NORTHERN Victorian hay producers are weighing their options for the autumn sowing season.
The difficult curing conditions and the lack of demand are at the forefront of producers' minds and many are testing their commitment to hay in their cropping rotations.
On a positive note, the outlook for export oaten hay is promising.
Emerging markets in China and the Middle East are supporting an increase in exports.
Victorian hay processors are responding by increasing their plants' capacity to compress hay.
With plants in Goornong, Bendigo, Avoca and Horsham, Victorian exporters are working closely with suppliers to maintain and increase acreages sown to oaten hay.
Some exporters are talking about new season's prices, with $140-$180/tonnes delivered the early indications of what the value of hay will be in 2011-12.
Plus storage incentive payments to those with on-farm shedding.
Many cereal croppers now include hay as a vital tool to manage the threat of herbicide resistance in ryegrass, with exceptional results.
The disease break that oats provide in a cereal rotation offers another tool in the kit.
Before autumn sowing can begin, stubbles are being burnt as crop residue is higher than previous years. In the Wimmera and Mallee, windrows that were never baled also are being burned.
Some producers are burning up to 50 per cent of their intended hay crop.
Windrows are also being burned around Beaufort, however, those with livestock are crash grazing as an alternative.
Stock are eating and spreading the windrows across the paddock and mulching the hay into the soil.
With such an exceptional start to the season, the need for fibre could be earlier than most winters.
Compared to previous years, the volume of straw baled behind the header was minimal.
Contractors and grain producers saw little value in baling straw when there was already an abundance of weather-damaged cereal hay that could be used as a fibre source.
Straw discolouration and broadleaf weed content quickly convinced straw producers not to send balers into the paddock.
Weather-damaged cereal hay will fill the straw void when needed.
It is currently trading at $100/tonne delivered to Shepparton, while good-quality hay without weather damage attracts a $20/tonne premium.
Whatever the season brings, carryover hay stocks are almost a certainty in most districts of Victoria.
This is a common scenario in years of average and above average rainfall.
Unlike grain, the hay market is predominantly influenced by domestic factors, mainly rainfall, and it appears it will remain a buyer's market for some time.
