Hows haying going around you?

[MindyLee]

This yr has been awful for hay. Fields got frost on them late cause they grew fast cause of the warm winter, and then cause of lack of snow and now the hot weather with very limited rain... Not looking good around here! Prices was $2-$3 per bale BUT now are jumping $5-$8 because fields are thin. Their saying that 1st cutting is almost like 2nd cutting. And now a rumor that hay will hit $10+ by the beginning of winter.

I just put a 3 acre field in my barn that gave me 156 bales. Not to bad BUT my 8 acre field only 100!!! Im scared of 2nd cutting and looks like I will be hunting for more hay other than my sellers 2 fields. I had a field put in the spring BUT still looks like dirt. No rain so no grouth!

Hows the fields and prices around all of you? Good or bad?

I know im a lil worried!

 

[LittleRibbie]

south Florida

3 string/90 to 100 lb bales 46.00each Orchard, delivered and stacked is what I paid today...its beautiful

My hay guy knows Ive been cringing at the prices so he brought me a bale of something different to try today. Orchard /T/A it looks real nice and I do like the smaller 50lb bales its 14.50 a bale...just dont know if my horses will eat it...plan on testing tonight!!

As long as I have alfalfa pellets I dont care if my hay is alfalfa...but I do wish I could get orchard hay cheaper down here. mostly all we have is crappy coastal

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Paying $13 small square of orchard. Its expensive but really nice. Square bales are so hard to get over here thats good quality.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Holy smokes LittleRibbie, that is astonishing! What you pay for a 100 lb bale I can get nearly a ton of timothy mix hay for. Most years I pay $45 to $50 for a 1500 - 2000lb round bale. Small squares of 60 -75lbs sell for around $3.50 -$4.00 a bale. If I had to pay your prices I'm not sure I would ever have owned saddle horses and there would be for sure fewer minis in my pens.

the hay here is doing great, belly deep on my long legged 34" gelding (nearly hip deep on me) last week and still growing, it hasn't bloomed yet. No onwe here is haying yet and we are still hopeful that it will dry up before the grass reaches maturity in 3 weeks or so. For us June has been far wetter than average and they were saying on the news we have had more than 2x the average rainfall. They just announced evacuation orders for 16 homes and a flood watch for many others. Glad I live well above the rivers. If we have some dry weather this will be a bumper year for us for hay.

 

[chandab]

Haying won't start here for a week or two. I talked with my hay man last week, and I think he said he was a week or two from starting on his alfalfa fields, not sure when he'll cut and bale the small grass field that I usually take all of. Hopefully, it'll be after I have a chance to build my shelter/hay barn, so I have a place to put it before bringing it home. Hay around here is usually around $100/ton, so about $3.50/bale (70-75# bales); if the crop doesn't come in, hten the price goes up. [We have our own round baled hay for the cows, but its usually too stemmy for the horses, and too much alfalfa for my liking.]

 

[Riverrose28]

since you asked are you ready for a rant? I've been in horses since 1977, last year was an awful hay year, and this year is not too much better, but, a little. Most of the suppliers around here with good hay have passed. Either the farms have been sold or passed down. The farms that have sold, oh well, the ones passed down to people that don't have a clue. Last year this one guy didn't spray for weeds, didn't fertilize, baled it damp. Well it was full of nettle, black berrie stickers, and some of it molded, and it cost $5 out of the field. So this year we didn't buy any, as I kept my eye on the field, and yep, it is full of junk again. Luckily we were able to get some first cutting from a horse friend of orchard grass for $5 a 50 pund bale, and alfalfa for $6 a bale. We will be buying more from him when we get more money, second cutting. All the hay people around here have gone to cattle hay, as they can round bale it, and with fescue it is more drought resistant. I can't feed it to my guys. I also buy bagged hay from TSC.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

The first cutting of alfalfa is in here. It is $6 a bale. Some was for sale, but many farmers kept their whole crop, as they got caught hayless last year. My neighbor did sell me a few.

No grass hay yet, and there may not be any. The drought was so bad last year that the warm season grasses are struggling, even though we've had enough rain this year so far. I fear we will be importing our grass hay bales again this year. I paid $10 for small bales last fall and was glad to get them.

AT least we have pasture this year, so I don't need to feed hay constantly.

I heard farther south that it is still not recovering yet.

 

[happy appy]

Hay in Ontario is going great! I have my small squares in now, only get 200, for $2.25 picked up from the field. They are 70 lb bales. My rounds are getting baled this week and will be 700 lbs. They are from my fields so I only pay someone to cut and bale, $9/bale.

 

[Cricket8]

A 4x6 round bale is $45 a 4x4 we can get for $30 Timothy mix on both. We are paying $2.25 a square bale off the field and fully dried its anywhere from $4-$6. Last year was horrible and the prices jumped so we went to round bales.

 

[CZP1]

$11.99 for an orchard mix at feed store. I buy the Safe Starch from Southern States and it went up $20.50 for a 50# bag

 

[Grace67]

I'm in northern California and I'm paying $19/bale for excellent quality timothy hay out of southern Oregon, bales are about 100 pounds and I buy through my local feed store because I need it delivered and stacked. Been buying through the same broker for the past few years and have not had a single bad bale and the horses clean up every piece of it, no waste and they maintain their weight very well on it. For me its worth the price but I'm only feeding one full size horse and one mini. We tend to pay higher for everything out here in CA.

 

[ruffian]

Just got 300 bales in the barn for $3.25. On the list for 400 more at same price. Love my hay guy!!!

 

[Leeana]

$3.00 a bale for 50-60lb alfalfa, orchard grass hay here in NW Ohio. Normally its 2.50 - 2.75/bale but had a slight jump this year to $3 and that seems to be the price pretty much everywhere around here. We feed about 700 bales a year here.

 

[Trish]

We have been paying $12.50 for this yrs 1 cutting of square bales of coastal. It is nice hay, but we had paid $8.50 early last year for nice coastal. Lots of folks sold off livestock due to the heat and lack of hay last year, so you'd think that the price would come down a little.

Good thing I only have 2 minis and a bale last me almost two weeks. They get stradegy twice a day as well.

 

[barnbum]

We just finished getting ours. First cutting timothy for $3.50 a bale--395 bales. It's a nice batch because it's softer and more timothy filled than some years when he can't get it off before it's stalky due to rain. There's an army worm raising havoc with farmers--eating whole fields of timothy and they are now going after corn. Some farmers have plowed under and replanted. My hay guy said he sold too cheap if it becomes a bigger problem. So--we jumped when he said hay was ready. We get it from a wagon he leaves in the yard.

 

[Cricket8]

$3.00 a bale for 50-60lb alfalfa, orchard grass hay here in NW Ohio. Normally its 2.50 - 2.75/bale but had a slight jump this year to $3 and that seems to be the price pretty much everywhere around here. We feed about 700 bales a year here.

Apparently I need to go to your side of Ohio to get hay. Alfalfa is on the pricey side over here.

 

[MajorClementine]

$6 for 60-70 lb bale. First cut is being baled now. Alfalfa did a little better than grass mix. It grew slower cuz of the cold spring. But we are changing water on a field this haying season for free hay! Gotta love that.

 

[stormy]

Have not heard of any hay issues around here, 1st cut was about a month early and a very heavy crop...normally 1st would be coming in this week. Second cut is not developing yet as it is so dry but rain is on the way!! $3.00 a bale delivered and stacked!

 

[little lady]

Here in Southern Illinois hay season started early with some really nice hay but since then we have had quite a dry spell. For 50-60 pound two string Premium Alfalfa bale is going for $5 a bale. Some of lesser quality same size bales are going for around $4 now but talk is these prices are history if we don't get some rain.

 

[Shari]

I finally found some good hay thanks to Jill.

They are the smallest bales of hay I have ever seen though, $6.50 at 35lbs

Another draw back, is I have to rent a Uhaul truck to bring enough home to make it worth while... so 105 bales cost me over $800.00.... very glad my horse's are air ferns!

Makes me miss haying our own field in Oregon. Only cost me $1.65 for 65lb bales.