The task of replenishing depleted fodder reserves has cranked up a notch as Mallee croppers crack into crops.
While hay and grain crops in the northern Mallee have been hit by low rainfall and frosts, areas from Ouyen and south have been better served with rain although frosts had left some yield reduction.
Concerns over finishing grain and frost damage as well as good prospects for fodder demand, have seen farmers decide to hedge their bets with paddocks being cut for hay.
Nandaly's Matt Brady and his father Sam and brother Joseph, began cutting around 1200 hectares of vetch for hay in mid September.
The Bradys grow vetch to produce hay for their livestock operations that include cattle (finished in an on-farm feedlot) and sheep, producing prime lambs.
"We hope to make around 600 to 700 bales for ourselves then sell the rest," Matt Brady said.
Mr Brady said they had started growing vetch for stock feed in the past couple of years.
He said it fitted in well with the livestock with sheep getting good grazing time on paddocks between sowing and when they were cut for hay.
"We spray the vetch just before cutting which leaves a clean seedbed for cropping the following year," he said.
Crop and sheep producer, Nip Rowney, Lascelles, said while he was happy with crops at the home farm, frost had reduced yields on crops sown on property he owned further north.
He said the frost had probably reduced yields on the affected crops by around 20 per cent.
The crops at the Lascelles property had "done well" on a lot of small rainfall events of three millimetres, 5mm and 7mm during the growing period.
"We also had about five inches (100mm) in December last year and the crops have tapped into that," he said.
"I've cut some of the barley crop for hay for our own use and that yielded pretty well."
Australian Fodder Industry Association executive officer, John McKew, said the hay season was early for many areas and prospects remained "mixed".
He said the hay season was "up and running" across a wide area.
"Probably a lot earlier than many would have hoped and planned for," he said.
He said some crops in the Riverina were looking reasonable but were dry underneath.
In the north west of Victoria the window for "relief" rain was rapidly closing and the implications for hay was for reduced yields, he said.
He said producers were not optimistic about rains and many crops were being cut early.
"For those early cut crops affected by frost and dry conditions, I suspect we are going to be down on yield and quality is unknown at this stage," he said.
Mr McKew said the early cutting of crops for hay instead of keeping through to grain had implications for straw production.
"It's a mixed bag. We are going to see new season supply coming into the pipeline very soon, if not already," he said.
"We really don't know what the size of the crop will look like at this stage.
