# Glut or Sparse - How's 2015 Shaping Up



## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

In my neck of the woods, there was so much rain from Memorial Day to mid July that while much hay was finally cut and baled in mid July, from what I can see, it's over ripe, low quality hay. Being cut so late, I'm thinking a small 2nd cut.

What I'm thinking is due to the rain, quality of the hay when cut and lack of time for a decent yield 2nd cut that there's going to be a potential shortage of good quality hay going into fall/winter.

What are your observations?


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Here, there isn't much fancy first cutting but second and third are looking very plentiful. I'm guessing the lack of first will prop up the price on the later cuttings.


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

Just sold some NICE second cut to a hay broker last week. According to the broker Good hay was all but none existent a few weeks ago due to all the rain. Now that we have some dry weather everyone is cutting/baling. Jockey claimed that guys that didn't get first cut done have real nice undergrowth and the dry dead first mixed in isn't that bad. The real question will be on the volume of hay. Will the heavy crop in late July be enough to equal out the fact that a first cut was never made? My guess is third cutting will be the swing that pushes prices one way or another...


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## SwingOak (May 19, 2014)

Mine was all cut by July 4th, and after daily rainfall through most of May and June, it's dried up completely. If we don't get some rain there might not be a second cutting. I'm starting to ponder how to get some sort of irrigation set up.

Hay prices are very low, small squares - and decent ones at that - are going at auction for about a buck apiece.


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## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Didn't get first cut done until mid July. The cooler weather in June, overcast skies, and rainfall made for not too bad of a crop overall. Second cut is popping right now, but the grasses have slowed down due to the heat. Be into 2nd cut by end of next week.


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## snowball (Feb 7, 2015)

Lots of tonage here both 1st and 2nd but the quality is not there.. alot of washed or balage bales and as of this morning 3 rd is look'n to go the same way but hay is cheap here


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Here 1st cutting grass hay was plentiful, but lots of prewashed and cow hay on the market. Plus the pastures were tall thanks to above normal rain. Due to the nature of being Colorado there isn't that much good 2nd cutting unless it is irrigated and the fact that 2nd cutting doesn't make as much even when fertilized. Now the pastures have been eaten or have turned brown from lack of moisture. The neighbor is shipping his grass hay to Florida. I'm going to have to look into that. Most people don't even get a 3rd cutting. We do though. So as always it's 2nd and 3rd that brings the bigger money. This year it's been somewhat of a struggle to even sell 1st cutting that hasn't had rain.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Still first cutting out that that needs made here.

Neighbor claimed some 2nd cutting hay hit $300/ton at the auction, but I'd bet all the rest was either rained on first or very mature first.

Hard to say other than that, it is actually starting to get very dry here, some rain forecasted but only 40% chance of showers and thundershowers. My clay ground has more than enough moisture to carry it till the end of the year, some of the lighter sand ground may get hurt.

If it doesn't rain Sunday I may actually have to water the garden for the first time since 2012.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

First our cold spring and some frost at the wrong times hurt the yield of the 1st cutting and most native grass hay. Then cool wet weather delayed us getting it put up on time. Then the rains quit and the hot weather began. Doesn't look like there'll be a 2nd cutting. The corn is starting to show some drought stress and I know it's gonna hurt the yield on the silage corn.

Hay might be a little sparce in our area but we'll find enough plus we've got carryover hay and silage.

I checked out our local online classified site (bismanonline.com) last night. There seems to be a lot of hay for sale on there. A lot of seems priced really cheap so there must be abundant hay in the rest of ND.


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