THERE is a small, yet notable, demand for higher-quality hay at the moment.

Some vetch and lucerne hay is being sold into northern Victoria's dairy districts and to a lesser extent, Gippsland.

In southwest Victoria, demand for the higher-quality hay has swung to vetch. Pure vetch hay is proving tough to find, with many lots actually a combination of vetch and cereal hay.

Vetch hay is now the preferred high-protein hay, due to its palatability and softness.

Pure vetch has been selling for $180 a tonne on farm, although some growers with high-quality pure vetch hay stored undercover are waiting until prices reach $215 a tonne on farm before selling their stocks.

For livestock feeders in southwest Victoria, the most competitively priced lucerne has traditionally originated from South Australia's South East.

Dairy farmers have generally found this supply of lucerne hay to be too stalky. Their cows tend to find the leaf material of the lucerne attractive, yet the stalks are less palatable and often left behind.

Compared to recent years, hay sellers are finding markets tough to find.

In the past five years, the strength of demand has provided a steady market.

So far this season, demand for hay has been limited and clients are buying hay as they need it.

Sellers of low-quality rain-damaged hay are eager to attract buyers.

Cereal hay that has had up to 100mm of rain on curing windrows is leached, blackened and generally not pretty.

Some of this hay has been offered at prices as low as $85-$90 a tonne, on-farm in the Wimmera.

With straw selling for only $10-$15 a tonne less than this, prices are unlikely to ease much further.

Despite the look of the hay, some objective tests could confirm its nutritional value.

This season there is a very wide selection of quality available.

Based on the prevailing values of energy and protein, these differences in quality are significant to dairy buyers.

From a dairy farmers' perspective, each megajoule of energy makes $15 a tonne difference and each percentage point of protein makes $10 a tonne difference.

Dairy farmers south of Colac are busy feeding out silage made on their farms this season.

The hot, dry weather is drying out pastures and paddocks are progressively turning brown in areas such as Winchelsea.

Despite this, paddocks in the Heytesbury Settlement area are still green and farmers are applying foliar fertilisers to maintain growth for dairy cows.

Hay merchants are hopeful demand from dairy farmers could improve as pasture quality deteriorates, silage stocks decline and milk prices improve.