MarketsFarm — Producers are anxious to stock up on feed grains as weather across the Prairies has remained dry.
“We’ve been seeing buyers being quite aggressive [when] bidding on all feed grains,” explained Nelson Neumann of Agfinity in Lethbridge.
“Nobody wants to be caught without anything over the summer.”
With little precipitation in the forecast, especially in key producing areas in Saskatchewan, producers are stockpiling feed grains in preparation for a dry summer, the third in a row.
A recent crop report from the Saskatchewan government detailed hay and pastureland moisture levels rated 95 per cent short to very short across the province.
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That, combined with tight supplies from previous years, has driven feed prices higher.
Feed barley prices were in the range of $200-$280 per tonne, while feed wheat was between $260 and $270.
Oats were around the $4 per bushel mark, which Neumann noted was a higher price than has been observed for milling oats.
“And it’s been a decent year for milling oats,” he said.
As lack of rain has stressed crops and threatened growth, markets have been watching for significant rain. However, only scattered showers are forecast for the next week.
— Marlo Glass writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.
