U.S. Hay Prices Decline Again In August

Sep 12, 2014

U.S. alfalfa and all-hay prices dropped, on average, by $7/ton last month, according to the USDA’s Aug. 28 Agricultural Prices report.

The alfalfa and all-hay August prices, nationwide, were $209/ton and $185/ton, respectively, compared to July’s $216/ton for alfalfa and $192/ton for all hay.

The decline came on the heels of $6 and $5/ton decreases in alfalfa and all-hay average prices, respectively, from June to July.

The good news for commercial hay growers is that prices continue to be higher than they were last year at this time. The current average price for alfalfa is $10/ton more than last August’s price of $199/ton, and the all-hay price is $8/ton higher than last year’s price of $177/ton.

California had the biggest decline in alfalfa prices – by $30/ton from July to August, when it averaged $245/ton. That’s still $44/ton more than the $201/ton that the crop sold for in August 2013.

New York reported a $12/ton price drop for alfalfa from July to August – to $205/ton; that’s the same price reported for August 2013. Average all-hay prices showed a $27/ton decline, from $208/ton in July to $181/ton in August.

A few states reported price increases from July to August. Michigan experienced a $10/ton bump in alfalfa prices, to $160/ton; a $12/ton hike in all-hay prices, to $141/ton.

Video: Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Indoor sheep farming in winter at pre-lambing time requires that, at Ewetopia Farms, we need to clean out the barns and manure in order to keep the sheep pens clean, dry and fresh for the pregnant ewes to stay healthy while indoors in confinement. In today’s vlog, we put fresh bedding into all of the barns and we remove manure from the first groups of ewes due to lamb so that they are all ready for lambs being born in the next few days. Also, in preparation for lambing, we moved one of the sorting chutes to the Coveralls with the replacement ewe lambs. This allows us to do sorting and vaccines more easily with them while the barnyard is snow covered and hard to move sheep safely around in. Additionally, it frees up space for the second groups of pregnant ewes where the chute was initially.