Hay for Hay shortage in North Dakota

Keith Molden · Aug 9, 2017

I saw on RFD TV this morning that there is a critical shortage of hay for the farmers in North Dakota. I have several 4x4 twine tied bales that I would give if they would come & pick them up. It will be in the neighborhood of 100 bales. I don't know how to get in contact with anyone in that area that would be coordinating the effort. If anyone knows would you please email me.

hydro70guy · Aug 9, 2017

I would say check with local cattlemens association. I think they helped organize the fence supplies that went to Kansas and Oklahoma after the fires.

Joe

Philip d · Aug 9, 2017

That's very kind of you. Too often some will try and profit from others losses,and other times some kind hearted people like yourself will help out as well.

JimS · Aug 9, 2017

How is charging what the market will bear profiting from someone else's misfortune? Yes. What Mr. Molden wishes to do is kind but if prices remained at a low, the shortage would be worse. If prices did not rise in response to demand, many would purchase hay in excess of their need harming supply and forcing others to go without. Allowing prices to rise to reflect demand does several things, not the least of which is to cause purchasers to buy only what they need but it is a signal to producers and wholesalers to get supply to that area. There is no incentive to increase supply if price is stagnant. Think of cities with rent control; there is little incentive to increase the supply of apartments that would ultimately drive down costs.

Again, this is not a criticism of Mr. Molden. This is a generous thing he does.

JMS/.MN · Aug 9, 2017

Very generous of you- I would suggest contacting the state FSA office or Extension Service. Quite often they are aware of needs. Also, Farm Bureau or Farmers Union. Both are active in the region. google any of them.

mjbrown · Aug 9, 2017

Ten years ago or more when I was a small time hay producer the south had a bad drought and little hay. In the north there was more rain and hay was plentiful. A big push was made to send free hay to the southern farmers to help them out. OK. However a couple years earlier when there was lots of hay all over the prices tanked. No one said lets help the hay producers that are getting peanuts for hay. They happily bought all they needed for peanuts and bargained it down hard even then. I'm not against anyone sending them free hay, that's a very nice thing to do. But I haven't seen it work both ways. If the rancher in North Dakota has oil wells on his ranch he can probably solve his hay shortage in the market place.

Philip d · Aug 9, 2017

I see what your saying and won't argue you there. I guess I'm thinking of a situation not far from here of a huge straw shortage a week from harvest. Normally they charge $5/bale for laying straw and you get normally 2-3 bales per acre so that's 10-$15/acre for straw. This year there's a big swing away from cereals and some in other areas have opted to charge $80/acre this year. I realize it's their land and crop and they can charge what they see fit just sounds rediculas to raise the price that much because there's a shortage and they have it to sell.

Texasmark1 · Aug 9, 2017

On rising prices with rising demand, this is the "Free Market System" and "Made America Great"! Tough luck if you are the needy; I've been there, but also gained when selling to a seller's market. It comes and goes.

You sir are however kind in your thoughts and are to be admired for them.

Biggest problem I had when needy was transportation costs. That was more than the hay on the OTR trailer and you didn't know what you were getting for your money when buying from out of state where it was plentiful. Course I have had local hay that was sorry no-count, but hungry cows eat lots of things, including Maze stalks when that's all there is.

moresmoke · Aug 9, 2017

ND state Hay Hotline 701-425-8454.

ND Stockmen's Assoc 701-223-2522.

Farm Rescue 701-252-2017

LAA · Aug 10, 2017

I'm all for the seller/producer charging and receiveing the highest price the market will bear but they also have to remeber that if they think they have the market cornered and go up too much the user will find a cheaper alternative. Thats what happened in the cottonseed market in my area, it got so high it was not economical to feed and after a few years when the price leveled off people were trucking in cheap DDG and corn gluten, the cottonseed market never recovered here.

oldtanker · Aug 10, 2017

OK, I'm not going to make myself popular here but I'll point out several things here. Lot of the farms out there are huge. What some refer to as BTO's. I drove though most of the area affected out there a couple of years ago during bean harvest. From the ID/MT border to the ND/MN border I saw one or 2 older combines in the field. All the rest, hundreds, were no more than a couple of year old 500K machines. We had one here a couple of weeks ago in our "heart of the lakes area" that was saying that he'd sold his livestock because of the drought and had decided to go fishing. Said he's see what happens next year. This guy was staying at a resort and paying for guide services. Plus as someone else said a lot of those guys have oil leases. Still there are others out there that are struggling. But when you have nothing to feed livestock you sell. It's as simple as that. Yes you are going to have a couple of lean years but that's called farming.

Rick

Hay for Hay shortage in North Dakota

Keith Molden

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hydro70guy

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Philip d

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JimS

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JMS/.MN

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mjbrown

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Philip d

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Texasmark1

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moresmoke

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LAA

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oldtanker

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