Hay Prices???

What are others getting?

We have been real dry here in Indiana. I think 4 - 5 is not out of the question and winter who knows... 6 or 7??

I'm asking $3.00 for this years 1st crop of really small squares of mostly orchard grass but some with 40% alfalfa. Sold about 200 off wagon for $2.50 bale.

Normally we like to buy by the ton, but this one refuses to sell by the ton, only by the bale. We used to borrow dad's work truck and go load up out of his shed, or off his wagons, and this guy would deliver to us for a little extra. This year we started just pulling the loaded wagons straight from the field. It's about 20 miles so it's about 40 minutes each way, but the time/labor saved in handling is well worth the longer trip. Now they only need to be handled on our end, and not his. I dropped off a wagon in a field last night while he was baling, he had me go around and pick up the drops (12 still intact at the time) and he had the wagon I dropped off full by the time I had the magenetic lights strung on the wagon and got hooked on- 6 flakes per bale. I must admit I'm impressed by how fast he can go- I'm not sure what size it was but he had a MFWD Ford on the front, musta been atleast 80 HP, AC, and a fairly new NH kicker.

He's a bit of a Ford/NH freek you could say- he's got about 20 RUNNING 6000's, several other bigger models w/ cabs and AC, some smaller 8N's 600's etc, (one is a rough terrain forklift) and atleats 4 NH kickers, and atleast 1 Ford pan baler, and maybe another NH pan baler. I think he's got about 40 kicker wagons as well, he just buys them up at auction and loads them up. has a hard time getting them all empty as well, we just bought 1 load of last year's second crop that was still in the wagon...

Donovan from Wisconsin

Horse quality? Where is Wisc? Might not be too far away... Might be very far away....

55-60 lb bales? you ever had it tested at the lab?

Most of his hay is sold to horse customers, I think we're actually his only customer who has anything else- that means if he's got some hay he baled wet we're about the only ones he can sell it too just to get rid of it, although he is starting to get more bull calves around the place, all from us as we've got a bartering system in place so we pay less cash.

We never bother with a quality test, if it looks and smells really good, it is. Most of his is fairly grassy, not sure exactly what types of grass but it's good horse hay.

He's located in Larsen (small town), but that's right around Appleton, and a good 35-40 minutes south of Green Bay.

We've got a neighbor who does some horse hay, can sell it for about $2.50-$3.00/bale around here if they're lucky, but they're gonna load up a semi to Alabama for $9.00/bale. I think trucking is on top of that as well....

Donovan from Wisconsin

Prices I've seen this year, all small squares. In my area, figure usually 40# rather then 80# bales since most go to "pets" of all types.

@Feedstore: $5.50
Timothy / Clover @ Farm: $4.50
Timothy @ Farm: $4.00
Mulch: $3.00

And one guy I saw advertising $2 in the field, $2.50 at the barn...either a heck of a bargain or he forgot to mention it was mulch quality in the ad...