old crop and new crop hay prices in your area?

old crop and new crop hay prices in your area?

Thought prices would flop as my hay was thick and tall this year, but nobody can get any made so prices here for horse hay are still running $6.00-$7.00 a sm. square.

Its amazed me to no end. Good quality horse hay in rounds, no change from last year. 50.00 for inside stored timothy orchard 4x5's with net wrap. 55 for alfalfa mixes, 45 for twine. Cattle hay, new crop looks in the 18-25 range. I cant keep horse quality. Had a load go west and 2 loads north this week. Small squares, sellers market. 5.00 on good grass mixes 6.50 on alfalfa mixes up to 8.50 for very nice delivered to local farm store.

My hay this year is a mess. Yesterday, finally got a batch that wasn't rained on, was super dry, baled up like c r a p. Loose bales, knotter problems, a real nightmare. Last years leftovers looking far better!

David,
I saw somewhere in another post that you upgraded balers? What did you get?

Went with a NH 644 with bale command, mega wide pickup, and net wrap or twine. I got it for the netwrap, its been a consistent +10.00 a bale seller for me for the same hay but I've been having to pay dearly to get it. Plus I really like the way it ships. Still got both 650's. One out on lease and keep one here for a spare.

So far, what I like... the speed of netwrap. It makes a difference. It seems the belts are made heavier and dont twist as badly or as often as on the 650, and the combination of bale command and the mega wide pickup makes a lot prettier bale than the 650 regular pickup with hay saver wheels. What I dont like, shear pin as opposed to slip clutch. Also, even with the 650 set on 4x5 it just doesnt seem that the 644 has the capacity per hour of the 650. I make up most of it on tying speed but in and out rolls per day its about the same. All in all I thought it was a pretty good purchase. Paid 7500 for the baler and put around 2000 in repairing the front end and replacing the driveline. Bale command showed 6400 rolls in its lifetime before I got it. I've run 900 through it so far and other than the roll of netwrap I put in backwards its been as or more trouble free than my 650.

hay prices this season in eastern colorado are $14 to $16 for small square bales, lg rounds grass about $300 per ton and doesn't look to get any better any time soon, got my hay put up but only have enough for my own livestock and none to sell this year.

One of my long time hay customers paid $9.75 for small squares recently at wholesaler. Feed store is $10.50. Local hay so far is extremely rare. I am getting $5.00 picked up in the field. '12 hay seems to be around $4.50.

Interesting to hear your input on a newer baler. I sold my 650. It needed belts and chains. A guy was willing to give me $700 less than what I paid for it 4 years ago, so down the road it went.
I bought a BR740A. I stole it for $7900,but cost $1500 to get it here from AR. It has 21k bales through it BUT it was gov owned and NH went over it on a preventive maint program. New augers,chains, etc etc. My neighbor custom bales, and said it looks better than his machine with 9k bales through it. Bale command is nice, but if you know how to run a baler without a moniter you dont really need the bale shape indicator. I have the wide pickup too. I didnt think I was going to use the net, but boy was I wrong. It fast and in fine hay you dont loose as much hay when you dump. They are nice machines. It is very similar to your baler, but has a few changes. For one, the packer on the pickup is staggered across the width so it doesnt take all the hay in at once. It also has a nice bale kicker on it so bales cant jam the tailgate on hills. I am not sure if it wants more HP than my 650, or if the baler has that much more capacity that it just seams that way. Running it with 65 HP, and oughta probably be at 85+. I did know out 7.5 acres of dry hay in 1 hour on hilly ground. Not bad...What HP are you using on yours?

I just bought some, $7 per small square.

Can't give hay away around here. Too much of it.

During Marchand April any round bale was $150 a ton. If it wasn't buried in a snow bank. If the quality was better the price was higher. I know of 200 small squares of brohm grass that sold for $9.


New crop. A guy 10 miles over had some small squares listed for $8. Next week $7. Week later $6. Last time $5. I don't know if hay sold but the ads disappeared.

You got a great deal on that one. I like the way the newer balers cut the net too, much better than on my 644. You just can't find a net wrap 4 foot wide baler around here with red paint on it and I dont want to pay 20 grand for a used green one. Ended up going down into Tennessee for this one. Guy had slid off a hill and twisted the tongue.

You're right on the h.p. I've run my 650 with 65 h.p. and it will pull it but 86 pulls it a lot better. So far the 644 has been on my 86 hp 7610 Ford for one day (puked a dynamic balancer on day 1 of hay season and twisted the crank...). Rest of the time its been on the 100 horse TB 110 or an 86 h.p. 7600. Everything I've got is 86 plus except the one 5600 Ford and its typically on the rake or the finish mower. I did run it one day on a 100 horse Cat Challenger I've got on demo. Plus, I like the Challenger on the haybine. 100 hp out of a turbo 6 cylinder is different than 100 hp out of a turbo 4. I think it would be a splendid pairing but that was the day I put the netwrap in wrong.... I learned new profanity..... The baler should spend the rest of hay season back on the 7610 now that its home with a new CNH long block, at least if it every quits raining.....

That's where my timothy orchard rounds went yesterday. I'd say that's pretty close on what it cost when it got there.

In north Arkansas there isn't any last year hay because of the drought. This year it varies. On 4x5 tight bales per bale, mixed grass $30, fertilized bermuda grass $40+. Net wrap will bring $5-10 more.

Which is better, 6 or 4. My son has a 126 hp Kubota.4 cyl. I think it is 374 cu in. We think it has more torque than our 4040 JD. It is 100 hp. and 6 cyl NA. We are baling with a 4X5 Gehl baler with two string arms. It takes as long to wrap the bale with string as it does to roll the hay up. Our next will be a net wrap.

Netwrap will spoil you when you get accustomed to it.

I would like to see 120 pto hp 4 banger 2WD pulling a plow beside my 120 pto hp 6 banger 2 WD. 4 cyl's are suppose to burn less fuel than 6 cyl's.

On the baler, no difference. Neither even open the governor up good no matter how I load it. 11 foot discbine, in good hay, especially long stem and down where the conditioner rollers are grabbing before its all cut the 6 is better hands down. Both are turbo but the Challenger is 6.6L and the New Holland 5.0L both nominal 100 horsepower. More engine and more cylinders makes a difference but, as Tx Jim says it also makes a difference at the fuel tank. About 25% more fuel per day through the Challenger.

(quoted from post at 16:24:39 07/07/13) hay prices this season in eastern colorado are $14 to $16 for small square bales, lg rounds grass about $300 per ton and doesn't look to get any better any time soon,...............

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Some guys are selling 1st cutting right now @ 7.00 to 9 dollars per 60-65# small bales of mixed alfalfa/grass - was about $125/ton in bigger bales last year - heard that it's right @ 200+/ton this year - last year Utah was about 30 percent under our going rate - it all depends on who has the water I reckon :roll: