Hay Markets

Montana Hay Report

Hay sold 5.00-15.00 higher. Demand improved drastically over this past week as drought concerns have sparked some buying. Demand from Canadian buyers increased this week as well mostly due to drought concerns. Several loads of hay continue to sell north of the border this week. Demand for lower quality feeder hay has seen the most improvement as buyers are searching for lower cost hay as insurance for dry conditions. Several large sales of hay sold south into Wyoming as drought conditions to the south have led to buying hay for immediate use as grass has been slow to start. Supplies of hay continue to lighten and many producers went from expecting some carry over to expecting no carry over. Dry conditions are noted across the far eastern and far western portions of the state and over the last few weeks drought conditions have expanded across the highline. South central Montana is in very good position to put up a really good first crop as rainy wet conditions along with a recent warm up have been great for stands of Alfalfa. Market activity was mostly moderate to active this week with very good interest seen across the state. According to the drought monitor 55.75% of the state is in Moderate drought or worse, down 1.05% from last week. 13.25% of the state is in an Severe drought or worse, unchanged from last week. 1.01% of the state is in Extreme drought or worse, down 0.71% from last week. 0% of the state is in Expectational drought, unchanged from last week. Notably, 77.32% of the state is abnormally dry, up 3.7% from last week.

Wyoming Hay Report

Compared to last week, demand and movement has slightly decreased. Most of the hay sold last week was in small loads. The demand for cubes has decreased slightly with grass greening up, the demand for pellets remains steady. There is expected to be some carryover when new crop starts with demand being slow and producers not moving much hay. Some producers have said demand has been slow for old crop and there’s quite a few tons of 2023 and 2024 hay left to sell all over the state. According to the U.S. drought monitor website, Wyoming is under abnormally dry to moderately dry soil moisture with the area of Southeast Wyoming having extreme dry soil moisture. According to the Wyoming crop progress report, as of May 19th, pasture and range conditions are 17% good condition, alfalfa hay is 52% good condition, other hay is 63% good condition, 59% corn has been planted.