AS FARMERS enter the 2014 window for forage oats sowing, a seed shortage looks set to dictate how much goes in, especially if good rain arrives.
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The dry spring/summer has also meant graziers have no spare summer grass and will be relying on rain heading into autumn to generate stock feed.
Sellers have reported inquiry starting to flow in as growers try to secure seed for when it does rain.
The dry finish to last year plus late frosts in some areas significantly reduced the amount of seed produced, while others who have had oats in storage have also had to weigh up feeding it to livestock.
Tamworth Rural senior agronomist Russell Ison said 200 tonnes of oats offered on the weekend made $550 a tonne, and sold in the space of an hour.
"It wasn't the specs we were after - it was basically feed oats," he said.
His phone was running hot with farmers inquiring about price and availability - the shortage of seed being forefront in their minds.
Tamworth Rural usually would stock about 150t, but only had 75t in the pipeline, some of which was coming from as far as South Australia.
Prices, meanwhile, remained in the $1700/t to $1800/t range.
Elders Tamworth merchandise manager Clint Holcombe had already sold the 30t Elders Tamworth managed to get its hands on.
He said they would normaly stock about 100t of seed and had one grower alone for whom he was trying to fill another 30t order.
Seed Distributors area sales manager Shannon Cummings said they had a 24-hour turnover for farmers to confirm they would take an order.
He said demand was greatest in northern NSW where it was driest, but inquiry was growing in the south.
"The smart farmers are the ones that are going to their merchandise stores or agronomists, placing orders and taking staggered deliveries," he said.
Mr Cummings said supply ran dry early last year and he expected the same would happen again, especially if a break in the season arrived.
Principal grain trader and director of Quirindi Grain and Produce, John Webster, said Coolabah was scarce, but he expected to find Yarran, Bimble and Echidna varieties in the Riverina.
"They will come from the south because there's none in Queensland," he said.
- ANDREW NORRIS
Andrew Norris
Editor of The Land.
Editor of The Land.
