Aaron Daniel at Korumburra is a haymaking specialist

It’s been a challenging season for haymaking specialist Aaron Daniel, but what hay lacked in volume was made up for in quality.

Haymaking specialist Aaron Daniel said that what hay lacked in volume was made up for in quality at Korumburra.

He said the season had been challenging, to say the least, and it was difficult to find consecutive days of fine weather to make hay.

“We are seeing a lot more silage made, rather than hay, in this area,” he said.

Aaron recently cut a paddock of ryegrass hay that would be used in a beef cattle operation.

“The quality was good, and we were pleased,” he said.

“There was plenty of clover in it, and as far as hay goes, it is pretty good,” he said.

“At the moment, in this area, we have really struggled to find a few days that are fine for haymaking,” he said.

Aaron said silage had been more popular.

Hay and silage contractor Aaron Daniel and son Joe, 9 pictured baling hay. Picture: Zoe Phillips

“We are probably doing a lot more silage, and that’s a lot to do with the conditions,” he said.

The area where he lives even had a couple of 3mm of rain between the Christmas and new year period.

Aaron said there was increasing demand for hay and silage contractors in the Korumburra and Leongatha region because the capital expenditure on gear could be a prohibitive factor.

“A big driver of demand is the cost to purchase all of the gear to do the job,” he said.

“It is getting too expensive for farmers to have all of their own gear, and that means we are doing a lot more contract work,” he said.

Aaron said the demand was there, and farmers were reaping the benefits from some good quality this year.

However, overall volumes of both hay and silage were possibly down despite the fact that cereal crops and canola were cut for hay following the September frost.