As fodder supplies tighten dramatically and hay prices soar, the national body overseeing the industry, Australian Fodder Industry Association, wants a clearer picture of fodder stocks from producers with a call for a national fodder database.
Trucks loaded with hay are leaving Victoria for NSW by the half-hour, but there is little knowledge on what fodder stocks remain. NSW and south-east Queensland have basically run out of commercial supplies and most fodder is being brought in from Victoria and South Australia. It’s believed some big growers in Victoria are holding back fodder while watching the market.
Fodder prices have lifted dramatically in the past month and are set to rise again by the end of June. According to Dubbo Pet and Stockfeeds’ Chris O’Donnell, small bale lucerne had jumped up in price by 25 per cent in the last six weeks. A 20kg bale was selling for about $20.80 at the moment, and this could jump to $25 by the end of June, Mr O’Donnell said. “We are sourcing it okay, but it is tight. So you think that perhaps they are not releasing all of it at the moment. We still have three months of winter to get through.”
It’s possible to see up to 30 trucks full of hay heading up the Newell Highway every two hours.
The Thoroughbred industry is also struggling to find feed. There are no small bales left in the Hunter Valley and many owners have been hit with a “drought hay subsidy” on their horses. If there was no rain until August, the horse industry may face critical shortages of feed.
Australian Fodder Industry Association chief executive John McKew said it was well overdue for a national data base to be constructed on fodder supplies.
“We’re looking at a major project in the next 12 months to do more data processing and get a more robust profile of the industry, so we are better equipped to deal with times like this when supply is tightening. This is a project we have started to look at, a regular snapshot on both stocks and production intentions around the fodder industry,” Mr McKew said.
“We’d start by doing a survey of our members and weigh that across states and regions. Do it on an annual basis, build up a continuum of data, and get a much more accurate picture of carryover stock and growing intentions. It would be along similar lines to what Dairy Australia does with its dairy farmer survey, the number of hectares planned, varieties, all of those kind of aspects and build up a strong picture of where the industry is. The sort of information that will be very useful from any time from a domestic and export perspective. Certainly people, including banks, are interested in this data”.
At the moment even Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) or the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) do not collect data on fodder production. Suppliers to the fodder industry, including those who manufacture ties and harvesters, have little idea on how to forecast future sales or requirements.
“We have a huge knowledge gap in what potential supply looks like and what it may look like say in five years time,” Mr McKew said. Organisations such as the Grains Research and Development Corporation, Dairy Australia and Meat and Livestock Australia and lot feeders would be very interested in this data.
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John Ellicott
journalist and author
journalist and author
