(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

hay prices???

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Hey folks,
Just curious as your prices don't do me any good.
Say you (your region) has a bad turn for whatever reason and you get a 50% (??) hay yeild.

What usually happens? Everyone selling automatically doubles their price or do they look at it as bad luck and live with it and just adjust the price up a reasonable amount?

I buy from 5 folks. With the 50-60% yield this year, 3 raised the price 25%, one stayed the same as last year (on their own) because they didn't like the way the bales rolled, and one more than doubled his price even on some he had left over from last year when yeilds were higher than normal........... He'll not be selling to me this year or ever again....
Wanna guess which of the five is the most active in the church????

Done now....
 
I have a set number of hay buyers that i sell to. The oldest has been buying from me for 12 years the newest for 3 years. I have an average price i try and stick with. Depending upon the year and going rates for hay in the area ill adjust up or down accordingly, but remain fair.

I very very rarely sell to general public only if i have an abundance of hay and it doesnt pencil out to buy more cattle to feed it to.
 
(quoted from post at 01:14:44 07/14/11) most active in church?? whats that got to do with hay?? oh yea....the manger....
Click to expand...


It kinda popped up before about how crooks will thump the bible to try and make you believe they are honest...........
 
The church should be the place for SINNERS to go to find their way...so if there are SINNERS in the church, that's where they are SUPPOSED to go to learn to do better.
 
I kinda differentiate between those who are going to church because they're TRYING to get their act together, and those "holier-than-thou" individuals who thump the Bible and try to use it to hide their evil and devious ways.

I don't fault the man who's not exactly perfect who goes to church to try to learn the right path. I DO fault the dishonest man who uses his Bible-thumping ways to try to mask his lying and his thievery. Seems like there are a lot of those individuals in nearly every walk of life...farming included.
 
It's called supply and demand. If everyone is short of hay and you have it, you would be a fool not to raise your price.
 
Hay prices are not set locally. If there is a
shortage nationwide the price goes up over all. Of
course shipping has to be figured in so the closer
you are to the actual need the higher the price will
be. If a man sets his price higher than the average
he just won't sell any. Nothing sinful about that.
 
(quoted from post at 04:24:23 07/14/11) Hay prices are not set locally. If there is a
shortage nationwide the price goes up over all. Of
course shipping has to be figured in so the closer
you are to the actual need the higher the price will
be. If a man sets his price higher than the average
he just won't sell any. Nothing sinful about that.
Click to expand...

His wife stopped me on the road a little while ago and said to come back and see him this evening, that I'd get an acceptable offer. She likes sure money now instead of maybe money later I guess..............

Common thing here is pay debts (farm related between each other) in fall. But I pay up front as soon as I see it was baled before it got wet and under roof withoiut being drenched.
 
(quoted from post at 23:29:21 07/13/11) Hey folks,
Just curious as your prices don't do me any good.
Say you (your region) has a bad turn for whatever reason and you get a 50% (??) hay yeild.

What usually happens? Everyone selling automatically doubles their price or do they look at it as bad luck and live with it and just adjust the price up a reasonable amount?

I buy from 5 folks. With the 50-60% yield this year, 3 raised the price 25%, one stayed the same as last year (on their own) because they didn't like the way the bales rolled, and one more than doubled his price even on some he had left over from last year when yeilds were higher than normal........... He'll not be selling to me this year or ever again....
Wanna guess which of the five is the most active in the church????

Done now....
Click to expand...
ave, you talk religion more than everyone else on this board put together. Going to invite us when you open your own church, and show us how to do it right?
 
With the drought in Tx, hay is pretty expensive. Was told large rounds (don't know the exact size) are selling for $100 ea to general public in east Tx where our farm is.

About a month ago, the feed store close to our place in Dallas had 5x5 rounds for $75, but that has probably changed by now.

2006 was the second year of a drought here and 5x5 rounds at the same feed store were $125 ea.

Small squares are selling for $7.80 at Tractor Supply in Mt. Pleasant (where our farm is). Don't know what they're selling for in the Dallas area, probably around $9 ea. Don't know what the price in the field would be, even if someone had some hay to cut.
 
(quoted from post at 04:51:05 07/14/11)
(quoted from post at 23:29:21 07/13/11) Hey folks,
Just curious as your prices don't do me any good.
Say you (your region) has a bad turn for whatever reason and you get a 50% (??) hay yeild.

What usually happens? Everyone selling automatically doubles their price or do they look at it as bad luck and live with it and just adjust the price up a reasonable amount?

I buy from 5 folks. With the 50-60% yield this year, 3 raised the price 25%, one stayed the same as last year (on their own) because they didn't like the way the bales rolled, and one more than doubled his price even on some he had left over from last year when yeilds were higher than normal........... He'll not be selling to me this year or ever again....
Wanna guess which of the five is the most active in the church????

Done now....
Click to expand...
ave, you talk religion more than everyone else on this board put together. Going to invite us when you open your own church, and show us how to do it right?
Click to expand...

You know that you have never heard me preach, I just like to point out the hypocrisy of others. I know right from wrong and what the big guy wants, and I do my best to keep in line and walk upright in front of him and others. Never needed a church to do that. I asked dad when I was little what you were supposed to do when you go to church. He said to watch the old women in the front row and those that brought their own bible and tzalked the loudest so you can learn what NOT to do in life. Didn't understand it then but sure see the meaning of it now.....
 
I generally sell my hay to the same fellow every year so I keep the price within a 5-10 dollar range 0f the previous years, depending on quality of course. Thats for large round bales, but some neighors jack the price way up when supply is short I think when a person sells anything you have to you have to ask yourself what you would be willing to pay before you set a price, I like to sleep at night. But then im not a church goin man....
 
(quoted from post at 05:09:26 07/14/11) I generally sell my hay to the same fellow every year so I keep the price within a 5-10 dollar range 0f the previous years, depending on quality of course. Thats for large round bales, but some neighors jack the price way up when supply is short I think when a person sells anything you have to you have to ask yourself what you would be willing to pay before you set a price, I like to sleep at night. But then im not a church goin man....
Click to expand...

You can sleep pretty good I guess...............
 
(quoted from post at 05:09:26 07/14/11) I generally sell my hay to the same fellow every year so I keep the price within a 5-10 dollar range 0f the previous years, depending on quality of course. Thats for large round bales, but some neighors jack the price way up when supply is short I think when a person sells anything you have to you have to ask yourself what you would be willing to pay before you set a price, I like to sleep at night. But then im not a church goin man....
Click to expand...

You can sleep pretty good I guess...............
 
(quoted from post at 05:09:26 07/14/11) I generally sell my hay to the same fellow every year so I keep the price within a 5-10 dollar range 0f the previous years, depending on quality of course. Thats for large round bales, but some neighors jack the price way up when supply is short I think when a person sells anything you have to you have to ask yourself what you would be willing to pay before you set a price, I like to sleep at night. But then im not a church goin man....
Click to expand...

You can sleep pretty good I guess...............
 
In our area prices will reflect how the season went. We also have a a weekly hay auction not too far away. 4 or 5 years ago when we had some dry weather #1800 rounds were as much as 75 for good alfalfa. Last year was down at a low of about 30 (grass hay was selling for as little as 20). Now this year a bunch of guys hve cut down on how much hay they are raising trying to only have enough for themselves. A friend went from about 150 acres to 33. These are the square inch farmers......pant every square inch they can! Only a few people up here cutting ditch hay this year too.

There ya go.....bring yer equipment to MN....with the state shut down they aint cutting the road side....you can make lots of hay!

As far as the guy you mentioned......like anyone else he has something......someone wants it......it's up to him to set his price. If he sets it too high it wont sell......whats going to chruch got to do with that???? Never saw "thou shalt give thy hay away" in the bible!

Rick
 
Prices are very stable here. Cheap, cheaper, and cheapest. People
tell me hay is short, searching all over for it, still want to get your
price down and pay later.

Out of the barn 2.50/2.75 for late/2nd cut 45 lb small square every
year the last 5 years until its gone. Have a rough time selling even
to those who love my hay. Guy 20 miles away sells for 2$ a bale.
But you have to take a wagon, on the day he's baling, and you have
2 hours to unload it. Everyone quotes his prices, but he stopped
haying since no one was buying...
 
I sell all my big round bales of alfalfa hay to the buyer that offers me the most for my hay.
These are commercial hay buyers that bring trucks to my fields, load the hay, then haul to commercial feed lots.

The buyers usually start calling me late in the year (September thru November), with their bids for my hay and after haggling a bit, I "commit" to the highest bidder.
Keep in mind, I don't get paid until AFTER the buyer shows up to get the hay (usually in late December or January).
On average,... the value of the hay continues to RISE during the time I first "commit" and the time I actually get paid, so that is to the hay buyer's advantage.

THIS YEAR,... these buyers started calling in JUNE, with bids that are approaching DOUBLE what I sold my hay for last year.

I, (and I'm sure the fellas that bid on my hay) regularly check the website below, to get an idea of what hay is currently selling for here in our area of the U.S.
http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/dc_gr310.txt
 
I am selling out of the field for $3.75/45 lb. small square, that works out to around $160 a ton. That is sort of normal in my area this year. Stored and delivered and stacked gets up toward $5/ bale or less depending on the customer quantities, distance, ease of stacking and so forth. Big round market has evaporated in my area - Southeast Michigan, USA.
 
This year is a very bad hay year (extremely dry). However, it might turn around later in the season because of some recent rains. We raised our prices from $4.50 out of the field to $4.75 for our small square coastal bermuda bales (50-75 lbs). They are pretty weedless and are cut on schedule without being rained on.

SF
 
Around here in Western NY they seem to be cutting every square inch where a stalk of grass is growing.
 
It seems to me that costs continue to go up every year no matter what business you are in. I think it is fair to sell your product (whatever that may be) for a reasonable profit based on what your input cost are to make that product.

When there is drought like in Western Oklahoma, supply is low but demand is high therefore price increase dramatically.
 
Been paying $4 for 60# bales, stacked on my trailer, for the past couple years. Guy doesn't have a crew this year- bought a StackLiner. He's talking about $4 delivered with the StackLiner this year- its about 15 miles. I'm kind of hoping he'll let me run the thing (would save him some time, don't ya know. . . ;>)

Most everybody else is less, but he's a friend, and takes good care of me.
 
Being self-employed myself, I tell people that profit is not a dirty word, but if you are going to gouge me try not to let me know.

Haven"t seen any puppy pics lately. I think you were looking for new stock, any luck.

Kirk
 
I've been buying from the same dairy farmer for the last few years. This year, he dropped the price $1 per bale, from 5 to 4. As far as the church thing, I try real hard to be a christian, but some days it's really tough. I am not regularly attending church anymore. I got tired of all the politics and posturing.
 
East central OK. 4x5 JD net wrap rd bales of mixed grass bringing $50 per bale as fast as they come out of my baler.
Price seems to be going up about $5 per week so far. Last time it was this dry I saw some crap bales that went all the way to $75!

Yes I sleep well at night. Last two years I've let hay go for $25 a bale if the buyer took at least a hundred rolls.
 
$2.75 out of the field for second cut alfalfa/OG mix. Weedless and nary a drop of rain.
Third cut presold at same price to same group.
 
(quoted from post at 09:28:17 07/14/11) Being self-employed myself, I tell people that profit is not a dirty word, but if you are going to gouge me try not to let me know.

Haven"t seen any puppy pics lately. I think you were looking for new stock, any luck.

Kirk
Click to expand...

We got a second male but are looking at placing 3 females and replacing them with one- MY goal is a red tri male and blue merle female (which we have and a blue merle male and red tri female (need the red tri female).

Not really pushing it because I get sick of dealing with people/tire kickers...

As far as the hay, I'm happy, they have a guesthouse 50 meters from my house. Wife is out having brakes done and an oil change on her car and I had dinner and a few beers at the guesthouse with the hay guy. got my roles for 7 bucks more than last year which is fair (he took a 25% loss and I poaid 25% more)...
I can also have the straw off of 5 acres of barley and 5 actres of wheat free for the taking.
Just need to scrounge up 30 more rolls of hay.


Dave
 
You still have to travel around the field the same amount of times wheather it makes half as many bales. So your cost per bale just doubled.

If i worked in the field all day and produced half as much, i was still in the field running equipment that cost money to operate.
 

Not really. When it's dry and the hay is lite you can cut faster and bales faster. Not a lot but some.

Rick
 
you still have to make the same amount of trips around the field. You may go faster, but it is still the same number.
 
I"m in NE Texas, between Dallas and Tyler. Squares are $6- 10 depending on what it is and rounds 4X5 are $60-100, most in the $70-75 range. Been a really bad year for hay here, last year was bad but not as bad, year before was average at best.
 
Just my 2 cents worth!! My prices have stayed the same for the last 4 years.First cut alfalfa $3 small square bales.Second and third cut $4,thats delivered but they unload wagons.never had any problems getting it sold! BUT,this one horse lady spoke for 500 bales this year,and when we took the first to her she said" nope " and went back in the house! No reason or explanation! We just took the wagon home and sold it to the next customer, no problem. Well, heres the funny thing, Today she said'wheres my hay?' I told her that 4 weeks ago she said "nope' and walked away, so I sold it to someone else. She was irrate. Said she was waiting for me to come back and lower my price! I then proceeded to tell her{ in a very nice way}, that I was too old to play childs games and she should find another hay supplyer! LOL!!!! Hope she likes the next guys hay!!!!
 
I see that you are like a lot of other horse people. YOU HAVE quite a few horse. It is not the hay sellers duty to make your cost be the same. You have decided to have and keep horses. It is YOUR decision to have horses therefore your cost. There is a reason they are nicknamed hay burners.

It is the age old supply and demand. Any where the hay is in short supply the price is going to go up. It has nothing to do with what they have in it. Hay here is much higher due to the fact many acres are switched to grain production.

As for the guy that stored his last years hay. You are implying that he is immoral for raising HIS hay price. The market changed. It is not a morality issue. I guess that if those cute dogs you sell where all of a sudden worth twice as much you would keep selling them at the old price????? When you sell something you try to get as high as you can. So don"t fault the other guy for doing the same thing.
 
(quoted from post at 22:15:56 07/14/11) I see that you are like a lot of other horse people. YOU HAVE quite a few horse. It is not the hay sellers duty to make your cost be the same. You have decided to have and keep horses. It is YOUR decision to have horses therefore your cost. There is a reason they are nicknamed hay burners.

It is the age old supply and demand. Any where the hay is in short supply the price is going to go up. It has nothing to do with what they have in it. Hay here is much higher due to the fact many acres are switched to grain production.

As for the guy that stored his last years hay. You are implying that he is immoral for raising HIS hay price. The market changed. It is not a morality issue. I guess that if those cute dogs you sell where all of a sudden worth twice as much you would keep selling them at the old price????? When you sell something you try to get as high as you can. So don"t fault the other guy for doing the same thing.
Click to expand...

Forget hay.............

You got 6 gasstations in town, it takes all the gas that those six stations have to supply the need (there is no refills)...

5 of them raise their prices some but are pretty uniform but #6 sees an opportunity and doubles his price because he knows that there will be folks that show up with an empty tank and can't go farther.If you feel that is OK, I'm glad I won't have the opportunity to buy anything you are selling.....
As far as the hay, he came back down to earth and me made an agreement. I bought everything he had....
 
As long as no one is being forced to buy something then the price asked can always be turned down. Your gas station example is not a good one as you imply that they have to buy from the last guy. Your hay deal was not that way. There was other hay in the area for you to buy. You had a choice of sellers to chose from.

AN example of what I think would be wrong is charging too much for food if there was a shortage OR water during a drought. Those would be moral decisions.

You post on here all of the time complaining about people that try to get you down on the price you are asking for things. Here you where bad mouthing him for his high asking price on HIS hay. Then you made a deal with the guy AFTER questioning his morality for asking a higher price. I wonder if he would have made that deal if he knew what you where suggesting on this site????

IF it is life threating then over charging is a immoral thing to do. IF it just because it is rare than it is not. I have some old antique cars that are worth a lot of money. One of them is one of less than two hundred ever built. Should I sell it to the next person who comes along that needs a car for $500??? Just to be what?? My fellow mans keeper?? The local sucker??

My point is that just because a person is asking a higher price than the rest of the market does not make that person immoral. The buyers have the right to always walk away or offerer a lower price.
 

I think more of my animals than I do most people so it still fits your example. Niether here nor there tho..... he knows he was wrong or else he wouldn't have dropped his price so quick. I just dropped off cash money and a bottle of Jim Beam and everyone is happy. I don't mind high prices as long as they are fair....
 
It is worthless to argue with a guy like him. He only sees it his way. We would have been better off not responding to his post.

Hypocrisy in his statements....maybe?
 
(quoted from post at 11:23:59 07/15/11) It is worthless to argue with a guy like him. He only sees it his way. We would have been better off not responding to his post.

Hypocrisy in his statements....maybe?
Click to expand...

I agree. I sell hay to horsey people and hate trying to sell to them. They complain about the price of the hay but have to haul their darlings with a dually 4WD diesel truck and aluminum GN slant load trailer with living quarters with indoor bath and AIR CONDITIONING that cost a lot of $$$$$$$!!!!!!!!
 
(quoted from post at 09:42:13 07/15/11)
(quoted from post at 11:23:59 07/15/11) It is worthless to argue with a guy like him. He only sees it his way. We would have been better off not responding to his post.

Hypocrisy in his statements....maybe?
Click to expand...

I agree. I sell hay to horsey people and hate trying to sell to them. They complain about the price of the hay but have to haul their darlings with a dually 4WD diesel truck and aluminum GN slant load trailer with living quarters with indoor bath and AIR CONDITIONING that cost a lot of $$$$$$$!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

You guys are just showing your ignorance now....... It makes no difference if someone is buying for horses or hampsters or show up in a VW or F450, if you are trying to gouge prices, your virtues should be questioned. Your price should be the same whether you have a millionaire customer or a mickeyd's drive thru worker.
Let's just agree to disagree because it's not worth arguing over.
I still value your opinions tho and hope you don't hold a grudge...

Dave
 
hello dave, there is something I dont understand,If you are always needing hay to feed your horses why dont you buy some more land and some haying equip and make your own hay. Then you would know exactly what the hay would cost to make. You could sell any extra hay you have to other people for exactly what it cost you to make. Oh and dont add your labour because farmers dont usually get paid for the time they put in making the product. They just do it for the love of it. I dont know what land prices and haying equip prices are over there but maybe 2 or 3 hundred thousand should get you started. If you dont have that kind of money you can borrow it from the bank. Im sure the would help you out and not charge you any interest because you are such a good fella :D
 
(quoted from post at 13:27:30 07/15/11)
Click to expand...
You guys are just showing your ignorance now...
I still value your opinions tho and hope you don't hold a grudge...Dave[/quote]

Dave
You call me ignorant and then state I hope I don't hold a grudge.

I spent over $3000 this spring on fertilizer and baled 815 sq bales with another cutting nowhere in sight without a lot of rain and you think $4 a bale will cover fertilizer,rent and hay baling cost and make a big profit.

What do you suggest I call you??
 
Not to mention your time (labor) and costs of running the equipment.

It is worthless to argue with a guy like him. He only sees it one way. Kinda like the pot calling the kettle black, speaking of hypocrisy....!
 
(quoted from post at 10:50:21 07/15/11)
(quoted from post at 13:27:30 07/15/11)
Click to expand...
You guys are just showing your ignorance now...
I still value your opinions tho and hope you don't hold a grudge...Dave
Click to expand...

Dave
You call me ignorant and then state I hope I don't hold a grudge.

I spent over $3000 this spring on fertilizer and baled 815 sq bales with another cutting nowhere in sight without a lot of rain and you think $4 a bale will cover fertilizer,rent and hay baling cost and make a big profit.

What do you suggest I call you??[/quote]

You folks completely missed it... I pointed out what a local guy was doing and how I felt about it. Didn't expect anyone to take it personal like a couple of you did. The ignorant comment is for all of you that stereotype people like "horse people" because you are too thick headed to see that they aren't all alike. Unless they really are in your area..... I have a real hard time with horse people myself and just cringe when I am put in a spot that I have to entertain some of them and be friendly.

Price wasn't the object/issue. I expect to pay what it costs to produce and the farmer's profit which translates to what the price is that the farmer sets (assuming he isn't ripping himself off). What I question is how a roll of hay that was spit out of the same baler as the one that came from an adjoining field of the same type of grass rolled the same day is worth twice as much.....

The folks I deal with except one don't depend on the hay income so much. It's just gravy because they have to mow the fields/orchards anyway. Most don't have a baler, just get it ready and someone else rolls it. The last guy pencils everything out and fertilizes as needed and charges accordingly. What he doesn't sell to me he puts on ebay to avoid haggling. Just that noone has extra 1st cut this year. Looking real good for second cut tho....

Anyway.......... Try not to be offended, my people skills leave a little to be desired.......
 
(quoted from post at 14:20:08 07/15/11)
The ignorant comment is for all of you that stereotype people like "horse people" because you are too thick headed to see that they aren't all alike.

Anyway.......... Try not to be offended, my people skills leave a little to be desired.......
Click to expand...

A lot of horsey people have the same mentality!!!!!!!!

If you don't want a me to be offended then don't call me IGNORANT!!!!!!!!!!!

I've refrained from calling you names and my people skills leave a little to be desired.
 
Going back on Dave2's original post. You cannot always trust people in your church. Church does not make one a saint. Christian values help one become a humble saint.

I'm in the southern US, drought has caught us bad. Most people here are lucky to make enough hay for themselves. If someone is selling, it came from a road ditch.

CT
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

2
hay prices
2
Replies
32
Views
932
504
5
R
Poor hay
Replies
13
Views
643
Doug Wi
D
D
  • Locked
Susan's Obituary
2
Replies
33
Views
2K
Richard G.
R
D
Told Dealer to Keep New Chev 5500!
2
Replies
32
Views
2K
buickanddeere
B
3
Question about the future
Replies
9
Views
1K
Bruce from Can.
Bruce from Can.
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top