With local hay reserves all but exhausted, huge numbers of cereal and oaten bales have been coming in from South Australia, Victoria and the Central West of NSW.
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And if the dry conditions continue, Stephen McDonald from McDonalds Brothers Transport Nemingha said hay will have to be trucked from even further away.
“It’s getting pretty dire,” he said.
He’s been bringing in loads of fodder “flat out” for the past three months, for drought-affected farmers across the Tamworth and Hunter regions, the North West and parts of the Northern Tablelands.
A poor growing season for hay here and in the Hunter Valley has made small lucerne hay bales – for horses and stud operations – nearly impossible to source.
“There weren’t good growing conditions for hay and it was hot and dry, so the hay yields weren’t great,” Mr McDonald said. “It’s been really bad in the Hunter Valley for the past 12 months and in December and January that area was getting a lot of hay from around Tamworth.”
He explained the Hunter region usually grew a lot of hay to meet local needs, while traditionally much of the hay grown at Tamworth supplied the Northern Tablelands.
At the moment, most of the hay that's coming in is being used to feed to cattle, with Mr McDonald storing hay at his Nemingha depot as well as delivering on-farm.
As it’s getting harder to source and has to be trucked from so far away prices for the predominantly 8x4x3 bales are climbing rapidly.
“It’s getting dearer and another price rise will be coming as the demand for hay keeps rising,” Mr McDonald said.
“Demand has completely outstripped the supply.”
Hay prices depended on the quality, amount and distance it’s been transported and were changing frequently at the moment, Mr McDonald said.
The Feed Central website last Friday had hay listed from $200 per tonne for Rhodes grass hay (near Biloela in Queensland) and $300 per tonne for large 8x4x3 lucerne bales (Mundubbera, Queensland) not including transport.
The latest seasonal update from the NSW Department of Primary Industries shows only parts of northeastern NSW had reasonable rainfall during March and more of the Hunter, Central West and Central Tablelands and Far West tipped into drought. NSW DPI spokesman Anthony Clark said pastures were in very poor condition across the affected areas, with farmers weighing decisions on whether to sow winter crops and how to manage livestock.