Our inspectors have been busy this month, undertaking extensive travel to inspect hay across the country, with the majority of product located in Victoria and Southern NSW. We’ve done over 100 inspections, resulting in over 30,000 tonnes of new listings.
New season quality is mostly very good. A large proportion of this month’s hay listings have been FCAA and FCA grade hay. We have over 40,000 tonnes of FCAA and FCA hay listed and ready for sale and 135,000 tonnes of hay and straw listed on the website.
Hay Market Snapshot: Product Available Now
We have 17,681 tonnes of vetch hay listed right now, with an average of 19.6% CP, ranging from a high of 26.2% to a low of 10.9%. The ME average is 8.37MJ/kg ranging from a high of 10.3MJ/kg to 6.49MJ/kg. The average price is $266/tonne ex-farm, ranging from $140 up to $380 varying widely based on quality.
Lucerne is only available in smaller amounts, but these new season listings have excellent CP and ME levels. Another alternative in the market is clover.
There are over 40,000 tonnes of oaten hay listed right now, with protein levels up to 14.6% and energy up to 10.61MJ/kg; the highest quality listings going for as high as $450 ex farm. There are also other sources of cereal hay, with good supplies of barley and wheaten hay.
There’s a plentiful supply of cereal straw with over 31,000 tonnes listed from $50 to $300 based on quality. The following graph gives a snap shot summary of product currently advertised on the Feed Central platform.
| Type | Tonnes Listed | Avg. CP % DM | Max. CP % DM | Min. CP % DM | Avg. ME MJ/kg DM | Max. ME MJ/kg DM | Min. ME MJ/kg DM | Avg. Price Ex-Farm $/Tonne | Max. Price Ex-Farm $/Tonne | Min. Price Ex-Farm $/Tonne |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vetch Hay | 17,681 | 19.6 | 26.2 | 10.9 | 8.37 | 10.3 | 6.49 | $266 | $380 | $140 |
| Oaten Hay | 40,588 | 7.8 | 14.4 | 5.5 | 8.69 | 10.61 | 6.81 | $203 | $450 | $90 |
| Barley Hay | 3,069 | 9.6 | 14.4 | 6.1 | 8.86 | 9.9 | 7.26 | $257 | $400 | $75 |
| Wheaten Hay | 11,775 | 9.4 | 12.4 | 5.5 | 8.80 | 9.87 | 6.95 | $288 | $450 | $140 |
| Clover Hay | 1,521 | 14.7 | 17.9 | 9 | 8.53 | 9.26 | 6.99 | $275 | $400 | $165 |
| Lucerne Hay | 2,588 | 17.5 | 23.2 | 11.4 | 8.87 | 9.93 | 6.78 | $352 | $600 | $120 |
| Cereal Straw | 31,529 | 4.9 | 8.3 | 2.9 | 6.37 | 8.7 | 4.91 | $110 | $300 | $50 |
| TOTAL | 108,751 | |||||||||
As always, caution is required when buying hay. Hay curing weather has been less than ideal in many areas and as result product that has been in the windrow for a long time is now entering the market. There have some serious hay fires (not just the ones you see in the news) and some outside stacks have now had some rain on them.
On the Trade Front
Trade has been brisk, with the fires and dry weather in the northern areas contributing to very strong sales. Most recently, reasonable rain across some of the worst areas has shown that it can still rain despite a dry forecast. This, combined with the interest rate rise and low livestock prices has put a “dampener” on the market and allowed everyone to take a breath this week.
How Buyers Find the Best Hay
To maintain consistency and quality, all hay and straw advertised at www.feedcentral.com.au must be inspected in field. This process includes; photograph, visual grading and sampling for feed testing in our lab. This allows for the generation of the Quality Certificate and public advertising of the product.
The Feed Central website has the capacity for you to filter and search for the right product. The refine search functionality allows you to narrow a search by species, grade, packaging, and more.
You can also save regular searches and receive email notifications when new listings matching your criteria become available. Once you’ve narrowed down your hay preferences with the refine search feature, simply click Save Search to keep track of future listings.
