Will the wet spring spoil crops?

Fears grow that showery spring weather could adversely impact cereal and pasture hay.

Price match: Continued showers may have an impact on the quality of already contracted new crop vetch hay.

THE fate for hay quality and price remains in the balance.

Most of the cereal hay is yet to be cut but vetch hay quality is in doubt.

Growers and buyers alike are concerned that the showery weather may impact cereal and pasture hay as well.

While prices have come back substantially over the past year, growers have invested heavily in new balers and sheds to improve their control over hay quality and capture the best their crops can offer.

Growers, from an area ranging from Temora to Hopetoun, began cutting their vetch crops in

the first and second weeks of September.

The showers forecast earlier this month discouraged some from cutting, as they preferred to wait for a clear forecast to cure their hay.

This delay has seen many vetch crops mature and start podding, rendering them unsuitable

for hay.

Fortunately, vetch has a variety of uses and instead of hay, growers are either ploughing crops in for green manure or keeping crops for seed or grain.

For those crops that were cut, the impact of the rain will be determined by testing after baling but the chances of high-quality vetch hay this season are slipping.

Since the first week of September, Hopetoun has received 28mm, Charlton 28, Echuca 20,

Horsham 42, Wagga 56 and Forbes 75mm.

This rain spread over six to 11 days will have caused nutrients to be leached from the windrows, especially after the heavier falls of last week.

Colour and nutrients will be lost from the fine leaves and stems, resulting in lower testing

hay, lower density bales and lower yielding crops.

In light of the rain, there may need to be some quality considerations for those who

have already contracted new crop vetch hay at a fixed price.

While weighbridges can account for the lighter bales, compensation to buyers on the reduced protein and energy may be required.

As an example, the market rate for protein is primarily focused on canola meal, which is

trading around $12 per percentage point of crude protein.

Should vetch hay test three percentage points lower than an expected 20 per cent level, the contract price may need adjusting down by $36 a tonne.

Growers are hoping to bale vetch this week, but showers are expected today and further rain

is forecast this weekend.

In the meantime, cereal crops are starting to come out in head.

The cooler weather will have slowed the rate of maturing, delaying the ideal cutting date.

This delay can work well for quality if it helps to avoid cutting when rain is forecast but eventually growers will have little choice but to cut crops before they lay down excessive fibre in the leaves and stems.

Price expectations for cereal remain within the $150 to $200 a tonne range ex-farm with vetch hay sitting in a wider range either side of this.

Vetch hay pricing will be heavily determined by the degree of rain damage.

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