Buyers on the hunt for quality hay as rain takes its toll
Late rain is threatening uncut hay and windrows, putting a price premium on quality bales already harvested — but it’s also having a surprising effect on market demand.
RAIN is making its indelible mark on hay this season and surprisingly recent rain is expected to improve hay demand.
Vetch hay growers and baling contractors have been battling heavy rain combined with showers, weather conditions that are irregular in October.
Some vetch hay north of Ouyen was baled with minimal rain in mid-September, prior to the rains that fell in the last week of September.
Estimates are that this hay would represent only 5 to 10 per cent of the state’s total vetch hay expected this season.
The remainder of the vetch windrows have suffered heavier falls both last week and in the last week of September.
In northern Victoria the majority of oaten hay has been cut and is curing. Other Wimmera growers with later crops started cutting after the rain ended late last week and may manage to bale hay with minimal rain damage.
Curing conditions have been slow as windrows lay under conditions of high humidity, low wind and low temperatures.
While it is possible to bale oaten hay within 10 days of cutting in the right conditions, some paddocks of oaten hay have been curing for three weeks. Balers are expected to make a start on oaten hay this week and hay exporters will be hunting for the highest quality.
Rain last week fell over three to four days and was slightly less than that forecast a week earlier. But much heavier falls were recorded along the coastal strip in southwest Victoria.
Baling contractors report that new season’s vetch hay is highly variable as some lots have minimal discolouration while others have lost substantial leaf content from raking after the rains.
Test results are yet to determine the degree of nutrient loss, but it is still hoped that the quality will be better than the last wet harvest suffered in spring 2016.
Hay buyers are showing some renewed interest in protein hay as silage quality in southwest Victoria is expected to be poor.
Up to 100mm of rain fell in a narrow coastal strip from Princetown to Portland last week with properties between Koroit and Allansford receiving 105 to 108mm.
Some of those paddocks that were shut for silage are now partly underwater. Silage cutting with heavy machinery is not possible and paddocks will need to dry out before they can support tractors. Only paddocks on light volcanic soils are being cut for silage.
In the meantime, the grasses will mature further, laying down more lignin and lowering both protein and the digestibility for lactating cows.
Further east, the falls in Gippsland were lighter.
Currently small volumes of vetch hay with minimal rain damage and test results pending are offered for sale at $210 to $230 a tonne ex-northern Victorian farm. Some buyers are accepting of these prices as they are chasing quality and well aware of the weather impacts this season.
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