EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan’s hay market is picking up early this year.

Ken Venema has raised and sold hay near Sheridan, Mich., for more than 40 years. He said some of his regular customers are already buying their winter supply. “The grassy mix is popular and my square bales went fast,” he said. “I have less inventory going into winter than in years past.”

With some carryover from the 2010 crop and a good quantity of first cutting, prices started out flat this summer but are picking up now. MSU Educators Jerry Lindquist and Phil Kaatz said that wet weather early in the summer made it difficult for farmers to make quality first cutting hay – a characteristic they believe is driving up demand early for better quality forage now.

“When you consider the timing of making hay and the tonnage associated with each cutting, the first cutting challenges with quality and quantity should provide producers some incentive to find hay early if they want high quality this winter,” Kaatz said.

Venema said he didn’t have any problems getting his first cutting up between the rain storms, but a dry spell after first cutting made for a sparse second cutting on his farm.

“My second cutting was down because the weather was dry,” he said. “I had more third cutting than second cutting, and it was a really good quality.”

The change in weather late in the season had significant impacts on the state’s hay supply going into winter, according to Lindquist. “Late September and early October provided great hay baling weather,” Lindquist said. “Highs in the 80s with no rain allowed for a lot more hay – the higher quality third and fourth cuttings – to be made.”

Lindquist traveled throughout the state’s Lower Peninsula, from Hickory Corners to Rogers City, and saw hay being made, which he said upped the supply of higher quality hay late in the season.

With the late-season baling, Lindquist said “the Michigan hay supply is adequate with a surplus of lower quality alfalfa first cuttings and grassy hays, many in round bale form. The supply of higher quality second through fourth cutting baled hay increased in the state because of favorable fall hay making conditions and now is near a normal supply level for these qualities.”

Rising beef and dairy prices and strong commodity prices for soybeans and corn, coupled with the worst drought that farmers in the southwest United States can recall, are all factors driving this year’s hay market. Lindquist and Kaatz said that by mid-August hay brokers supplying hay to Texas began seeking hay in Michigan. Plus, hay acreage throughout the country was down this year by about 4 percent, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

“All of this is putting pressure on not only good alfalfa hay but even the lower quality grass and grass mixed hays, especially those that are in large or small square bales that can be shipped long distances more economically,” they said.

“Pressure from the drought ravaged southwestern states is expected to gradually raise hay prices over the course of the winter along with the higher prices for grains and corn silage that many farmers are experiencing,” Lindquist said.

The market for low quality round bales of hay of less than 100 Relative Feed Value (RFV) is ranging from $75 to $90 per ton.

Alfalfa and grass mixed round bales over 100 RVF are selling at $85 to $115 per ton. Prices for both in small or large square bale form are selling for $20 to $30 more per ton primarily because they can be transported more economically. Higher quality alfalfa mixed hays are averaging from $125 to $180 per ton with no rain, and premium quality alfalfa dairy hay with little or no rain is going for a $150 to $230 per ton.

For more information about the state’s hay prices go to http://web2canr.msu.edu/hay to view the Michigan Hay Seller list.