The biggest drops were in Pennsylvania (down $39), Nevada (down $35), California (down $25) and Idaho, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Wisconsin (down $20). The overall average drop in price was $14 per ton.
Alfalfa hay didn’t fare much better. The largest reported drops were in Pennsylvania (down $35) and New York (down $24), and several states dropped $20 per ton – California, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada and Oregon.
The good news was in Michigan, where per ton prices jumped by $20 for alfalfa, and Arizona, where per ton prices jumped by $15 for “other hay.”
Sluggish demand has held prices down recently, with many dairies and ranches reporting two years’ worth of on-farm stored feeds.
Crop production
NASS released their crop production report and listed 18,337,000 acres harvested of alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures for hay as of Oct. 1. This reflected a drop in acreage from the 2014 year of 18,445,000. California led 2015 with 5,330,000 acres harvested, followed by South Dakota, Wisconsin and Idaho. Average yield per acre was 2.81 tons, up from 2.7 average tons per acre in 2014. The total yield for 2015 was 63,214,000 tons, up from the 2014 yield of 61,446,000 tons.
All other hay harvested totaled 38,202,000 acres across the U.S., down from 38,647,000 in 2014. Texas led by a large margin with 5,100,000 acres. Missouri, Oklahoma and Kentucky followed in total acres harvested. The total tons produced was reported as 79,187,000, which is up over the 2014 yield of 78,352,000 total tons (even with decreased acres harvested). Average tonnage was 2.07 tons per acre across all states, up slightly from 2.03 tons per acre in 2014.
Weather
Hurricane Joaquin remained offshore but drenched the lower Atlantic seaboard, causing extensive flooding in parts of the Carolinas. An excess of 20 inches was reported in parts of central and coastal South Carolina.
Although it was a tough year in many parts of the U.S. to put up dry hay, no yield drops were reported. The drought in the West has not abated, and some areas are predicting fewer alfalfa planted acres in 2016. Predictions of an active El Nino system might yet prove to alleviate drought with a wet winter, but that system has yet to be seen.
Dairy market report
The milk price reported for August by USDA NASS was $16.70 per hundredweight.
Charts
Hay markets vary widely by region and by product – alfalfa hay versus “other hay.” The prices and information in Figure 1 (alfalfa hay market trends) and Figure 2 (“other hay” market trends) are provided by NASS and reflect general price trends and movements. Hay quality, however, was not provided in the NASS reports.
For purposes of this report, states that provided data to NASS were divided into the following regions:
Southwest – Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
East – Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania
Northwest – Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
Midwest – Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin FG
