$120 Tonne Hay

[farmers_son]

I heard from a reliable person that it took $120 tonne to be the high bidder for ordinary hay at a farm auction in Central Alberta last week. People in that area are already grazing their hay land but there is really very little growth on it.

On top of that there was a very hard frost last night, -4C for at least four hours. It is shaping up to be a very interesting year.

[charliep]

Thanks for posting.

Hate to use the word drought/feed issues in June but there are impacts on the livestock sector starting with pasture and hay for cattle.

One of the things to follow will be declining livestock numbers and impact on feed grain use. Less than precise process (feed use is a residual given most is fed on farm/farm to feedlot and not tracked) but there have been warning signs in the last couple of years barley supply demand tables. An unintended consequence of MCOOL is less cattle/hogs shipped south but this is not likely enough to offset the decline in Canadian livestock numbers. More financial pain on the livestock side (your feed grain customer) will impact the grain side.

[charliep]

The worst of all worlds for the livestock industry will be a drought/other issues which turn western into a feed deficit region (need to import corn) and US policy issues that restrict our ability to move live animals south.

[gustgd]

will the 30% drop in momma cows help out at all?
What does it cost to haul hay I think you could probably buy hay for $90 a tonne around here.

[grassfarmer]

I don't think it's too early to talk drought/feed shortage for the beef sector Charlie. We are in a supposed sure rainfall area - never droughted badly in the 1930s but did in 2002 and 2003. This scenario looks worse than 02/03 in my opinion. It has hit us right in the peak grass growing season. Lots of guys still feeding cows, many that aren't will be out of grass by the end of August even if we get rain. Hay crops are way behind, maybe half crops if we get some more rain? I guess if things turn around and we get 2-3 inches of rain in the next month we could still grow a pile of grass. If we only get these tiny showers every few weeks I think a 30% reduction of cows in affected areas would be conservative. The biggest thing that would help me other than immediate rain is continued problems for grain producers with frost and late crop maturity. Sorry for you guys but we will need a pile of cheap feed in the country this winter if we are to survive.

[per]

Hay is about as inefficient as it gets to haul. Better off to bring the cows to the feed. Moving hay also spreads weeds and undesirable plants on the way.