Hay Prices!! OUCH

[O So]

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 !@*(&$@! 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!!

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!

 

[MindyLee]

: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

 

[bluerogue]

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.

 

[Sandy B]

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

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.

 

[Sandy B]

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.

 

[bluerogue]

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!

 

[jsites]

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.

 

[Jill]

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.

 

[wingnut]

$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.

 

[chandab]

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.

 

[O So]

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!

 

[CZP1]

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.

 

[Raine Ranch Minis]

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.

 

[Magic]

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!

 

[Ashley]

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.

 

[Ashley]

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.

 

[wingnut]

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.

 

[O So]

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.

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.

 

[O So]

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!

 

[bluerogue]

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.