Seth Hoyt
With the outlook for better milk prices in the coming months, a growing number of dairies in Central California, mainly in the central and southern San Joaquin Valley, want to buy hay. This is in contrast to a couple of months ago when many dairies were not in the hay market and were very bearish on prices. While some dairies are still bearish on what they will pay for hay, many hay dealers feel the market has reached a bottom, particularly on Fair quality dry cow alfalfa hay delivered to Tulare. Evidence of more demand for alfalfa hay from Central California dairies was seen in Nevada the past week where dairy buyers were matching or exceeding bids from export buyers on Premium and Supreme quality alfalfa hay. This was not the case over the past couple of months where export bids were higher than dairy bids for alfalfa hay.
