When's the best time to stock up on hay?

[outlawridge]

Wowee! I can't believe some of these high prices! I knew we were very fortunate in our prices but after reading these posts that gives our 82 cents a whole new meaning!!!

Carolyn, I am so sorry to hear about your accident, what a bummer.

 

[Tammie]

All I can say is I am sure glad that we grow our own hay. I grow a nice timothy/alfalfa mix for my horses and we have a really nice grass/clover mix that we use for our goats and they love it- they will not eat anything else. We also sell the grass/clover mix to alot of people with big horses for $2.50 a bale even though we had a drought here this past year and only got 1 cutting. Sorry to hear so many of you have to pay so much for hay.

Tammie~

 

[NoddalottaFarm]

Our hay comes from a farmer in another town who is retired and grows LOTS of hay for his income. He's a great guy and we've never had anything nasty in our hay, (though we are still wondering where the golf ball came from!)

and we've never lost a bale due to mold. We buy our hay as soon as he starts cutting it because he sells to a LOT of people. We load and haul our own, but we only have 2 Minis, so we don't need much. Hay is fed year round, so we buy a little over a year's supply at one time. Last year we paid $3.75 a bale for 50ish pound bales. This was slightly up from $3.50 the year before due to the drought. I'm soooo glad we bought early too, prices were insane and hay was in short supply too! We'd *love* to be able to grow our own hay, but we don't have that kind of land. Maybe some day.....

 

[jiterbug]

Here is southern WV we are paying 10.50/bale. I don't know how much it weighs but it is just a regular bale and is alfalpha.

jiterbug

 

[Bramblehill]

I'm wishing that I lived up north now!! Here in South Carolina IF you could find coastal burmuda 40 pound bales, it'd run $6.60-$7 per bale (not delivered). My alfalfa hay came from South Dakota We're PRAYING for rain this summer!

 

[Magic]

Here, hay prices have gone up in the last year at least 50%, partly due to farmers shipping their hay out to drought-stricken areas, and also because of a new alfalfa-cube processing place, both of which have heightened demand. Last year, alfalfa/grass mix hay was $90 a ton in the barn, and this year it's at least $140 a ton (or was, at harvest time, it is likely much higher now).

A nice benefit to stocking up on a winter's-worth or year's worth of hay is that your horses' digestive systems don't have to continually adjust to a different kind of hay if your original source of hay is unavailable if you need to re-stock in the middle of the winter or whenever. That, and the savings, and also the peace of mind of having a good supply of hay.

 

[sdmini]

I'll second, (third, fourth or whatever) that the best time to buy it right at havest. Go out to the farm and pick it up if you can. They will usually knock off some money if you do it as it cuts down on their labor. There is a "knack" for putting up good hay so find a good supplier get 'em and stick with 'em.

Most growers do not hold on a "promise" like in the Old Days.......

Now, now farming is a buiness and you know the old saying "a dollar in the hand in July is worth the promise of two in February."

 

[Minimor]

I currently have 2 hay suppliers--one has alfalfa/grass hay and the other has straight brome hay--both took my order at haying time & then keep the hay & just deliver it as we need it. Neither asked for payment in advance, not even a down payment--I pay for each load on delivery. This works great, because 1) they have the hay under cover, either in a shed or well tarped, so it's protected from the elements; here we have limited hay storage room so we don't like to have too much hay stacked up. It's not a problem in winter, but in spring, summer & fall we like to have just what we have room for in the hayshed and 2) when you're using in excess of 2400 bales a year that's a big outlay of money to pay for it all at once--much easier on the wallet to pay for it as it's delivered!

Edited to add: In my case, both hay suppliers set their price at haying time, and once I speak for my hay, I get that amount of hay at the same set price all through the course of the year.

If you don't have the hay spoken for, though, and have to go hay shopping in March or April, it's almost certain that the hay will be higher priced than it would have been if you bought in the fall. Some of the guys hang onto their hay until spring, because they know there will be a demand for hay at that time, and so they will be able to ask more money than if they had sold it in the fall. Such isn't always the case of course--in a year where hay is plentiful and then the winter is an easy one, with spring coming early--then there will still be plenty of hay available, and an early spring means cattle (and horses) can go out to pasture early, so in a year like that you might actually be able to buy hay quite cheap in the spring. But, if hay is in short supply to start with, then it's a hard winter with a late spring--demand will be very high and supply will be limited, and in that situation you will pay dearly if you have to buy hay in the spring.

 

[Sue S]

We have a farm that we are getting hay from now that told us that this summer we can buy his hay off the wagon for 2.00 a bale, they are medium size bails and very good hay. We just bought 400 bales from him at 2.50 a bale for the rest of the winter.

 

[Marty]

In answer to your original question, I'd say, as soon as it's bailed.

I don't wait anymore for late summer or early fall like I used to. I go as soon as it is being bailed and stock up as much as my money will stretch. Then I will usually offer a deposit on saving more for me to pick up at a later date. My storage barn will only hold around 200 bails so this year......you guess it, another hay storage building is on the to do list.