August Market Report

Market Report By Tim Ford

Welcome to the August market report. I’m Tim Ford from Feed Central. It is getting very close to the pointed end of the season with plenty of people starting to talk about new season hay. If you have hay available at the moment in a shed or in the paddock, we suggest if it’s really good quality hay, it’s marketable right now. If it’s in a large square bale of high-quality, and has all-weather access. If it’s a lower-quality product, the market’s not in your favor, so we suggest that you review the price very carefully, and talk to the Feed Central sales team and seriously think about the price if you’re wanting to move it any time soon.

The new season is shaping up to have considerable potential in most regions. Obviously, there’s still a lot of water to go under the bridge. The weather conditions during spring will be critical to determine the quality of new season hay. In relation to new season, if you are looking to make new season hay, we strongly encourage you to consider what the market is chasing. It’s our experience that the [inaudible 00:01:11] is a large market for over a 365-day period, or over 12-month delivery period. There is a strong market for hay that’s of high-quality, minimal weather damage, in a shed that has all-weather access, and in a high-density, large square baler.

The high-density balers are a relatively new feature to the hay industry. They’re are large square bale that pack a large volume of product into the same space. It means that freight is maximized, freight efficiencies are maximized, storage is maximized, paddock handling is maximized, and the efficiencies of the end user using that product, it’s also a lot faster for them to unload the truck, store it, move it around their farm and feed it out.

We strongly encourage you to consider a contractor in your region who may have invested in a high-density baler. They would have invested a considerable amount of money in those balers and it would show that they’re a professional contractor.

We also ask you to think about moisture meters, so that you can test the product. We’re generally looking for a moisture of less than 18%. That will mean that the product will store for a long period of time. Also, hay corers so you can do a feed test and taps and those sorts of things, so that you’re planning a good quality hay experience.

Right, so that wraps up the August market report for now. We wish you the very best in your preparations for the new season. New season in most regions won’t kick off until after our next market update, so good luck in your preparations, and remember, plan for a great outcome. Great outcomes don’t just happen, and we look forward to the opportunity to be selling your great hay at the end of 2016 right through 2017 and beyond.