Hay Production and Prices

Jan 25, 2022

By James Mitchell

Last week USDA-NASS published their 2021 Crop Production Summary. The report includes information about U.S. hay production and December 1 hay stocks. USDA splits hay data into two categories, alfalfa and all other hay. All other hay is the relevant category for the Southeast.

Southeast

All other hay production totaled 70.951 million tons in 2021, down 3.8% from the prior year. Several southern states had year-over-year declines in hay production. All other hay production declined 2.3%, 2.7%, and 16.1% in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Alabama hay production declined 6.7% year-over-year. All other hay production increased 6.7% in Kentucky.

Smaller 2021 hay production followed a decline in harvested acres. Nationally, harvested acres for the other hay category declined by 1.4%. In the Southeast (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV), harvested acreage decreased 4.2% year-over-year. Harvested acreage in Arkansas and Mississippi declined 7.1% and 4.6%, respectively. Kentucky harvested acreage declined 1.5%.

As of December 1, 2021, hay stocks totaled 79.016 million tons, down 6.0% from the previous year. December 1 hay stocks are the lowest since 2012. In the Southeast, December 1 hay stocks declined 4.3%. December 1 hay stocks dropped 5.6% and 4.8% in Arkansas and Mississippi, respectively. Kentucky hay stocks declined 2.0%.

All else equal, smaller production and tighter stocks mean higher prices. The most recent data for November has hay prices averaging $147/ton or 8.9% higher year-over-year. Hay prices will continue to increase through the winter. Hay prices in February and March typically average 1.4% and 3.6% above the annual price. This winter, we could see hay prices average $150-$160/ton.

Source : osu.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.