![The big wet down the east coast, particularly in prime hay producing regions in Victoria, will mean quality fodder will be at a premium across Australia this season. Photo: Gregor Heard. The big wet down the east coast, particularly in prime hay producing regions in Victoria, will mean quality fodder will be at a premium across Australia this season. Photo: Gregor Heard.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/5Q2j7ezUfQBfUJsaqK3gfB/45d19922-5c39-4096-b83f-cfcd092e1e2c.JPG/r0_243_4752_2925_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
AUSTRALIAN fodder industry officials are warning customers of a massive downturn in hay production and quality as a result of the flooding in eastern Australia.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
The downturn in production will be felt across all sectors, including the protein and cereal hay markets, along with domestic and export customers.
Paula Fitzgerald, chief executive of the Australian Fodder Industry Association, said her organisation was still trying to fully assess the situation after torrential rain in key fodder growing regions over the past fortnight but warned it was likely to be bad news on both the quality and quantity fronts.
Ms Fitzgerald said the assumption was that protein hay would be in high demand with vetch hay cut prior to the rain at its optimum cutting time now too wet to be baled and uncut crops now past the period they can be made into quality fodder.
Russell Hocking, who farms between Bendigo and Echuca in a major hay producing region, said few vetch hay paddocks had been cut due to the conditions.
"It will probably be past the point of cutting for the most part, especially with the conditions and the forecast, we're also seeing quite a bit of vetch die due to waterlogging," Mr Hocking said.
"The silver lining is that the crop has done its bit for the crop rotation putting nitrogen back into the soil but it is very disappointing to lose the hay component that can generate an income," he said.
Mr Hocking said producers of both legume and cereal hay were assessing their options but most felt they would be unlikely to attempt to bale hay.
"Some are considering whether they can put livestock in and try and generate some returns on the paddock that way, but that is reliant on whether you have the fencing and water infrastructure to run livestock," he said.
"Everyone is just trying to get the most out of a pretty tough situation at present."
Justin Everitt, NSW Farmers grains committee chairman, Howlong, southern NSW, said he had been hoping to put together a fodder reserve for future seasons with good feed growth during the winter and early spring but said these hopes had been dashed by the ongoing wet.
"There is no way to get out there to cut even if we wanted to, the best case scenario will be for people to get some livestock out on paddocks to finish if they can, but that obviously requires a fair bit of management and time may be at a premium with a tricky harvest on the horizon," Mr Everitt said.
Brett Hosking, GrainGrowers chairman, said he expected oaten hay production to be well down, especially in industry heartlands such as north central Victoria.
"It is just too wet and too late in the season to consider cutting anything, it would not cure properly at present and by the time it did dry out you've missed the window," Mr Hosking said.
"Instead people may look to graze in certain instances or take the oats through to grain, especially if they have a dual purpose variety suitable for use as grain," he said.
Mr Hosking said nationally there would still be quality hay produced in Western Australia but said while this could service export customers it was likely to be too expensive to bring around to key domestic markets on the east coast.
![Australian Fodder Industry Association chief executive Paula Fitzgerald says the nation's fodder crop will be down in terms of quantity and quality this year after flooding down the east coast.
Australian Fodder Industry Association chief executive Paula Fitzgerald says the nation's fodder crop will be down in terms of quantity and quality this year after flooding down the east coast.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/5Q2j7ezUfQBfUJsaqK3gfB/63b0d8f4-2c8b-4a84-8923-a12c5cee7fce.jpeg/r0_177_1768_1633_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
He said South Australia had also been looking good but heavy rain over the past week, much of it on hay crops in windrows, was likely to be damaging.
Josh Green, Elite Fodder, Horsham, said it was likely to be a challenging year sourcing product.
"There really isn't anywhere through south-eastern Australia looking particularly good, there may be isolated pockets that have missed the bulk of the rain but overall there is going to be some damage everywhere," Mr Green said.
"A lot of people will not cut, while other dedicated hay producers will probably cut something knowing the quality is not likely to be overly flash," he said.
"We'll also be keeping a closer eye on those later districts in south-western Victoria and south-east South Australia where there is still time to cut if the weather improves."
Mr Hosking said the lack of fodder would force a change in feeding patterns.
"You'd expect operations may have to look at grain replacing fodder in some instances, perhaps making use of the likely big volumes of feed grain around."
Ms Fitzgerald also said demand may not be as high in some regions where livestock producers have high volumes of their own feed in paddocks.