National Ag Week March 19-23, 2018

In honor of National Ag Week this week, I’d like to review a few facts about agriculture in this great state. Nebraska ranks 1^st in the nation on all cattle on feed, commercial red meat production and commercial cattle slaughter.  Second in the nation on all hay production which in 2017 was 6.1 million tons.  Fourth in the nation on Alfalfa hay production which in 2017 was 3.2 million acres. There are nearly 23 million acres of rangeland and pastureland in Nebraska. And 1 in 4 jobs in Nebraska is related to agriculture. Agriculture in Nebraska is imperative to the economy and forages are a huge contributing factor.

The Nebraska Alfalfa Marketing Association dba Independent Forage Growers supports the forage industry and it’s producers through promotion, production and marketing education and acts as a voice at the national level on issues such as research funding and other issues related to forages.

Calls continue to come in on the 800# and hits on www.nebraska-alfalfa.com and www.IndependentForageGrowers.com keep coming.  Most interest is for feedlot hay old or new crop and a few dairies are beginning to inquire about new crop pricing.

Prices for Large and medium squares of dairy quality alfalfa are at $150-200.  Large rounds of alfalfa $85-120, some limited reports of $135-150.  Grass hay in large rounds is at $80-100.  Cornstalk large round bales $55-65.  These prices are all priced per ton at the stack and are actual sales reported by members of the Independent Forage Growers.