# Hay Prices!! OUCH



## O So (Jun 25, 2011)

My feed store that had that great hay mid winter last year, finally got some of it back in. So we went down today to buy 10 bales. Got there and looked at it and it wasn't as nice as the last stuff. I am guessing because of what cutting it is now compared to what it was when I last bought it. I still wanted the 10 bales anyway because I liked where they get it from.

After checking it out I went back in and told the guy I wanted 10 bales. So he rung me up and gave me a total! I about fell on the floor! Last time I bought hay (better quality) from him it was about 15 bucks a bale. Now it is 21.60 dollars a bale, and not even as good of quality then the other stuff!




216.00 later I was on my way home with my gold! LOL Good thing this should last me at leas 5 months. So it works out to be about 10 dollars a week.

I figure I will wait a few months and check back with them to see if they have any of that better stuff I got back in mid winter. I don't mind paying 21 bucks a bale for that stuff, it was good stuff. Watch, by then it will probably be 30 bucks a bale!.





The guy said it is a bad year for hay. I was thinking, no kidding! This stuff is not that great and costs a fortune!





I did figure out that I should be able to keep about 18 to 20 bales on hand. We can stack 12 bales under the carport and another 6 or so in the barn area.


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## Genie (Jun 25, 2011)

What size are these bales?


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## Magic (Jun 25, 2011)

It's supposed to be an expensive year for hay here too, because of the floods that have covered so many hay fields in water for weeks on end, and then it rained so much so late into the year that almost no one could cut first crop until just three days ago.



Hay will likely be twice the price it was last year. OUCH is right!


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## weerunner (Jun 25, 2011)

I'd also liketo know the size of these bales. How can you feed two minis hay for 6 months on 10 bales of hay. Here a bale weighs 50 pounds and would last my 10 minis 1 day. You must be talking about those great big rectangle bales that weigh 200 lbs.

amanda


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## O So (Jun 25, 2011)

Here's my stacks!



I am going to ad a half pallet where that bale is leaning on the other pile. Then I can stack 4 or 5 more bales there.






Here is a closer pic of one of the bales. Looking from the front it is 16" tall, 2 foot wide, and 4 foot long. Can't say how much it weights, but I can somewhat handle them buy myself. Although most of the handling is by using leverage more then picking it up, although I can pick it up but not for long!






My guy's only weigh 145 - 150 lbs. O So may way a little more. He weighed 147 lbs when he was gelded back in the fall of this year. He is a little more chubby now then back then but I doubt he is to much more heavier, maybe 180 or so if that. My vet told me he only wanted me to feed O So about a pound and a half a DAY!! That is not much hay at all. So I have been pretty much free feeding them because that is what the majority here said I should do. I do weigh the hay I feed. They get 4 feedings and the feedings weigh a pound each. There is always hay left in the feeders when I feed the next batch. I also periodically throw about a pound or so out in the yard, extra. I spread it all over so they can get a grazing atmosphere out of it. I do this maybe 3 or so time a week. Some times more, just depends on how busy I am. They also get to graze in the new arena area too. That is only once or maybe twice a week though for about an hour.

So that means they are getting a little over 4 lbs of hay a day. I have always heard that one should feed 1 and a half to 2 percent of their body weight. If that was the case ( unless I did my math wrong) they should only be getting about a pound and a half to 2 pounds a day, right? That would mean my hay would last me more like a year if I only fed that much a day!





O So is 28 inches tall and Pippin is 27 inches.

I actually think O So is getting to much hay now. He is looking pretty plump. Specially in his hip area ( the area just before his back legs, can't remember the term for that spot).

The 5 month thing is an estimate anyway. The last time I actually paid attention to how long a bale lasted me, it was roughly two weeks. So that is a give or take number, just depends on how heavy the hay weighs to how much is actually in a pound. If that made since? It should definitely last me 4 months for sure!


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## O So (Jun 25, 2011)

Castle Rock Miniatures said:


> I didn't look to see if you show where you're from, but if you have a TSC company near you, you might check there.
> 
> I have been purchasing the most beautiful Canadian compressed Alfalfa bales from them at about $12.00 since last fall. For a non-compressed (light) bales of Alfalfa at the Purina Feed Store I was paying over $18.00 a bale, and having to feed multiple bales to keep everyone chewing.
> 
> ...



I am in Sacramento CA. I think the closest TSC is about 40 miles from me. I will have to make a drive over there one day and check them out. Hopefully I can refrain from buying to much other stuff with there! LOL


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## Genie (Jun 25, 2011)

They look like our bales that weigh about 50 pounds.

We usually pay around 3.00 a bale for a timothy alfalfa mix. We don't have our hay yet due to the rain that won't stop for long enough to do the job.

Hopefully next week. No wonder you say "ouch"....that's a lot to pay.


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## ~Lisa~ (Jun 25, 2011)

When I was in So Cal..the bales were 3 strand generally around 100-120 lbs a bale


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## iowa (Jun 25, 2011)

Here in Iowa I will have to pay $5.00 for a 50-60 lb bale of alfalfa, delivered and stacked in the barn. It is up from $4.00 a bale because corn is $6.00 to $7.00 a bushel and they had to raise the hay prices to keep from taking the hay field and turning it in to a corn field. This is what the hay/corn farmer told me anyway. Also we are having major flooding along the Missouri River and it is taking land out of production, some of which was alfalfa. I also usually feed some grass round bales, but because a terrific wind or small tornado destroyed my hay barn last week, I will have to switch to bales. They run about $3.50 per bale. I know my hay is not expensive compared to many parts of the country. Guess that's a good reason to live in the Midwest!


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## bluerogue (Jun 25, 2011)

Bales here in California are usually 100 pounds or so. I got hay this morning, and we paid $11 a bale, but we buy straight from the grower. It's a lovely mostly alfalfa and grass mix. My mares were very happy to see us stacking it!


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## bevann (Jun 25, 2011)

From what I can see in your photos it looks to be very nice. My take on hay is that I would rather pay more for good stuff they will finish than buy cheaper hay that they won't clean up.Then I have to clean up the leftovers , more time for me and more cost to throw it away.We planted a new hay field this year and have no rain so I will be buying hay.got about 30 bales last week of really nice grass for $5.50 a bale weighs about 40-50 lbs.Hoping my supplier about 60 miles away will have nice 2nd cutting Blue grass/alfalfa mix for me.1st cutting was too stemmy for me.


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## Sandy B (Jun 25, 2011)

If you are buying them from a local Sacramento feed store and they are 3 string bales, they are usually about 100-115+ pounds each (bale). It looks to me like you bought a very nice Orchard Grass Hay. I just checked hay prices today in Auburn at Echo Valley while I was there buying salt & mineral blocks and they have a beautiful Meadow Grass hay averaging 110#'s for $15.99 a bale. They also have nice 110-115# alfalfa for $17.99 a bale. If you weigh your truck or trailer, you will get ton price on the hay. The minimum you save on 6 bales or more in .50 cents. I have weighed and saved up to $2.00 a bale recently on Orchard & Alfalfa from there. Also, Ross Hay Ranch(in Lincoln) has nice alfalfa for $12.00 a bale, they are about 105-110 pounds each. He also has a 4 way forage hay for $11 a bale. Douglas Ranch in Roseville always has great hay prices too. I hear River Valley Feed in Rio Linda also is competitive. I would price shop!


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## lucky seven (Jun 25, 2011)

We pay about $4.50 for a bale the size of yours. We get about 10 at a time to put in an amish shed. I feed one mini and one full size horse. It sure is easier to feed the little guy.


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## Marsha Cassada (Jun 25, 2011)

Between flood and drought, is anyone having a "normal" hay year so far???


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## O So (Jun 25, 2011)

Sandy B said:


> If you are buying them from a local Sacramento feed store and they are 3 string bales, they are usually about 100-115+ pounds each (bale). It looks to me like you bought a very nice Orchard Grass Hay. I just checked hay prices today in Auburn at Echo Valley while I was there buying salt & mineral blocks and they have a beautiful Meadow Grass hay averaging 110#'s for $15.99 a bale. They also have nice 110-115# alfalfa for $17.99 a bale. If you weigh your truck or trailer, you will get ton price on the hay. The minimum you save on 6 bales or more in .50 cents. I have weighed and saved up to $2.00 a bale recently on Orchard & Alfalfa from there. Also, Ross Hay Ranch(in Lincoln) has nice alfalfa for $12.00 a bale, they are about 105-110 pounds each. He also has a 4 way forage hay for $11 a bale. Douglas Ranch in Roseville always has great hay prices too. I hear River Valley Feed in Rio Linda also is competitive. I would price shop!



Yah, I bought it at Elverta Feed. I didn't price it because I didn't realize it was that much until he told me the total. LOL I wanted to buy from him because I really loved his hay he had before. He gets it from the Tuly (sp) Lake area.

The hay is nice hay, but I think it must be first cutting. It has the tops of the orchard grass and bigger stems. The stuff I bought last fall was smaller stemmed and had no orchard hay tops. (The little seed or flower things.) It is alfalfa and orchard grass mix.

I can't wait till he gets a second cutting hay, I want to see if it is the same as last fall. I will probably buy at least 15 or more bales of that. Even if I have to stack it higher or find another location to store some.

What is the 4 way forage hay? I was thinking of feeding the orchard/alfalfa mixed hay for their main feeds, and then use just plain grass hay for spreading out in the yards for the grazing atmosphere. I was thinking they wouldn't gain much weight that way. Would this 4 way forage hay work for something like that? Course, I could be just faking myself out by thinking they won't gain weight if I feed just a grass hay for grazing? LOL


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## chandab (Jun 25, 2011)

Marsha Cassada said:


> Between flood and drought, is anyone having a "normal" hay year so far???


I'll let you know when we try to start harvesting. So far, spring has been pretty wet, but we are just now starting to creep up on haying season; we start swathing sometime this upcoming week. [unless it rains again.]


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## kaykay (Jun 25, 2011)

I would have a heart attack if I paid that and a whole lot less horses lol.

We pay 3.00 for alfalfa grass mix that are about 50 to 60 lbs each


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## GrullaBlue (Jun 25, 2011)

It doesn't say where you're located, and I suppose location can mean a lot, but in my Midwest mind, there's no way in [email protected]*(&$@! I'd pay that kinda money if I didn't have to!! Have you looked into private growers vs. the feed store? Of course the feed store is making money on that hay that they paid less for...that's how they make their money.

We grow our own hay, and I sell extra that we'll have, same size bales as it looks like yours are, for $3 per bale. I, too, wondered how that little hay could last you so long, but I've seen pictures of Oso...and he's definitely not hurting for food! LOL I imagine they graze in there too...and thought you also gave them a complete feed...so the hay is a bonus if I remember right.

To the person who asked, I'm in S. WI and we have already had 1st crop off the ground for nearly three weeks...with 2nd crop already growing well. Looking like it's could be a decent hay crop for us this year...and unless we get a nasty drought, we could get 4 crops of our fields this year...

What state are you in? I just don't see how they can get by charging so darn much!!


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## chandab (Jun 25, 2011)

It still gets me, that in most other areas people pay for hay by the bale; I buy it by the ton from the grower, feed stores don't carry hay around here (heck, I barely have a feed store, I get feed at the grain elevator and also order from a ranch supply store that delivers monthly to my area). I don't know what it'll be this year, but last year I paid $100/ton for roughly 70# bales of grass/alfalfa mix, so I think it comes out to about $3.50/bale; and this spring I bought two round bales almost straight grass from a neighbor at $75/ton (1300# bales, so roughly $50/bale). With the extremely wet spring, many hay fields are flooded, so what hay is available, I'm sure will be very expensive (at least compared to normal for us).


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## mydaddysjag (Jun 25, 2011)

Im always so impressed when I see that people can buy hay in stores. Here you go straight to the farm to get it, and its usually cheaper if you go the day they bale and either take it out of the field or off of the wagon. The bad part is having to find somewhere to store a winters worth of hay if you have just one or two horses and a small area. The big advantage is I pay anywhere between $2.75 for grass to $5 for alfalfa in 50lb bales.


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## O So (Jun 25, 2011)

GrullaBlue said:


> It doesn't say where you're located, and I suppose location can mean a lot, but in my Midwest mind, there's no way in [email protected]*(&$@! I'd pay that kinda money if I didn't have to!! Have you looked into private growers vs. the feed store? Of course the feed store is making money on that hay that they paid less for...that's how they make their money.
> 
> We grow our own hay, and I sell extra that we'll have, same size bales as it looks like yours are, for $3 per bale. I, too, wondered how that little hay could last you so long, but I've seen pictures of Oso...and he's definitely not hurting for food! LOL I imagine they graze in there too...and thought you also gave them a complete feed...so the hay is a bonus if I remember right.
> 
> ...



I am in Sacramento CA. Even our local stables buy their hay from the feed stores. I really don't know of any growers around here except for one but he is an alfalfa only grower. I don't know how much a ton of hay is, by bales, but I do know I can't store a whole lot of it. I bought 10 bales today and with that I can kind of tell that I will probably be able to store about 20 bales maximum. Some people say that the growers really don't like to mess with the smaller scale people.

I will probably shop around the next time I need hay, but only if Elverta Feed doesn't have that nice stuff like they had before. I will gladly pay 20 bucks a bale for that stuff. It was that good!!

When I first started buying hay it was about 11 dollars a bale. That is the cheapest I have got it for.

Pippin was on a complete feed when I first got him. I have converted him over to what I was feeding O So. That is alfalfa/orchard grass hay and Strategy. Now I have them on the mix hay and the Purina Mini feed. They only get to graze once or twice a week for about an hour give or take. For the most part they are on dry lot. I would have to have them in to small of a living area to try to grow grass in 2 yards, so I only grow it in the arena side of the property. If I let them graze in the arena side everyday, they would have it gone in a matter of weeks. Funny thing is, I see people with big horses in smaller lots then mine, but yet I feel sorry for my guys to have to have dry lots to live on. If I could just win the lottery I could move to a bigger property! Guess I should start playing it!


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## MindyLee (Jun 26, 2011)

:shocked



HOLY MOLEY!!! $216 for 10 bales!

I just paid $460 for 230 bales!

I love my minis and have 9 at this point, but if I had to pay that, Im sorry but I would'nt have any at that point. And for that reason alone, I will NEVER EVER move south! I may hate Michigan and its weather, BUT at least I can aford to live here and have all my critters and do it with a part time job AND pay 1/2 the bills! Plus I am a mini farrier off the side.

Wow I give all of you who pay high prices to have your little fur babies 2 thumbs up! Cause I know I could'nt! PLUS many of you also show, send horses to trainners, and have other hobbys that cost $$$ Too!

WOW WOW WOW


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## bluerogue (Jun 26, 2011)

O So, I buy small scale from a grower. It is good quality hay. We meet him in East Nicolaus to pick up the hay. It was $11 a bale this morning, but we got the alfalfa, which had some grass mixed in. He has real nice tri-forage, as well. Let me know if you want his name and number. When I have to buy hay from a feed store, I buy from River Valley. I get my grain there, and have been buying from them for 8 years now.


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## Sandy B (Jun 26, 2011)

O So said:


> Yah, I bought it at Elverta Feed. I didn't price it because I didn't realize it was that much until he told me the total. LOL I wanted to buy from him because I really loved his hay he had before. He gets it from the Tuly (sp) Lake area.
> 
> The hay is nice hay, but I think it must be first cutting. It has the tops of the orchard grass and bigger stems. The stuff I bought last fall was smaller stemmed and had no orchard hay tops. (The little seed or flower things.) It is alfalfa and orchard grass mix.
> 
> ...



The 4 way is two different types of oat, barley & wheat. Too stemy for the minis in my opinion. It smelled good and was pretty but I never had much luck feeding this kind of hay, just too much waste and they seem to get hay bellies. Depending on what you are using your minis for, a straight orchard grass would be plenty of nutrition for them, you may even want to feed a rye or meadow. I look for the fine stem stuff. What is nice about Meadow is that it is low calories and low sugar, so you can feed more and they will not think they are starving. I have all my minis on it except the mare with a foal at her side. She gets a 1/2 pound of Elk Grove Milling Stable Mix. All my minis get anywhere from 3/4 to a pound of the Purina Mini Horse & Pony Feed (grain). That gives them the vitamins they need and omegas for a shiny healthy coat. Echo Valley has gorgeous Meadow Grass right now. I actually have started my full sized horses on it once a day too. The big horses get alfalfa in the am though but used to get Orchard at night. However, they look like porky pigs so I switched them to the Meadow. They do not "love" it as much as the Orchard but they clean it up by morning. I put the hay in a slow feeder hay bag and then there is no waste either. If you have any other questions, I am happy to help you.


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## Sandy B (Jun 26, 2011)

We also buy from a hay grower when we can. Right now their hay prices are not the greatest either. Last year at this time we were paying $7 for alfalfa and $8 for Orchard. Beautiful hay from the grower/broker. It might be the same guy we buy from in East Nicolaus that Bluerogue buys from. His name is Dave Correia. Its just a bit of a drive for us, about 45 minutes. But he always has gorgeous hay! Also, if you keep an eye on Sacramento Craigslist you will see some growers selling hay. It certainly is not what 2010 prices were, almost double. I go through about about 10-12 bales a week of 100+ pound 3 string bales. This does not include grain and supplements. It is costing a fortune to feed my horses and I feed them extremely well, each horse is fed as an individual and according to their needs and work load. It is touch right now and hay prices are at their cheapest right now I am told. I wish I had the money to buy a truckload but do not have the storage. The most I can store is about 4-5 ton at a time.


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## bluerogue (Jun 26, 2011)

We buy from Eric Roloff, Sandy. We end up getting hay every 3 weeks or so. I can only store about 16 bales at a time. I would love to be able to store more, but we just don't have the storage space. All our horses are fat and shiny (save the older rescued mare, who is getting there, and our even older founder mare with bad teeth. I'm afraid we're coming to the end of the road with her... she's started dropping weight now, despite everything I put in front of her. But they aren't skinny, just not as fleshy as I tend to keep everyone- so skinny for me, but anyone else would say they are at a good weight).

The pic is the majority of my mare herd (the founder mare isn't in it, or she's hiding behind someone- she's under 28" on a tall day, and everyone else towers over her, so she's easy to miss sometimes). It's pretty easy to see how fleshy they are. This is on a hay only diet. The three black mares had just been put in with the others, as we had just picked them up that day from my friends farm.

One of those black mares is the thinner rescue mare, she was rescued late last fall in a very low body condition- near skin and bones (I want to say in mid- November). She looks great now though! Brie is one of the mares Michelle at Wesco Farms rescued. One of the other black mares came from that same farm, and was rescued a month after Brie (but Baroness was in much better condition when rescued). Brie is actually a very, very dark bay, but in pictures it's really hard to tell my 3 dark girls apart! Heck, in person it's hard to tell Gemini and Baroness apart! Watch out matched pairs classes! You know you have a matched pair when the owner and the breeder have trouble telling them apart!


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## jsites (Jun 26, 2011)

Wow reading these posts makes me feel fortunate! I could never in a million years imagine paying $10-$20 a bale for hay.

I'm in WV and we make our own hay. It's hard work but well worth it. We have more hay this year then we've ever had. Our barn is full so we are selling some to make room for a second cutting. Sold the hay we had left from last year for $1.50 a bale and this years hay for $2.50 a bale. They are normal 50-60 pound square bales.


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## Jill (Jun 26, 2011)

We've been lucky the past couple of years, but it's not something we'd benefit from w/o Harvey (my husband's) hard work. He's been able to pick hay bales out of the fields of a couple of farmer's before they pick it up very cheaply. He's also helped fix trucks and pitched in with other mechanical work that he actually enjoys. That has enabled us to pick up 100's of bales for less than 1/2 the price we would regularly pay... and he and I are both extremely picky about the hay we feed to our minis.


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## wingnut (Jun 26, 2011)

$21.60 a bale?????? Egads.

We just found a new supplier who had over sized square bales (60? 70? pounds?....I can barely lift them at all) and I paid $5. It's a alfalfa/grass mix hay. Even for first cutting this stuff is really nice.

At $20+ a bale, I'm not sure how long I could keep my horses at that price.


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## chandab (Jun 26, 2011)

O So said:


> I am in Sacramento CA. I don't know how much a ton of hay is, by bales, but I do know I can't store a whole lot of it. I bought 10 bales today and with that I can kind of tell that I will probably be able to store about 20 bales maximum. Some people say that the growers really don't like to mess with the smaller scale people.


A ton equals 2000#. It looks like your bales are three wire/string bales, so probably about 100# each; so if that's the case 20 of those bales would be one ton. [The bales available around here are 70#, so about 28 bales per ton.


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## O So (Jun 26, 2011)

Well I'll tell you all this. I am definitely shopping around first next time. I was floored when he told me the total. I will call around first, then go check out the cheaper priced hays.

Main reason I wanted to buy from the Elverta feed store was because of the quality. If I would have known the price and quality of it this time, I would have shopped around more. One of the other reasons I bought this stuff, that I hate to admit, is my husband. I had to keep whining about how I needed to get to the feed store to get some hay. Finally got him to take me yesterday, so I didn't want to come home with out any. He has to take a chance when going out of his tow area. Luckily no tows came in when we were out there. I did try to get him to go to DMV and get another permit for my 1 ton truck, but he didn't do that either. We are in the middle of DMV's games on trying to get the thing registered. We started it in February and are still waiting for them to send us plates and reg. We are trying to get DP plates for it and there is a new law that allows trucks that weigh 8000lbs ( something like that figure) to have DP plates. The problem is, it is so new of a law that the local offices can't process them. So they had to send all the paperwork to the "special units" office. That take a long time in the first place and now we are in the middle of the budget thing where they are trying to raise the prices of the fees. I heard they are not even allowing people to renew their vehicles right now. That is just hear say though so I can't varify that info for sure.

Wow, kind went off there for a while, sorry! It's just so irratating to have a perfectly good truck, just for getting my horse supplies, and I can't use!





I will let you know if I decide to go further to get my hay bluerogue. Maybe I will try to get ahold of you so I can come look at your hay.

Right now I like to stay closer to home. I do get most of my supplies at River Valley. I used to get my hay there all the time too. Only reason I switched is because they ran out and I had to look else where. That is how I found that awesome hay that Elverta had last fall. Now that stuff is all I want, but as of yet, haven't found it again!


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## CZP1 (Jun 26, 2011)

I have a fescue mix and got 15 bales for free! My guy has been on orchard mix and it is $12.99 a bale. About 70# bale here in NC. I only have one mini, think the neighbor is going to take some (I hope). My mini doesn't really like it too much but he is eating it.


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## Raine Ranch Minis (Jun 26, 2011)

I paid $45 for 10 bales yesterday. It is ok, but it is first cutting and stemmy. The gut we bought it from said in a few weeks her would have 2nd cutting baled and ready to pick up. We will most likely get around 20 of them.


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## Magic (Jun 26, 2011)

First crop of hay is just finishing being cut in this area, including our six-acre hay field. Last year we got something like 700 bales off of it for first crop, if I remember right. Ours are 50 to 60 pound bales. We grow an alfalfa/grass mix that one of my friends said was "the most gorgeous hay" she's ever seen. The guy who harvests our hay for us does so for several other people too so he planted a mixed field like ours on another property since it has turned out so well. Most other hays around here are straight alfalfa. We'll get about 1000 bales total from our own hay field in two crops, then turn horses out onto it. We buy another 1000 bales to get through the year, as we have two full size horses and usually around 40 minis. We have pasture too, but not all of the horses get to go on pasture. Within a year of moving here we had a huge hay barn built so that we can store all of the hay we need indoors. Love it!


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## Ashley (Jun 26, 2011)

I just picked up 12 rounds that are at least 900 pounds if not more for $30 a bale. They were net wrapped and outside but put up dry. There will be a little waist but not much, and even at that I have calves I can feed it to.

MY horses are not really picky but I am. HOwever this year nice hay is hard to find. I was even looking at last years as that was far better then this years.

We hauled out some 4 year old very mold, dusty not even suitable for bedding in cattle type hay last week. We go through the horse lot and then throw it over the fence in the weeds. I was constantly having to wack the horses as they wanted to chow down on the hay as we were trying to unload it.


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## Ashley (Jun 26, 2011)

I just picked up 12 rounds that are at least 900 pounds if not more for $30 a bale. They were net wrapped and outside but put up dry. There will be a little waist but not much, and even at that I have calves I can feed it to.

MY horses are not really picky but I am. HOwever this year nice hay is hard to find. I was even looking at last years as that was far better then this years.

We hauled out some 4 year old very mold, dusty not even suitable for bedding in cattle type hay last week. We go through the horse lot and then throw it over the fence in the weeds. I was constantly having to wack the horses as they wanted to chow down on the hay as we were trying to unload it.


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## wingnut (Jun 26, 2011)

I was talking with my husband about this discussion. He pointed me to this page:

USDA Hay Prices in California

This seems to cover most areas of the state and there is no area that has a hay prices of more than $300 a ton for what they term "Premium" hay. How is it that a feed store can turn around and charge nearly $22 a square bale, even a larger than average one?

He found this by googling "hay prices in california". You can find similar pages for most states by changing the state name.


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## O So (Jun 26, 2011)

wingnut said:


> I was talking with my husband about this discussion. He pointed me to this page:
> 
> USDA Hay Prices in California
> 
> ...



So if I am reading that report right, for the Sacramento Valley grass mix hay is 220. dollars a ton and there was 100 ton available?

I think I will print that out and take it to the feed store.


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## O So (Jun 26, 2011)

I opened a bale. It looks ok, kind of stemmy, but not overly bad. Only thing that scares me is this,
















It kind of looks like fox tail to me, but my foxtail at my house is a bit longer and thicker then that stuff. Is that stuff (in the pic) ok? I am hoping it is only in that one bale. I have been trying to dig most of it out as I get my rations. If it is ok, I will go ahead and give it to them.

I am going to call some other feed stores tomorrow and ask what they are charging. Then I will call the feed store I bought it from and ask them the same thing. Then ask why I paid so much. Hopefully I will get some of my money back.

I would take the whole lot back but I am dealing with a husband that just doesn't understand and is actually getting a bit mad because I am making such a fuss. So I will deal with what I have. Guess it just means I will go threw it a bit faster since I most likely will have to pull all that fox tail stuff out. (Depending on your guy's analysis! 

If I read that report right, I paid for almost a full ton of hay. So they got their delivery pretty much free, thanks to me!


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## bluerogue (Jun 26, 2011)

I don't buy from Elverta Feed for reasons like this. The old man who owns the feed store is not a very nice guy, in my opinion and experience. I don't think he'll return any of your money. I haven't been there in a few years, but the last time I was, it made me not ever want to go back there. I usually feed alfalfa and can get good quality hay elsewhere, without having to deal with the way they treat their customers.


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## O So (Jun 27, 2011)

bluerogue said:


> I don't buy from Elverta Feed for reasons like this. The old man who owns the feed store is not a very nice guy, in my opinion and experience. I don't think he'll return any of your money. I haven't been there in a few years, but the last time I was, it made me not ever want to go back there. I usually feed alfalfa and can get good quality hay elsewhere, without having to deal with the way they treat their customers.



They seemed ok to me, not overly friendly though. I went a head and bought the hay from him because I figured it was from the same grower as the really good stuff last fall. I think I figured wrong. I have learned my lesson though. I will ask prices before buying. Then I think I will only by a bale, bring it home and open it up. If I like it I will go back the next day and by my storage capacity worth of it. That is one of the things I think hubby is upset about. I bought 10 bales and don't like the first one, still have 9 to go. Yet I don't dare ask him to take them back, that would get him more upset. I just hope the rest doesn't have as much or any of the fox tail looking stuff.

Live and learn.






I actually buy all the rest of my stuff from River Valley Feed. Used to buy my hay there too, till they ran out last fall. Guess I will have to check to see how their supply is come mid summer, early fall. I get a discount there too, so that does help a bit!!


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## Sandy B (Jun 27, 2011)

wingnut said:


> I was talking with my husband about this discussion. He pointed me to this page:
> 
> USDA Hay Prices in California
> 
> ...




My question is this: Is this report retail sales report (what stores should be marketing their hay for) or is this direct from grower prices?


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## JennyB (Jun 27, 2011)

O So said:


> I opened a bale. It looks ok, kind of stemmy, but not overly bad. Only thing that scares me is this,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Kim that looks like cheat grass to me. It can be good feed if cut and baled early, but if not it will cause terrible sores in the gums and mouths of horses...nasty stuff! 



 Even if you get it green and easy for them to eat, they poop the seeds out and you have cheat grass coming up all over. Then you have to control it will sprays! UGH! I have dealt with a lot of cheat grass and it's not a good grass and I consider it a weed. I would not pay a thin dime for hay of that kind. I hope I am wrong and it's not cheat! 





 

Sorry you have had to pay high hay prices and to everyone else here too. I think the weather is going to make us all pay a premium for hay this year. You folks who have good cheap hay count your blessings. I remember when we got excellent hay for $30. a ton 





 

My Best,

Jenny


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## rubyviewminis (Jun 27, 2011)

Here the ranchers rarely sell any of their hay, the few times they did it was the previous years hay, and the only hay available. Most of it was real bad, and I hear most people here won't buy from any of them anymore. Those bales were $7.50 each for maybe 85 lb.

Then I found a place near here that sold grass hay, not bad but not real good either $8 a bale and I was thrilled. This last year the hay I got from them was okay, some was moldy, lots of manure in it, made me mad, and then they had no more because they had sold out by April. People here are desperate for horse hay. So I had to buy from the price gouging feed store and the hay was bad. Had to use more gas to haul it back to get our money back. Then they got in some alfalfa that was barn stored from last year, excellent hay tho, had to pay $18 a bale at about 100lbs.

I went to C-A-L feed and started buying pelleted grass mix, no one sells any grass only pellets here. They had 50lb compressed mixed bales. So out of desperation I bought ten to use with the alfalfa. That hay is so filthy with dust and dirt that my husband made me a large screened box so I can separate the flacks and hose it down. I paid $10 a bale for that crap.

I'm from Colorado so had sticker shock with hay when we moved to Arizona. But there we finally found growers 1 hour and 15 minutes from us that we could get it in the field, but still had to pay 7.50 a bale and load it ourselves, then drive over an hour back home.

This county is supposed to have the most ranches of any county in the US and yet we are really struggling with finding hay. When we drove to Idaho to pick up our granddaughter, I thought we could find and buy hay while there anyway. No, no one has any, and they hadn't started cutting yet because of late rain. This along with gas prices through the roof is really making it hard.


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## Margo_C-T (Jun 27, 2011)

Jenny is sure right about cheat grass--though what grows around here by that name has longer, thinner, awns. It is very much a 'pest' plant; grows along the roadsides up here, but will try to infiltrate anywhere. It is dangerous, too, in that it burns 'like it was soaked in gasoline', my husband used to say...so even worse in these horribly dry, hot, conditions! My horses don't seem to want to

The hay looks like three wire? Boy, for over $21/bale it had BETTER be those bigger bales!

Hay is in short supply in LOTS of areas, it seems. I was VERY fortunate this year, after a couple of years when I had to buy from local feed

stores at nearly $11/bale(and got over-dry, over-mature, not-very-good stuff that I had to ENDLESSLY pick through......)

to find some local-area grown(about 60 miles away from me, actually), Dovey fescue, that is clean and not over-mature OR baled too dry, at a 'mere' $7/bale from the grower. Bales are about 45-55 lbs. The Dovey variety looks good on its features/analysis, too. Price of alfalfa was way up here this year, also...

Sure hope coming years are better!!

Margo


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## Reble (Jun 27, 2011)

So glad I live in Ontario Canada..

Here bought some nice mix hay (alfalfa, timothy with some mixed grass) $2.00 a bale





We only feed this to our fallow deer, we buy alfalfa hay cubes for our minis which cost $9.00 a bag which is perfect for our minis...


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## O So (Jun 27, 2011)

I called River Valley Feed today and they couldn't give me a quote on mixed hay because they didn't have any. I then called Elverta and asked what theirs was going for (not letting them know I bought some already). They said 19.95 a bale. I just said "wow, it sure has gone up", and left it at that. SO, I added it up and it came to 199. something. Then if you ad tax, it would come to what I paid. I am saying this because it looks like I was wrong on the price. I only had my atm receipt to go by, forgot to get the actual receipt from them. So I divided the 216. and that is how I came up with 21.60. So I have to apologize on getting the price wrong. I didn't even think of tax. It is still high priced though!

Last time I bought it from Elverta Feed it was 15.99. So it has gone up 4 bucks since then. I really think a possible explanation for this increase, at least for this store, is the fact that River Valley feed still doesn't have any of the mixed. So there is no competition for them. They are the only one's that I know of, it that area, that has the grass/alfalfa mixed hay.

I told my hubby about the cheat grass. He will make sure he pulls what he can out of the rations as he gives them to the boys. He only has to feed Thursday mornings so it won't be to hard on him! LOL I am hoping that I will luck out and this bale is the only bale that has it. You know, maybe that was a small patch in that particular area of the field. One can hope can't they? LOL

Sorry for the price discrepancy in the beginning of the post. I just didn't think about tax. So again, it is 19.95 a bale, not 21.60.


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