A Abstract of Value and Returns for the 2022-2023 Hay Crop
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As we transition to spring within the coming months, we are going to naturally shift gears and start enthusiastic about and getting ready for 2023 hay manufacturing. It’s tough to overstate how necessary it’s for us to have improved forage and hay manufacturing within the Southeast. We hope it will likely be completely different than final yr. In 2022, most Southern states skilled some extent of drought. Enter costs for agricultural chemical compounds, gasoline, supplemental feed, and labor have been all at their highest in current reminiscence. Consequently, hay manufacturing declined by 16%, 13%, and 20% in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Kentucky, respectively.
A part of planning for this yr’s hay crop is re-examining prices and breakeven costs. This text makes use of outcomes from the 2022 Arkansas Hay Verification Program to look at hay manufacturing prices in Arkansas. The Arkansas Hay Verification Program (AHVP) is a collaborative effort between Arkansas forage producers, county Extension brokers, and state Extension Specialists. Eight hay fields from seven farms participated within the 2022 AHVP and have been all situated within the Ozark district. The full acreage taking part in 2022 AHVP was 252.5 acres or 36.1 acres per subject. Hay manufacturing from the 2022 AHVP totaled 826.2 tons or 3.27 tons per acre. The estimated worth of manufacturing from the 2022 AHVP totaled $127,239.42.
Desk 1 under experiences abstract data for working prices, whole specified prices, and breakeven costs. Working prices usually embody herbicides, fertilizers, pesticides, gasoline, customized fee utility, and labor. Hay hauling was assumed to be a separate farm enterprise. Mounted prices embody depreciation, curiosity, and taxes and housing prices on tractors and gear. Complete specified prices equal working prices plus fastened prices. Breakeven costs are whole specified prices divided by per acre manufacturing.
Working prices averaged $375.14/acre with a variety of $192.96/acre – $577.50/acre. Amongst all gadgets, fertilizer represented the biggest proportion of working prices. Farms within the 2022 AHVP averaged $244.43/acre on fertilizer (together with poultry litter), with a variety of $92.00/acre – $428.15/acre. Larger fertilizer bills have been positively correlated with per-acre hay yields. A adverse correlation was noticed between fertilizer bills and breakeven hay costs. Realized yield positive factors offset the upper prices from making use of fertilizer.
Breakeven costs are calculated by dividing whole specified prices by manufacturing per acre (tons/acre). Notice breakeven refers back to the hay worth the place income equals prices. The typical breakeven worth of hay amongst farms within the 2022 AHVP was $111.88/ton. Breakeven costs ranged from $82.72/ton to $160.99/ton. It’s endorsed that farms get correct estimates for bale weights and worth hay on a per-ton foundation. Bales will not be a normal unit of measurement and don’t precisely mirror the worth of manufacturing when priced on that foundation.
Notice: These estimates mirror abstract knowledge from eight farms in Arkansas that won’t essentially mirror anybody farm’s state of affairs.
