A slight increase in hay acreage and yield-boosting moisture conditions in some regions provide hope for increased forage production in 2023.

Moisture conditions are improving, but hay exports and milk prices are weakening, with a likely impact on demand.

Here’s Progressive Forage’s monthly look at factors impacting hay markets for January 2023.

Whether buying or selling hay, there’s plenty to unwrap as the calendar year comes to a close.

The 2022 hay crop has been made. Those marketing and moving it face plenty of challenges.

The most striking factors driving hay markets are related to alfalfa exports, domestic prices for dairy-quality hay and an early start to the supplemental feeding season in drought areas.

The Western drought sent regional hay prices higher, especially for dairy-quality hay. Demand from China pushed alfalfa exports to an 11-month high, but global sales of other hay continued to slump.