Wintry weather, coupled with short alfalfa-hay supplies in the region, pushed prices higher at the recent Rushville Hay Auction in Harrisonburg, VA.
“The demand is definitely there,” says auction owner Tom Weaver, of T. Weaver Auctioneering. “When you’ve had the kind of winter we’ve had, you’re going to sell a lot of hay.”
High-quality dairy hay has been especially sought after. “The availability isn’t that great,” says Weaver.
At Rushville’s mid-February sale, large squares of top-end alfalfa brought $285-290/ton. “It was just so tough to make good hay in our area last year because of all the rain we had.”
Large bales of alfalfa-orchardgrass (second-, third- and fourth-cutting) were selling for around $200/ton, with a top of just more than $230/ton. Round bales were selling for roughly $20/ton less. “It’s a good dairy hay, too, and there seems to be a pretty good supply.”
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