Vetch attracts fresh interest with prices falling
As dairy farmers reassess their silage programs, new demand kicks in for more competitively priced feed.
A FALL in hay prices is encouraging new demand as hay becomes a more competitive feed ingredient for beef and dairy producers.
As the first hay crops to be cut and baled, vetch hay is attracting fresh buying interest.
Vetch crops of the Mallee are flowering, and little additional growth is expected. Some of the better crops are expected to yield two tonnes a hectare and the top paddocks may achieve three.
Other vetch paddocks south of Swan Hill are running out of moisture, lack bulk and are expected to be harvested for seed.
Mallee vetch producers have been asking for $250 to $260 a tonne ex-farm for new crop vetch hay, but the buyers have different ideas.
Seasonal conditions have been favourable in Gippsland and the southwest, but with the capacity of buying a known quality feed at a much more competitive price, dairy farmers are questioning their silage programs this spring.
Vetch buyers in the Murray and Goulburn Valleys are trying their luck at $230 to $250 a tonne delivered farm and buyers in south Gippsland are considering buying vetch at $270 a tonne delivered Gippsland.
Beef producers from southern Queensland also have buying interest as two-thirds of the state remains drought declared.
These buyers are aware that they may not be able to afford southern hay if they lose their freight subsidies but are surprised to hear that southern hay is $100 a tonne cheaper.
If Mallee growers are prepared to sell new crop vetch at $205 to $220 a tonne ex-farm plus GST, freight and a storage factor, they will reach a price point that will strike a fresh level of demand.
Most vetch hay growers have or are about to start cutting.
Although the hay and silage producers south of the Divide are forecast to receive 10 to 15mm this weekend, the broadacre croppers in the Wimmera, Mallee and Riverina are expected to receive 5mm to 10mm.
While not ideal, those conditions should suit vetch hay.
Rain just after cutting normally has little impact to the quality, however rain on day 14 when the windrows are all but dry can cause substantial weathering where nutrients and colour are leached from leaves and stems.
Vetch growers are increasingly aware that quality will be a big factor in their marketing this season.
Some of the bulkier vetch crops have developed botrytis grey mould.
The spraying of fungicides is recommended from the first signs of infection, but at this stage of the season there appears little that can be done. The disease is well advanced, and the withholding periods of fungicides are as long as 28 days prior to cutting.
According to hay marketers, infected vetch crops would be best sprayed and brown manured, but some growers are cutting crops with grey mould for hay.
The palatability and nutritional aspects of this hay would be questionable as a commercial parcel of hay.
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