Because less dairy-quality hay than normal was produced in Pennsylvania this year, Marvin Hall, forage specialist with Penn State University Extension, expected higher fall prices. That hasn’t been the case.
Dairy-quality alfalfa sells for $260-270/ton on average, compared to an average of $280-310/ton last year at this time, Hall reports. Good-quality alfalfa ranges from $175 to $200/ton.
Top-quality mixed hay brings $250-310/ton, compared to $200-350/ton last November. Supreme-quality timothy, priced at $157-250/ton last year, is $230-270/ton. There’s an abundant supply of rained-on hay in the central, western and northern parts of the state, but dairy-quality hay is not in high demand.
“Prices are holding pretty steady or have actually dropped a little bit over the summer. So there must be enough stuff out there, or people would be buying it up and demand would be pushing prices up,” he says.
Hay yields were better than average this year – with the exception of the southeastern part of the state, which had a dry growing season and average yields, Hall adds.
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