OATS seed prices are expected to emulate last year's solid market when autumn rolls around, with producers already expressing interest in buying seed for the next year.
Heritage Seeds national portfolio manager for forage cereals, Steve Amery, said he expected another big year for oats and forage barley.
"Orders have been really positive, mainly due to dry conditions and strong red meat prices," he said.
Heritage Seeds is yet to release its wholesale prices, but Mr Amery anticipated they would be similar to last year's.
Demand for seed has been strong this year and Mr Amery said there was a good chance they'd likely sell even more than last year.
Domestic markets have kept forage seed demand strong, as there are still parts of NSW and Queensland in drought.
Mr Amery said there were growers who have been able to retain their own seed, but there was still a lot who didn't have the capacity to do so.
"Growers retaining seed won't impact heavily on what we'll sell."
Along with forage demand, the low supply had brought a lift for milling oats prices as well.
Unigrain director Andrew May, Geelong, Victoria, said the price for milling oats had increased significantly this year due to a poor oats crop on the east coast of Australia last year.
A small harvest led to a severe shortage of oats in South Australia, Victoria and NSW, which Mr May said drove the price of milling oats to more than $400 a tonne.
Forward contracts for oats have remained strong on the back of growing demand for Australian milling oats from Asian, Chinese, Indian and Indonesian markets, Mr May said.
"They will remain strong on the east and west coast to encourage farmers to continue planting oats," he said.
Currently, the demand for oats outweighs Australia's supply, which Mr May said created the strong oats market.
Pacific Seeds territory manager, Bill Smith, Towoomba, said if farmers had a surplus of green feed this season, they may have decided to harvest their oats to gain two or three years of seed stock.
"Especially if there's a feeling seed's going to be expensive," he said.
Mr Smith said there would always be demand from the livestock industry for oats seed, as it's a safe and secure option for weight gain and feed for stock.
Punt pays off at Garah
A RISKY punt paid off for Stafford Burey, "Rosedale", Garah, who expects to harvest his oats next week.
Mr Burey planted 490ha of oats, oolabah and drover variety, on April 12 with an NDF disc planter.
The oats were sown after Mr Burey received 100 millimetres of rain, which didn't fill his soil profile, but gave him enough to plant.
"I decided to take the punt because I needed stock feed," he said.
Mr Burey is expected to harvest 120ha of oats that he'll store on farm for either seed or feed.
"We've been having to buy the seed for the past couple of years, so it would be good to have some of our own," he said.
"We're also expecting it to turn pretty hot and dry in the coming months, so it would be handy to have oats in the silo."
His oats have had 151mm of rain since they were sown, and Mr Burey is hoping for a high yield.
"The season has been good, but it did get a fairly hot and dry finish," he said.
Mr Burey made hay with some of the oats he planted in early September, which he sold into the New England area and to dairy farmers on the coast.
He also runs a crossbred lamb enterprise and used some of the oats paddocks for feed during the season.