Farmers and contractors are rushing to spend up to $350,000 for hay-baling equipment to make the most of grain crops and strong demand for fodder as the drought rolls on.

Key points: Cereal hay price is 53 per cent higher than the five-year average, at $350 a tonne delivered to Victorian farms

Cereal hay price is 53 per cent higher than the five-year average, at $350 a tonne delivered to Victorian farms Farmers are struggling to source haymaking gear with Victorian dealerships selling out

Farmers are struggling to source haymaking gear with Victorian dealerships selling out Fodder Industry Association says the market has been strong for two years and is maturing

Machinery dealerships have doubled their normal sales, selling 30 big-square balers out of just three stores in western Victoria.

AgriMac Ballarat's territory sales manager Matt Edgar said they had none left.

"As far as I know, if you wanted one now you wouldn't be able to get one," Mr Edgar said.

"We sell Krone and Case IH, and as far as I know both are out of stock."

Straw bales

Farmers will be able to cut straw from their crops as soon as the grain is stripped off.

"A lot of people are going to start baling their straw when traditionally they might have burnt it. It is also just the price of hay … they are trying to cash in," he said.

Haymaking gear is on the move across western Victoria. ( Supplied: Coby Pearce )

The cereal hay price was 53 per cent higher than the five-year average at $350 a tonne delivered to Victoria's Goulburn and Murray Valleys, according to Dairy Australia.

It was averaging $450 a tonne delivered to Queensland's Darling Downs, which is 19 per cent higher than the five-year average.

Matthew Best at Central Machinery Service in Ballarat had fielded queries for high-speed, high-density balers, from the NSW Riverina and Victoria's Shepparton and Mildura regions with the farthest inquiry for a second-hand baler from Gunnedah in northern NSW.

He said most of the interest was from farmers making a quick assessment of their grain crops.

"[Buyers] are in a reactive phase rather than a planned forward approach," Mr Best said.

"What [buyers] are saying is that there is a lack of moisture in reserve and, in a lot of area, there's a lot of bulk in the crop, so it is worth their while to cut it for hay and invest in a little machinery."

Hay mowers are in high demand across western Victoria and southern New South Wales. ( Supplied: Chris Hunt )

Contract haymaking

The Frasers are farmers and hay contractors at Bo Peep, west of Ballarat, and also Woomelang, in the southern Mallee.

They expect to press up to 50,000 square bales this season, about 80 per cent on their own farm.

Adam Fraser said his family had invested heavily in new hay gear this season in preparation for above-average yields and extra contracting work.

"We've bought a mower deck for a self-propelled mower, a twin rotary rake, a couple of balers, and some tractors," he said.

"We've had a lot of enquiries and the list keeps growing. We look after our own customers and ourselves first and if we can help out others we will."

Mowing is in full swing across northern Victoria and southern New South Wales. ( Supplied: Tyler Nelson )

Mr Fraser agreed that farmers were struggling to source hay gear at the 11th hour.

"I even had a phone call from someone up at Griffith, wanting to buy one of my balers because they just can't find any," he said.

Maturing market

The Australian Fodder Industry Association (AFIA) said the fodder market had changed in the past two years, with hay becoming profitable and not just an opportunistic crop.

"It is still opportunistic to cut cereal crops for hay, particularly when there's frost damage or they look like they are not going to get [enough] grain," the AFIA's chief executive John McKew said.

"[But] people are starting to factor in that producing fodder is actually quite an economical and profitable crop and I think, in part, that is driving some increased demand for balers."

Mr McKew hoped this new approach to fodder production would deliver for those who invested in machinery, which would not sit idle when the drought breaks.

"That is always going to be a risk, but if we are seeing more people are going to factor fodder into their production planning … then those machines will certainly continue to get used."