Time To Get Hay In

[betwys1]

With day temperatures falling to the 80s in October, I started to cast around for hay. I called my local hay farmer, recalling big bales were $80 last year. Today she quoted $200. I was really shocked.
I have been doing rehab exercises at a hospital over the border in Texas, and the folks there said they were hearing prices like $160. The drought here has been unrelenting - 20 plus days since last rainfall.
Soon it will be cold.....

 

[Dragon Hill]

Wow, I'd hate to see what they get square bales.

 

[HersheyMint]

I just paid $25.50 a bale

 

[Capriole]

Yep....$25.50 a bale for Bermuda....it has gone up EVERY time I've ordered.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

yikes. I should call my hay guy and get a few more bales. They were $10 per small bale of bermuda. Sorry, his contact is now a secret...

 

[chandab]

Drought greatly affects prices and quantity available. We've been in some state of drought for 6 years, last year was the worst, and this year not much better. Last year my hay more than doubled in cost from the previous year. [From about $150/ton (picked up) to $350/ton (The delivery portion wasn't much of the total). My regular guy didn't have quite as much of a jump his went to $225/ton, but he had limited available last year, hence why I had to bring some in from out of area.] I don't pay by the bale, so no idea what per bale pricing is.

 

[betwys1]

Drought greatly affects prices and quantity available. We've been in some state of drought for 6 years, last year was the worst, and this year not much better. Last year my hay more than doubled in cost from the previous year. [From about $150/ton (picked up) to $350/ton (The delivery portion wasn't much of the total). My regular guy didn't have quite as much of a jump his went to $225/ton, but he had limited available last year, hence why I had to bring some in from out of area.] I don't pay by the bale, so no idea what per bale pricing is.

I think of big round bales as about 1000 lb

 

[Minimor]

Last year the highest I paid was $100 per bale (1400 lbs) but most farmers were charging $150 per bale. This year we had rain so there is lots of hay--I paid $71 plus hauling ($20 per bale) for 1200 lb bales. That's 6 cents per pound or 7.6 cents when you add in the hauling.

 

[chandab]

I think of big round bales as about 1000 lb

Our homegrown rounds are in the neighborhood of 1300#. I don't buy rounds, as we put up our own. I only buy small squares for the barn that is hard to access with a tractor and round bales. Last year, we didn't know if there would be enough homegrown hay, so I jumped at the chance for the small squares I did get, as they were the most reasonable price for bales with delivery (took a little pressure off the homegrown hay supply).

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Our hay prices dramatically increased about five years ago when we were in serious drought. Unfortunately when the rains arrived the decrease in hay prices didn't

Ive been buying in bulk for the last 4 or so years and am currently paying about $13 a bale for good quality meadow hay, which is brought down from Northern Victoria . If I was to buy it as I needed it , Id be paying around $22-$23 a bale from the feed stores. I use the meadow hay as a base and add Alfalfa (or as we call it lucerne here) when needed throughout winter , when Im needing to increase protein. Lucerne is currently around $26 a bale but it is slightly cheaper from a hay supplier.

One thing Ive noticed since Ive been buying in bulk is my horses have never looked better coming out of winter. When I was buying hay as I needed , the quality varied from great to poor, at stages a few of my horses refused to eat it. Now buying thru a supplier , my wallet is happier and so are my horses.

 

[Standards Equine]

Last year we had drought and prices were double. This fall was dry but the spring and summer made for good growing. Prices recovered quite a lot this year. Not 100% but much closer to where they should be. We have a neighbor bale our 30 acre hay field, but the current agreement is not what I'd call fair... when I have more say, I'll renegotiate the contract. Anyways, no where to store squares, although I'd much rather have them! 1100 lb rounds we've paid $110 - $120 (CAD) this fall.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Yes, getting it all at once when you know it's good makes a difference.

Our hay prices dramatically increased about five years ago when we were in serious drought. Unfortunately when the rains arrived the decrease in hay prices didn't

Ive been buying in bulk for the last 4 or so years and am currently paying about $13 a bale for good quality meadow hay, which is brought down from Northern Victoria . If I was to buy it as I needed it , Id be paying around $22-$23 a bale from the feed stores. I use the meadow hay as a base and add Alfalfa (or as we call it lucerne here) when needed throughout winter , when Im needing to increase protein. Lucerne is currently around $26 a bale but it is slightly cheaper from a hay supplier.

One thing Ive noticed since Ive been buying in bulk is my horses have never looked better coming out of winter. When I was buying hay as I needed , the quality varied from great to poor, at stages a few of my horses refused to eat it. Now buying thru a supplier , my wallet is happier and so are my horses

 

[MerMaeve]

We paid $6.50/square bale of first cutting this spring, and just got more hay to top off our supply for this winter.