Tips for Purchasing Hay This Fall

With the growing season and the lack of moisture, livestock producers are trying to line up feeds supplies.

Due to low production this year, many will have to look at purchasing hay from regions further away this year.

Victoria Foster, an agri-environmental specialist with the ministry of agriculture talks about what to look for when purchasing hay.

"Two really important things to think about are feed quality and the costs," she said. "Another really important factor to be mindful of is the purity of the hay, and by that, I mean ensuring that we are not bringing weeds onto our operations from another region. Drought conditions reduce the vigour of pasture vegetation and as a result, we have more bare ground and less competitive forage stand."

She added that due to the drought conditions hay may be sourced from areas such as sloughs and ditches which might not have a normal weed control program.