News

Some improvements in the Missouri hay market

Hay prices in Missouri are starting to come off the recent highs.

Tony Hancock is the market news manager for the Missouri Department of Agriculture.  “There is quite a bit of hay around this week that’s in the lower half of my reported price ranges instead of the upper half,” he says.  “I won’t say it’s a deal. It’s not cheap, but maybe you could possibly use the words ‘a little more reasonable’.”

He tells Brownfield recent rains have helped things green up. “For some of those dryer areas, it was really surprising the grass came out of dormancy so fast,” he says.  There have also been some guys out bailing a little bit of hay again.”

Hancock says Missouri producers aren’t in the clear just yet – if it turns hot and dry in August, conditions will rapidly deteriorate.