Pacific Northwest Hay Market Update

Happy Monday — through the haying season I will be giving weekly updates on the hay market from around the Pacific Northwest region.?USDA Grain and Livestock Reporter Greg Sanders says the current hay market is definitely bullish.
Sanders: “Because we’ve had really nice weather here through his harvest season and they are putting up really good hay. Export and the domestic buyers are both out there buying it. Even had some California buyers up here taking some high testing hay down to California and that brought up to $275. The export hay on top of that is $265 so it is a little bit higher also. Then the bulk of the domestic hay that is high tested hay — which is what everyone is putting up this first cutting — the top on that is $270.”
Hay stocks on farms in Idaho and Oregon are down compared to a year ago — Idaho is 44 percent lower and Oregon is 9 percent lower while Washington has increased 61 percent. Nationally, hay stocks have increased 35 percent due to improved weather bringing increased hay production. All hays stocks estimated for May first at 19.1 million tons, up from 14.1 million tons last May. That is the third lowest May 1 stock level since 1989, according to USDA’s May Crop Production Report.