There have been some questions recently about how to price Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) hay.
CRP is a federally funded voluntary program that contracts with agricultural producers so that environmentally sensitive agricultural land is not farmed or ranched. Participants establish long-term, resource conserving plant species, such as approved grasses or trees known as “covers.”
There are two ways to hay CRP land, either via emergency authorization or a non-emergency haying and grazing option. In general, non-emergency haying may be done every two years, but may reduce annual CRP government payments.
After we clear the hurdle of harvesting CRP land for hay, the next question to arise is how to price the hay either for your own use or for sale. In this case, knowing the quality of hay can help producers get a better idea of the forage market value. Hay quality can affect the bottom line and/or have negative consequences for herd health and fertility.
Once a producer has an idea of the quality of forage there are multiple sources to get an idea of going rates for your hay, such as hay auctions (broken down by region and type of hay), as well as the USDA weekly hay report.
If you are feeding your hay to your cattle, the Nebraska farm custom rates report at cap.unl.edu calculates the costs of haying. The value of standing forage can be evaluated using the UNL Standing Forage Excel Tool at cap.unl.edu/forage.
Finally, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator (found most easily by Googling “Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator”) can help calculate costs within a ration. Knowing the forage quality is helpful whether you are feeding your own livestock or planning to sell it. — Shannon Sand, Nebraska Extension educator
