Tuesday, January 14, 2025

US hay stocks continue to rise

The USDA makes its assessment of dry-hay stocks in May and December of each year. Last May, spring hay stocks rocketed 47% above the previous year, or about 6.7 million tons.

The rising stocks trend continued as last Friday’s Crop Production report pegged December 1, 2024, hay stocks at about 81.5 million tons, which was up over 4.8 million tons (6.3%) from a year ago. December hay stocks have now hit their highest level since 2020; however, they remain much lower than pre-2010 inventories.


As is always the case, individual states varied in the total amount and direction of year-over-year hay inventory change (see table below). Of the major hay-producing states, most of the largest inventory reductions were rather random, with no region dominating. The largest reductions were seen in:

Arizona – down 29.3%

South Carolina – down 28.3%

Washington – down 26.7%

Georgia – down 20.4%


Many states had significant inventory gains. These included several states that experienced serious drought in 2023 but had improved conditions in 2024. Some of the greatest gains were reported in:


New Mexico – up 172%

Minnesota – up 91.7%

Wisconsin – up 90.8%

Mississippi – up 40.8%

New York – up 28.5%

Texas – up 38.2%


The higher December hay stocks were largely expected as moisture wasn’t a limiting factor in much of the U.S. and with year-over-year hay production being higher. Further, hay exports have continued to struggle this year, which translates to more hay in storage.

Regional differences in hay supplies almost always exist, and high-quality hay is generally in the shortest supply even where overall inventories appear adequate. This will certainly be true this year because frequent rains made it difficult to get hay harvested on time early in the growing season.

Present-day inventories will continue to support the ongoing level of depressed hay prices. Keep in mind that these inventory numbers do not account for hay stored as higher moisture chopped haylage or baleage.





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