. We got calls from as far away as North Carolina and
Georgia. We had to turn some people away.”
A board member of the Pennsylvania
Forage and Grassland Council, Myers expects alfalfa hay prices to
remain steady as long as dairy producers continue struggling with low
milk prices. “Most dairy producers just can’t afford to pay any more
than they’re paying now. Some numbers I saw recently showed that the
average cost of production for dairy producers here is somewhere around
$19/cwt. The average milk price was just $13. You have to wonder how
long people can stay in business losing money like that.”
To contact Myers, call 814-422-8111 or email donmyers@myersfarm.com.
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A USDA-APHIS public forum that gives interested parties the
opportunity to register comments on the draft
environmental impact statement for Roundup Ready alfalfa will be
part of this year’s Mid-America Alfalfa Expo.
The expo, sponsored by the Nebraska Alfalfa Marketing
Association (NAMA), will take place at the Buffalo County
Fairgrounds in Kearney on Feb. 2-3.
Along with the public forum, scheduled for 3-5 p.m. on Feb. 3, this
year’s expo will feature a full slate of educational presentations, a
trade show with over 100 exhibitors from throughout the U.S. and the
annual exhibitor-donated fund-raising auction. NAMA will also hold its
annual meeting and board of directors election during the event. See a
schedule of events.
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The second day of the two-day Pennsylvania
Professional Crop Producers Conference,to be held Feb. 16-17, will
focus on forages. The conference will be held at the Holiday Inn in
Grantville.
The first day of the program will emphasize crop production. On Feb. 17,
forage experts will discuss contract forage production, large bale
systems, small square bale handling, take a new look at tall fescue and
more. Charlie Sniffen, Fencrest LLC, and Ray Archuleta, USDA-NRCS, will
deliver keynote presentations.
Get a conference
brochure and registration form.
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Jan 25-28 – Virginia Forage And Grassland Council’s Winter
Conferences at four locations. Jan. 25 – Brandy Station
Fire Hall, Brandy Station; Jan. 26 – Mrs. Rowe’s Country
Buffet, Mt. Crawford; Jan. 27 – Southern Piedmont Ag Research
and Extension Center, Blackstone; Jan. 28 – Wytheville Meeting
Center, Wytheville. Contact Margaret Kenney at 434-292-5331 or download
the brochure.
Jan. 28-29 -- North Central Ohio Dairy Grazing Conference,
Buckeye Event Center, Dalton. For more information, contact the
Small Farm Institute or download
the brochure.
Feb. 8-12 -- Minnesota Forage Days, at various state locations.
Feb. 8, Holiday Inn, Detroit Lakes; Feb. 9, Cromwell
Pavilion, Cromwell; Feb. 10, Joseph’s Restaurant, Avon; Feb.
11, Southwest Research & Outreach Center, Lamberton; Feb. 12,
UCR Heintz Center, Rochester. Call 651-484-3888 or visit the University of Minnesota
forage Web site.
Feb. 9-11 -- World Ag Expo, Tulare, CA, starting at 9 a.m. each
day. Cost: $12/day. Visit www.worldagexpo.com.
Feb. 16-17 -- Idaho Hay And Forage Conference, Best Western
Burley Inn, Burley. Contact Glenn Shewmaker at 208-736-3608 or gshew@uidaho.edu.
Feb. 18-20 -- 2010 Wisconsin Grazing Conference, Hotel Mead,
Wisconsin Rapids. Visit www.grassworks.org or contact
Heather Flashinski at 715-289-4896 or grassheather@hotmail.com.
Feb. 25-28 -- 8th Annual Pennsylvania Horse World Expo, Farm Show
Complex, Harrisburg. Visit the Expo Web site.
March 2 -- Illinois Forage Institute, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Kankakee
Community College, Kankakee. Visit www.illinoisforage.org .
March 4-6 -- U.S. Custom Harvesters Inc. Annual Convention,
Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel, Wichita Falls, TX. Visit www.uschi.com.
March 5-6 -- Maryland Cattle Industry Convention/Hay And Pasture
Conference, Hagerstown Hotel and Convention Center, Hagerstown.
Contact Les Vough at vough@umd.edu or
301-405-1322.
March 10-11 -- Wichita Falls Ranch & Farm Expo, JS Bridwell Ag
Center, Wichita Falls, TX. Visit www.wichitafallsranchandfarmexpo.net,
call 866-685-0989 or email dales@bwtelcom.net.
March 27 -- Winter Regional Horse Owner Program, Cloquet Forestry
Center, Cloquet, MN. Registration deadline is March 24. Register online.
April 8-9 -- Hay Production School, Spence Field, Moultrie, GA.
Details at www.georgiaforages.com.
April 14-15 -- Kentucky Grazing School, University of Kentucky
Research & Education Center, Princeton. Preregistration required. See
a brochure.
May 13 -- Legume Management In The Southeast: Field Day And Pasture
Walk, Central Georgia Research & Education Center, Eatonton. Details
forthcoming at the University
of Georgia Forage Web site.
June 21-23 -- American Forage And Grassland Council Annual
Conference, University Plaza Hotel, Springfield, MO. Details at www.afgc.org.
Aug. 9-10 -- Kentucky Grazing School, Woodford County Extension
Office, Versailles. Preregistration required. See
a brochure.
Sept. 5-7 -- National Hay Association Annual Meeting, Griffin
Gate Marriott Resort, Lexington, KY. Watch for details on the NHA Web site.
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