On-farm hay stocks going into the hay making season are down this year (and last year) over previous years and production in 2022 and 2023 were also down. Except for early in the season, this past week provided some of the first good windows for hay making. Hopefully going forward we will have good opportunities for harvesting hay and good moisture to keep the hay growing. Fertilizer prices are still higher than long term averages, but remember that hay takes large quantities of fertilizer off your fields. If your soil test does not show high levels of nutrients then it is important that you are adding the fertilizer back to your hay fields. The safest recommendation is to fertilize to soil test recommendations. Special thanks to David Knopf with the National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) for providing this information. Go to https://www.nass.usda.gov/ for more information on hay production statistics in Kentucky and around the country and data on all agricultural production.