Several forces can impact hay market trends: hay quality, interest rates, feed commodity prices, oil prices, crop input costs, weather, transportation costs, milk prices, inflation and international issues. The best way to understand market fluctuations is to study trends in relation to such events.
There is value in keeping track of upswings and downturns over several months (or years) to help with buying and selling decisions. Thus, trends may become a critical barometer for producers, brokers, dairymen and livestock producers.
Furthermore, hay markets vary widely by region and by product – alfalfa hay versus “other hay.” The prices and information in the charts below are provided by National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and reflect general price trends and movements.
Hay quality was not provided in the cited NASS reports.
For purposes of this report, states that provided data to NASS were divided into the following regions:
- Southwest: Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
- East: Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania
- Northwest: Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
- Midwest: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin FG
Read a related article, "Hay market trend update for April."
