Weather
Fire season has begun in the West, exacerbated by continuing drought and hotter than normal temperatures. Abnormally dry conditions now cover all of the Pacific Northwest and is encroaching significantly across western states.
In the Southeast, Tropical Storm Bill sent hit-and-miss thunderstorms throughout the area. However, many areas reported dryer than normal conditions, resulting in moderate drought to abnormally dry conditions through North Carolina and the southern Appalachians. Even parts of the Northeast reported moderate drought to abnormally dry conditions.
The Midwest was hit hard by rains earlier this spring, and although light to moderate precipitation fell there recently, the earlier rains have kept soils in the near-normal range. In the Great Plains and Texas area, most of the drought concern has lifted with little change within the past few weeks.
Exports
The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service reports that Japan was the leading importer of U.S. hay during April 2015 (at $47 million), although that had fallen by $4 million from March 2015. Hay exported to China, however, more than made up the difference, with an increase of $102 million in U.S. sales – more than double the amount exported to China in January 2015 as the ports recovered from the port slowdown. U.S. exports also rose to South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, Canada and Saudi Arabia in April.
2015 hay acreage
The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported 57,093,000 harvested hay acres in the U.S. in 2015, with Missouri topping the list at 3,700,000 acres. Behind Missouri were Oklahoma, Montana, Nebraska and North Dakota, respectively.
Dairy report
USDA NASS reported production per cow in the 23 major states averaged 1,990 pounds for May, 11 pounds above May 2014. This is the highest production per cow for the month of May since the 23-state series began in 2003. The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major states was 8.63 million head, up 4,000 head over April 2015. Total milk production in May was up 1.4 percent. Milk prices received in May averaged $16.70 per hundredweight, up from $16.50 in April.
Hay market reports – prices received
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
