Producers to dole out more 'green' for pasture
Wheat, ryegrass, fertilizer costs up

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

October 2, 2003 -- Producers wanting a green, grazing pasture for their livestock this winter should be ready to lay extra "green" on the table.

Costs for ryegrass seed and ryegrass-wheat mixtures, planted this time of year for winter pasture, are up from last year amounts.

"Wheat seed is the highest we have ever seen," according to representatives from East Texas Seed and BWI in Texarkana.

Reasons cited for the increased wheat price were the shortage of wheat in the United States, the Ukraine, and United Kingdom, and new laws concerning "variety not stated" wheat which has caused some wheat not to be available for sale.

"The wheat we use in Texas comes from Arkansas and Arkansas doesn't have any," was the response from the BWI representative on Sept. 25.

Buyers of Elbon rye are also seeing higher prices, mainly due to drought conditions in the Southeast for the last four years. Due to these conditions, there is a bigger demand for the commodity, which is mostly grown in the Midwest.

Another problem with this year's winter pasture mix is ryegrass prices are higher due to the harvest yields for the crop, grown in Oregon, were low.

"They had a higher than usual rainfall and water stood in the fields, causing the ryegrass to come off at different times," said Mark Thomas, a Barenburg (a seed distributor) representative, on Sept. 25.

"The crop was a 20 percent failure. All the crops in Oregon were affected by the rainfall," Thomas added.

With 250 to 300 million pounds of annual ryegrass seed produced each year, approximately one-half of that goes to the southern part of the United States in the fall. Half of the half goes to Texas, and most is planted east of I-35, according to Thomas.

Ryegrass seed is running from $16 to $23 at some East Texas feed stores.

Jim Ratzlaff, at the Wood County Farmers Co-op, said he believes "brokers and distributors at the warehouses jacked the price up.

"Last year we had a short crop but this year the crop was good. Prices are higher and there has to be only one reason. I'm not going to say prices are not justified," Ratzlaff added.

Thomas refuted the notion of price gouging and simply said, "It's a supply/demand issue."

"Prices have topped for ryegrass. This is as high as it is going," Thomas added.

But Ratzlaff said when the current on-hand ryegrass supply is depleted, his next shipment will be cost even more.

Even though the price may be higher, Thomas stated the cost of planting ryegrass per acre is still very affordable.

"The price of seed will not be the determining factor for the producer, but fertilizer and fuel will be. You are going to spend more money on fertilizer and fuel than on the seed," Thomas said.

Fertilizer and fuel costs are being controlled by natural gas prices, and according to an East Texas fertilizer company representative: "Don't look for prices to drop."

Since fertilizer is made up of part nitrogen, and nitrogen is derived from natural gases, it would explain cost.

"My fertilizer prices are 30 to 40 percent higher than normal, but they have been high all year," the representative said.

The outlook: Be prepared to spend a little more this year, than last year, to get the winter pasture going.