Dairy-quality hay is lacking in much of Michigan, but that translates to only steady prices throughout the state, reports Phil Kaatz, Michigan State University (MSU) Extension educator for forages and field crops.
Recent hay auctions have sold top-quality small squares of mixed hay at $220-230/ton. But Kaatz has heard other reports in the $250-300/ton range – comparable to last year’s early November prices.
“I would say the price for top-quality hay is going to increase as the season goes on. It’s hard to say, though, because a lot of it may have already been bought and sold.”
Rained-on hay fetches between $65 and $75/ton in large round bales, he reports. Wet, cool weather brought an abundance of medium- and poor-quality hay.
“The weather has been crazy. We didn’t have long periods of dry weather for producers to get hay made at the right time.”
Michigan hay growers are used to dealing with wet and cool conditions at late-May first cuttings. They’re not used to an entire growing season being that way, Kaatz says.
“For second or third cutting, we usually have stretches where we can get some real nice, dry hay put up. It didn’t happen in a majority of locations this year.”
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