HAY prices are soaring with low supplies of all grades and no signs of a much-needed early autumn break.
According to Dairy Australia's latest Grain and Hay report, lucerne hay in central South Australia jumped $30 a tonne last week to trade between $250 and $300/t.
Cereal hay in the South East has jumped $10/t to $200-$220/t and pasture hay is steady at $160-$180/t – $30 more than at the same time last year.
Forecasts for a traditional Anzac Day break are not promising and, after a long, dry summer, many livestock producers are resigned to a long season of supplementary feeding.
Australian Fodder Industry Association industry development manager Caitlin Scholfield said all the major hay-producing regions – from Gippsland to the Mid North and Mallee of SA – had been hit by lower yields in 2012, and there were few carryover stocks from 2011.
The quality of hay produced, however, had been exceptional with little weather damage.
And this was adding to the looming shortage in SA where most oaten hay had met export grade. Ms Scholfield said that little had been downgraded for the domestic market. Most hay in sheds was under contract and, as the weather became cooler, demand for higher protein hays would increase.
"In the past couple of weeks in south west Victoria and the SE of SA demand has really started to increase as the dry conditions continue. They are not desperate yet but we have heard of places running out of high-quality cereal hay," she said.
Ms Scholfield said freight was a considerable cost for hay purchases and she encouraged buyers to price higher-quality hay closer to home, rather than looking for lower grades further afield.
Binnum hay baling and windrowing contractor Jeremy Boddington expects hay supplies to tighten, especially with the low tonnages.
"We would be above-average in the local areas, such as Frances and Kyby, but when we were baling in the Victorian Mallee – from Dimboola to Tarranyurk – we were looking at 25 per cent of what they normally make," he said.
Volumes of lucerne hay produced across the SE were also well down following the dry finish.
Mr Boddington said vendors had two strategies: those with hay outside were keen to sell it and had it priced at market rates, rather than double-handling it to shed it for winter; others with shedded hay, and cautious about their own livestock needs, were content to wait for price rises.
"The buyers are holding off, too, hoping we will jag a rain – but the longer they sit back and the longer it doesn't rain, the more the commodity price will jump," Mr Boddington said.
Tintinara lucerne hay producer Tony Zacker says despite having one of his best lucerne hay-producing years, hay in the Upper SE area had become very scarce.
"Good lucerne hay is about $250/t, but within a month it will be worth $300/t," he said.
"Anyone with hay left can just about name their price."
*Full report in Stock Journal, April 11 issue, 2013.
