For the past few years, Iowa’s hay ground has taken a hit from drought-like conditions across many parts of the state. Prompted by a lower demand, prices for hay have gone up, too.

“The prices are definitely higher than in the past couple of years, which I relate back to the drought, which is an extension of the drought from last year and that’s an extension of the drought from 2020. We’re seeing significant problems across the Corn Belt and Great Plains, especially in Kansas and Nebraska,” said Iowa State University Extension market specialist Chad Hart.

Livestock producers are facing challenging times when it comes to securing affordable feed.

“They’ll see higher feed costs whether it’s hay or corn. We have the same problems that we had last year and any rain we see soon won’t give our pasture ground a lot of time to improve,” Hart said. “That’s why we’ve seen the cattle industry shrink a bit as we move through 2022, because we don’t have healthy pastures to put the animals on either, and herd sizes have gotten smaller as a reflection of that.”

Denise Schwab, Iowa State University Extension beef specialist, said rainfall has been “very inconsistent” across the state, which has led to pasture and forage growth of varying paces.

Beth Doran, Iowa State University Extension field specialist, said many producers in her area were able to squeeze in at least two cuttings.

“For some it was a late first cutting and then a light second cutting. In the most drought-stricken counties in my area, some had a first cutting but are planning to graze the hay ground versus make a second cutting. Some have been approved for haying and grazing of CRP. Some are making ditch hay,” Doran said. “The first cutting was a little more mature, but a good yield. The second cutting was put up without moisture, but yield was less than average.”

Doran said hay prices were higher in her area this summer.

“Good quality large round bales of alfalfa and grass hay have both been higher priced than last year. I’d estimate about 60-70 percent higher than in past years,” she said.

ISU Extension beef field specialist Erika Lundy-Woolfolk added that not everyone in her area was able to squeeze in three cuttings. Those who did netted “pretty fair” yields for a third cutting.

“Moisture has been pretty spotty across southwest Iowa, but the majority of hay fields haven’t seen a rain between second and third cuttings. I suspect many hay fields will not get cut a third time. When I’ve been visiting with producers, we’ve discussed BMPs for grazing the hay instead of taking a subpar third cutting with high full prices and very poor pasture conditions,” Lundy-Woolfolk said.

Hay quality was dictated by the timing of cuttings with any rain that may have fallen.

“For the producers who were able to get the first cutting up in May, hay quality was pretty good. For many, the early rains in June delayed the first cutting, so the first cutting was very mature at harvest and therefore, below average quality. The majority of the area saw little to no rain between the first and second cuttings,” Lundy-Woolfolk said.

Prices were higher than normal in Lundy-Woolfolk’s area for hay, but until recently there hasn’t been much hay trading happening.

“Driving through the area, you’ll see lots of bale feeders filled in pastures as cattlemen are running out of grass. Now is a great time to inventory winter feed needs and if short in supply, start looking for hay now instead of waiting until the demand is high for hay and prices go up,” Lundy-Woolfolk said.

Patrick Wall, Iowa State University Extension beef specialist, said in southeast Iowa, spring growth was late so the first cutting ended up being several weeks delayed, pushing the second cutting back too.

“Due to incredibly dry weather as of late, many third cuttings will not happen this year unless the fall regrowth produces enough forage to make a late third cutting a possibility,” Wall said. “The first cutting quality was fairly normal, though tonnage was down from average but with very few reports of any insect damage in the region. The quality of the second cutting was good, but again, the tonnage was well below expected due to lack of rainfall.”

Most of northeast Iowa has had a “pretty good hay year” with three big cuttings of alfalfa hay and two good cuttings of grass hay, Schwab said.

“There are places that are dry but still have had enough moisture for pretty good hay growth,” she said. “We’ve also has some nice windows of warm temps and low humidity to get some really good quality hay put up. Pastures are a different story. Most continuously grazed pastures across the area look poor to really poor. You can definitely see the advantage to rotational grazing systems this year, since they are about the only green pastures you’ll see.”

Schwab said a visual evaluation of fields without forage testing the 2022 hay would lead to a “good” quality rating from her.

ISU Extension beef field specialist Christopher Clark said the wet and cold early spring meant producers in his area of south-central Iowa ended up starting planting later than usual.

“One challenge associated with a slow start to spring field work is that first cutting of hay is sometimes delayed and a bit more mature than you’d like,” Clark said. “More mature means lesser quality in terms of protein and energy levels. I think weather was relatively good through much of May and June for putting up hay and we had some spotty areas that were dry but nothing extreme yet through that early part of summer.”

There have been some spotty rains but there is a band across southeast and south-central Iowa that is getting very dry and that has been slowly and gradually worsening since probably mid-July or so,” he said. “I haven’t worked with many producers directly this summer about hay production, but I imagine the second cutting was OK, probably pretty average in terms of yield and quality. But grass is pretty well burnt up now across a good portion of south-central Iowa, and cool season grasses are pretty well dormant.”