Dec, 1 hay stocks saw a significant rise after last year’s 50-plus-year low and is up 6.9% nationally, according to USDA data compiled by the Livestock Marketing Information Center.
In a letter to Extension staff called Livestock Monitor, the LMIC went on to say 2023 production still was the third lowest in the last 50 years and was only slightly larger than the 2012 figure of 76.547 million short tons at 76.721 million tons.
Production improvements were seen for almost all states west of the Rocky Mountains except Washington, which was down 15%, the data showed. Great Plains states also were largely positive except for Kansas, which was down 12%.
Corn Belt, Southeast and Northeast states were largely negative as drought found a new foothold in those parts of the country, the LMIC said.
YIELDS STILL STRUGGLING
Yields continued to struggle last year even though drought broke in a lot of the country, the LMIC said. Alfalfa yields were down about 1% as were other hay yields.
Harvested acres more than made up the difference, though, the data showed. Other hay saw a larger rise, up about 11% from 2022, while alfalfa gained only about 3%.
The largest increases seen in individual states for alfalfa were Montana, increasing 220,000 acres and North Dakota, gaining 390,000. Wisconsin was the only other state to see an acreage change over 100,000 acres, down 160,000 from last year.
Other hay acres saw larger changes, the LMIC said. Among the largest were the 1.1 million acre increase in Oklahoma in 2023, 800,000 in Texas and 600,000 in Missouri.
Several other states saw increases of more than 100,000 acres, including Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Virginia and Washington, the data showed. Only a handful of states saw year-over-year declines, and only Iowa and Minnesota showed declines of 100,000 acres or more.
PRODUCTION INCREASED
Total production was able to increase on the acreage gains but was still at a historically low level, the LMIC said. Prices have not mitigated as quickly as forecasted, leaving questions as to how much better off livestock producers are than a year ago.
Availability seems better, but price relief likely is pocketed around the country, the LMIC said. New seedings of alfalfa continue to add small amounts but remain in the three lowest years on record dating back to 1997.
Gains from new seedings will require farmers to not remove more fields than they add from the alfalfa rotation, which is difficult to pinpoint this early in the year, the LMIC said. Other hay acres were able to increase substantially but may not be able to find as many gains this year even with prices remaining higher than expected.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $174.23 per cwt to $175.86, compared with last week’s range of $171.36 to $176.16 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $274.18 per cwt to $275.62, compared with $270.35 to $278.11.
The USDA choice cutout Tuesday was down $3.35 per cwt at $296.07 while select was down $1.77 at $287.05. The choice/select spread narrowed to $9.02 from $10.60 with 114 loads of fabricated product and 20 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.35 to $1.49 a bushel over the Mar corn contract, which settled at $4.47 3/4 a bushel, up $0.07 1/2.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Friday was $236.28 per cwt, up $2.13. This compares with Tuesday’s Mar contract settlement of $241.32, up $2.70.