Iowa allowing big hay, straw loads without permits

DES MOINES -- With Iowa livestock producers facing high prices and scorched pastures, the Iowa Department of Transportation has changed the rules for hauling oversize loads.

No oversize load permits will be required to haul hay or straw loads of up to 12 feet wide. Loads can go to 90,000 pounds for both hay and straw.

The price of hay, which has quadrupled in recent months, continued to climb Wednesday at the Fort Atkinson Hay Auction. A couple of loads of small square bales sold for $230 to $320 per ton.  Second crop 3-by-3 square bales sold for as much as $255 per ton.

A few more loads of lower quality hay were sold, which dropped the average for the sale about $5 per ton, but top quality hay is very much in demand, according to the Fort Atkinson Hay Auction web site.

Dyersville Sales Co. did not hold its weekly auction Wednesday due to the Dubuque County Fair. The auction is scheduled to resume on Wednesday, Aug. 1.

The USDA earlier this week released portions of acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program for haying and grazing to alleviate the shortage of forage for livestock. The first cutting of hay and straw from CRP acres is expected to arrive for auction in about three weeks, according to Dyersville Sales.