How much for hay?

Anonymous-0 · Jul 4, 2012

How much is hay going in your area? lets stick with 50# small bales State where you are from and how hard is it to find some, I am from central Wi and thought prices might have to go up due to people not being able to find labor or just not wanting to do it any more .Still see people wanting to sell small squares for 1.75 to 2.00 dollars which I think is way to cheap.

DownSouth · Jul 4, 2012

Deep South Texas, average $6 for T85. Not too hard to find right now as we"ve had some rain, but the price hasn"t fallen.
Lowest price I"ve seen is $4 but you had to buy 200 min. Highest I"ve seen is $8, but after a week or so he went down to $7.
Proof of the old saying, "It"s worth exactly what you can get for it."

Wheat Farmer · Jul 4, 2012

Upper Arkansas Vally here in CO. will be short on hay again because of no snow pack. If you can find it it will be $9.00 and up. I need 112 ton, and would like to have 168 ton.

M Nut · Jul 4, 2012

Neighbor has his crop in the shed from last year yet, and he can't get $1.00 per bale for it in east central MN. He rented another shed down the road from his farm this year to store the bales he is making currently.

Tom in TN · Jul 4, 2012

I haven't actually priced any grass hay here in Middle Tennessee, but I know that it will be $5.00 or more per bale later in the year. We had a good first cut due to a mild winter and some rain in April, but the bottom fell out in late May, all through June, and now into July. No rain, period.

It is doubtful that we'll have any kind of second cut. Everything is burned up and I've started feeding a little bit of hay to my cows already.

It's going to be another challenging year.

Tom in TN

SouthernFarmall · Jul 4, 2012

I am getting $5 a bale out of the field and $5.50 in the barn of coastal bermuda. Feed stores are getting $6-$7. Most other farmers are getting between $4 and $6. This is in south central NC. Hay is not very hard to come by, but GOOD hay is.

SF

Mike in Mn. · Jul 4, 2012

This is the second year we are getting 3.25, some get 3.50 but there bales may be a little larger and have some alfalfa mix. We deliver for .50/bale. Have the same people for many years and some are not too fussy, some are. It's horse country around here, 25 miles west of Mpls. A lot of guys are quitting or going to row crops so the market gets a little tighter every year, but there's only so much most people can pay or the animals have to go.

Ken Macfarlane · Jul 4, 2012

NB, Canada - Triple mix grass hay
3.25$ delivered locally out of the barn, min 50 bales.
3$ out of the barn
2.75$ off a wagon (I'll drop it off locally too)
2.50$ out of the field but I've never had any takers in 8 years.

I'm on the high end of the scale here, but I don't sell dusty hay which is hard to do here.

Nebraska Cowman · Jul 4, 2012

USDA is calling it $10-20 higher but not much being moved. Producers are waiting to see if it goes higher.

http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/wh_gr310.txt

Yeah, 50# bales @ $1.75 - $2.00 I'll take all you can bring me. That's only $80 a ton

David G · Jul 4, 2012

I would hold onto them at that price. We will have about 1/2 of our normal hay crop in Eastern Iowa. I know that city people with horses are paying $20 per bale for 65lb.

David G · Jul 4, 2012

Send that hay south, we sold all of ours last year to people that shipped it to Texas and Oklahoma.

Ivan Grant · Jul 4, 2012

In Ont Canada I get 3 dollars a bale of the field from people who have horses,lots of demand.

showcrop · Jul 4, 2012

In NH $5.00 off the wagon for grass hay 35-45#. I don't store any and don't handle much of it and it is a touch and go because the horse population is off somewhat. I have some twenty+ year customers but there have been many that no longer have their horses. I need to find a new customer or two. I also lost two customers to the town because they are selling for $1.50 under market price.

Mike (WA) · Jul 4, 2012

$3.00 to $4.00, in the field or out of the barn, in southwest Washington- some will give a small discount for in the field, but most figure on getting more for it out of the barn in winter. Lots of 1 or 2 horse places with limited storage, so there's a market all winter.

chevytaHOE5674 · Jul 4, 2012

I hold most of my hay until winter or early spring when prices tend to rise a little. By then I will hope to get 2.50 a bale and will often sell some for 2.25.

sixtyninegmc · Jul 4, 2012

I`m in Fairbanks, Alaska. We are asking $12 per bale this year for brome and some timothy, with very few complaints. Feed stores were asking $14-$16 per bale last winter, but could not find enough to keep stocked. It is pretty hard to find right now, only a couple people have managed to get any up in between the rain, which is normal for us and part of the reason for the high prices.

kyplowboy · Jul 4, 2012

I bought a load of small squares last week for $3.75 a bale in west Ky. Mostly fescue and orchardgrass with a little red clover mixed in. Most of the time I buy a few extra round bales to get through the winter but this year my hay made a third of what it did last year and there just ain't that many round bales in this country this year. I did find a guy that had some left over 5x5 round bales from October last year. $25 delevered, wish he had more than the 56 I bought!!! We had enough rain the last few days I planted 10 acres of beans into some hay ground today. Planning to plant turnips over most of the farm next month or so. We will for sure be pregcheck'n the mommas this fall for the first time. Always before just sold the ones that didn't calve, any thing thats open go'n into fall will have to go.

There are several folks around here that have started bale'n corn that is about waist high, tostelled out, and brown the first four leaves up. As dry as it's been I'd be scrared to death of nitrates.

Dave

Dell (WA) · Jul 4, 2012

Dave.......in western Washington at the foot of Mt Rainier, I just paid $400/T first cutting alfalfa (100/lb bales) from Columbia basin (other side of Mt Rainier) Dealer sez 2nd cutting alfalfa is going to be $400 her cost. Alotta alfalfa is shipped to Japan in containers. I can remember paying $16T 2nd cutting alfalfa in 1975. ........Dell, head shepherd RockyRidge SheepStation

Spook · Jul 4, 2012

$4 per bale. I only have 2 old goats, so I only buy 10 bales at a time. Very good hay, from a dairy farm.

Bill in Colo · Jul 4, 2012

Close friend in area sold 200+ tons of round bales barn stored for 180 a ton this was for 2010 hay.
Buyer sold 1/3 of his cow herd due to lack of feed and water.

AG48 · Jul 4, 2012

Coastal Bermuda grass in small bales is 11.00 more or less at the feedstore. We put all ours up in 5x5 bales. Small bales are not much in demand. F/W/I/W I just paid $7.95 for 12 bales of straw to use on the 4th of July float.

AG48 · Jul 4, 2012

In North Central Texas - $11.00 more or less for Coastal Bermuda at the feed store. This probably due to horse owners who only buy a few bales at a time. We put all ours up in round bales, the bigger the better, which are more in demand.

For what its worth - I just bought 12 bales of straw to put on the 4th. of July float and paid $7.95 per bale.

Happy 4th everybody.

torwood9 · Jul 4, 2012

Also in Central WI, sold almost all of ours for $2.50 for timothy and grassy stuff. Lots and lots of calls from the south too. 2nd crop we charge $3 to 3.50 depending on what we have. Always was plenty of hay to go around until this year. Interesting how prices vary around the country.

John_PA · Jul 5, 2012

Anything cut after the last week of June for "first cutting" in this area is not hay. It's dead grass. Might as well give the horse a broom to chew on. That being said, with this unusually dry weather, I think there will be a lot of "dead grass" for sale this winter.

Timothy usually is just at peak around the 3rd week of June. This year, it was peaking on time, but there was an abundance of red clover in most local fields. I got a 5 acre field that put out 50 4x4 round bales of pure timothy and red clover. I did another 30 bales on 6 acres of straight timothy. Then, I think I did around 650 14x18x38 squares. All the hay is actual hay. I donated close to 350 bales to a horse rescue, as they just got a rescue heard of 40 quarter horses.

I'm unsure as to what I will be able to get for anything that I sell, as most people won't dial your number unless your price is $2.50 or less. They don't realize that actual nutritional hay is not the same as what they feed their horses. Actual nutritional leafy green hay cut in prime costs money to produce. Less of it feeds a horse better. I might sit on it and if there is a shortage, I'll ask $4 a bale for first cutting. I'd rather donate it, than let someone give me production cost for it.

Things will be tight for everyone this year. I can't put myself out of business just because someone else is willing to sell inferior product at half the cost.

I got a new copy of New Holland's "haymaker's handbook." I found it funny that the picture they used in teh front and back inside covers was of dried out brown orchard grass mixed into some other "hay." It's not a good thing to see that.

John_PA · Jul 6, 2012

Just wanted to share a quick pic of top shelf timothy. Looks like a mess in the picture, heads are on, but stem is still tender. You can tell how thick it was by the tan/brown undercut. There are a few stalks of burnt orchard grass as this was the first windrow from the fenceline. Quality hay is a thing of beauty. I still chew Timothy. Not many people do that anymore, it looks real "hick" to most anymore... They don't know what they are missing on the juicy flavor!

Anyone else still chew timothy?

sixtyninegmc · Jul 6, 2012

(quoted from post at 22:07:31 07/05/12)Anyone else still chew timothy?

Nope. Find the brome to be much sweeter

Anonymous-0 · Jul 6, 2012

Ohio hay auctions have been listing slips of 1st cutting from 200-380/ton for small squares.

How much for hay?

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