By Dave Sims, Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, Oct. 16 – Timely rains have drastically improved the forage crop outlook for Saskatchewan and Manitoba, while also putting prices back into their normal range.
“Sky-rocketing hay prices have stabilized…supplies are good,” said Terry Kowalchuk, a forage crop specialist in Regina.
Prices are mostly back down into the C$80-$100 per tonne range, he added.
“Some people had been asking $120 or $140,” he noted.
Early in the year, dry conditions were threatening the viability of the forage crop, but rain in the latter stages of the summer helped them recover.
Kowalchuk says it was good soil moisture that saved them.
“It probably was one of the driest springs on record…without the spring soil moisture we would have been in dire straits,” he said.
It was a similar situation in Manitoba, according to another industry watcher.
“Earlier in the year we were looking at potential feed shortages in the southwest and northwest areas of the province,” said John McGregor of the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association.
But he said the timely rains late in the growing season enabled farmers to get a second cut that was average to above average.
“We’re looking for average yields in most of the province,” he said.
Most of the soil in the province has good moisture which bodes well for next spring.
Forage prices are slightly below last year.
Alfalfa is around eight cents per pound while alfalfa mixtures were around five cents.
Grass/hay mixtures were in the three-to-3.5 cent range, McGregor said.
