Hay and Dairy Not as Bad Off as Everyone Says

 Hay reached record highs in 2008, but could set record lows in 2009 if the dairy market continues to decline. ?Hay prices dropped nearly a $100 a ton after national and global milk prices tanked after the economic slowdown that started late last summer. ??Despite the doom and gloom, alfalfa is still one of Idaho’s biggest cash crops according to U of I economist Paul Patterson. He told the Capitol Press that hay can still be profitable with good yields and quality. Hay farmer Don Hale agrees and is undeterred by the sluggish market. Further, he doesn’t think that all dairies are in the kind of trouble so many people think they are. ??”What I hear is I think a little more factual. The dairymen are telling you they’re in a world of hurt and their all dying and there’s been a few of the smaller dairies that have been hurt a little, they’re surviving for the most part, a lot of the big dairies have all had they’re milk contracted for this year and next year even yet. Some of them are pulling down $14, $15, $16, $17 for their milk. The hay market isn’t what bothered them it’s the corn market and they’ve kinda moved through that, corn prices have gone down substantially, so that part of their feed equation is taken care of.