Tri-County Hay & Straw Auction has expanded from the original Metcalfe, Monroe & Barren Counties to all of the West 8 counties as well as agents for KY State University.  The annual event has become somethings that both buyers and sellers of hay and straw have come to depend on.  The auction system of selling hay allows the supply and demand to accurately drive the market.   In fact, the Tri County Hay & Straw Auction allows all producers to get an idea of the value of their forage.  

 In the 8 year of the sale, thirty-one different consigners offered over 4035 rolls of dry grass or legume hay.  Three hundred fifty-five large square bales were placed in the auction, as well as, over 7850 small square bales.  Rolled balage, rolled straw, and small squares of straw rounded out the forage that was available.

 Prior to the start of the auction, an educational program was held to help folks interpret the forage nutritional analysis that was taken on each lot offered for sale.  In addition healthy snacks were offered, as well as, 2025 Food & Nutrition Calendars.

 The real question everyone seems to be asking is, “what did hay bring?”   An analysis of the sales data shows that for dry grass hay, stored inside, averaged 862 pounds per roll with an average price of $54.00 per roll.

 One very interesting fact that presented itself after looking at the sales data, was that the average roll of grass hay stored inside weighed 862 pounds and average weight of hay stored outside was 1190 pounds.  One can assume that the much of the 328 difference is simply water.  However the hay stored inside had no spoilage around the roll, where outside stored hay always has some spoilage.  So even though a rolled stored outside weights more, when you subtract the water and spoilage you get significantly less hay that livestock can eat.  Being able to share information with the data from the sale to back it up leads producers to make informed decision on care of forage once harvested.

 Livestock and forage producers in South Central Kentucky look forward to last Saturday in January when hay and straw go on the auction block at the Tri-County Hay & Straw Auction.  What started a way to simply get buyer and sellers together, has growing into an economic development opportunity and a teachable moment.