jdarling Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 I understand the need for the farmers to raise their prices due to the price of gas, etc., so please don't take this thread in any way as a complaint about it. I am just curious ... What are hay prices near you? For instance, I know the prices in California are way more than we're paying here. Around here, it's about $200 a ton, delivery extra. By the bale, I got mine for $7/bale, but that was a great price. I think it's going for more like $9/bale now. Jodi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcnewe2 Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 Round here it's pretty cheap. Don't konw the actual prices as I don't need hay but this year has been so weird with all the rain I know people are getting 3rd cuttings that rival their first. Problem is with all the rain, you can hardly get it off the fields. I'll still waiting for mine to done. Not enough dry time to do it. Kristen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 Square bales (~50 pounds or slightly more) are $4 and up, with horse hay being higher. Round bales, 4 x 5, are going for around $30-35, with some being much higher, especially horse hay. A 4 x 5 round bale weighs around 600 or 700 pounds. Since we have gotten some rain, I imagine there will be a decent second cutting and hay prices will stay where they are or perhaps go a little lower. Anyway, the prices aren't as high as last year (when we paid $49 for the same size round bale), but they are higher than years past (before the drought). J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdarling Posted September 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 I guess I should mention, the square bales I just bought for $7 each are about 80 lbs. a piece. Anna ... how are prices by you? Jodi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stockdogranch Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 Ha! You ask me what prices are here so y'all can just freaking gloat! Ok, in May, I paid $215 a ton for "small" squares. That was considered "cow hay," although that's what the sheep and good ol' Peggy Sue (the big red pasture ornament that occasionally passes for a quarter horse) also eat. These are heavy muthas--they average 130 lb. per bale. So they were in the neighborhood of $13 per bale (there were fewer bales on this load than usual, since they were so heavy. In past years, they've weighed maybe 110-115 per bale). When I bought this load, the fancy horse hay (for all those rich folks with Warmbloods down in Del Mar) was $265 per ton and up. Since I am still using my load (and am praying for an early rainy season, so this will last till I have enough grass), I haven't priced any recently, but would assume, given fuel costs, etc., that it hasn't gone down any. Laugh all ya want! The only redeeming thing is that, in average years, depending on how much rain I get, I'll get anywhere from 4-6 months of grazing. And I could potentially still be picking tomatoes in December! A ETA: Jodi--are you going to the trailling of the sheep trial in Oct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fosher Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 A neighbor just bought a load of second cut grass hay and paid $255/ton delivered for small square bales. Another fellow was selling small squares for $6 out of the field. I didn't weigh any of the bales, but I'd guess they were 40 pounds. $300/ton. I've heard tell of 4X4 round bales of silage in the $50 range around here, which would be the equivalent of $142/ton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btrent Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 $14 to $16 per bale of the #1 alfalfa in small lots (2-10 bales) which is all we can buy at a time (unfortunately no storage). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdarling Posted September 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 Wow. I guess that would be another question ... besides the price, how long do you have to hay feed? I hay feed normally from January to April ... the rest of it is pasture, and December (when the grass is dying off), I'll supplement (hay once a day instead of twice.) Anna, I am going to try to make it up on Sunday to see if I can help out or something. I committed to doing a herding demo here in town for the Historical Society long before the trial date was set, but that's only on Saturday (I think. I hope! Egads, I better check.). Will you be there? Jodi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 Well, thanks to drought conditions last year and this, there were only about three months this year that I didn't feed (late March, April, May, and early June). I sold off a bunch of sheep and decided to provide hay supplementation to what's left. The rains we had from Fay and Hanna have helped tremendously to green up the pastures (though we're still at a rainfall deficit overall), and the sheep are preferentially eating grass over hay, but I'm still supplementing, even so. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stockdogranch Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 Anna, I am going to try to make it up on Sunday to see if I can help out or something...Will you be there? I'll be up top, on Peggy Sue, doing my thing with Rid and Tik. Judi and Trub will be there helping me. Come on up, otherwise, I'll never meet ya, A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 We can count on Jan-March for sure. Even though we are further east, we also have a lot of coastal grass that doesn't green up until the weather gets consistently warm at night. About mid-April assuming we've actually had rain as well. But our feeding needs aren't that bad in that last bit between the end of March and then - our ewes are excellent for starting lambs on next to nothing and we lay in something like soybean square bales for that time. Then we have at least one month in summer, usually August, that we'll need to feed a bit of hay. Not that there's not anything out there, but because it's of little value. It's as dormant as it is in February. But by that time the lambs are culled down to replacements only, normally, plus the ewes have been culled down. In Feb we start one of our few graining times - flushing. We start with a 12% now and work up to only 16%. By that time the grass is back again and we'll have useful grass all the way into early winter most years. This year, because I'm having a clinic in November with David Henry, we will have the Earliest Blizzard Ever here in North Carolina and it will hit November 14. Mark it on your calendars, folks. No seriously, it's amazing how we really get nice weather right through the week after my usual clinic in mid-Jan with Jack. We got it wrong the first year, but we've hit it right on the nose the next couple years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaBluez Tess Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 I feed grass and alfalfa. Out local grass hay is good but the bred ewes need alfalfa. As well as the locker lambs and calves. I had a guy come out to my friend's field and hay it for me. Cut/Baled and stacked in barn. Good grass hay at 50 Lbs. $3.50 was my cost. I could see it easy for $6-7 a bale in the field. I have my alfalfa guy that has been delivering me to 7 years. He gets me choice alfalfa. Last year, it was 4th cutting for $170, stacked in the barn. I have to buy 2 bed loads worth, about 27-30 tons. (he pulls two trailers) I sell 7-9 tons to friends and sell it to them at what I get it for. They show up on day of delivery and he loads it on their truck. This year, he got me Japanese Export Alfalfa. He managed to convince the guy to sell to him for me. Curtis has a standing hay order from me when he looks for my hay, to just get the best deal. This hay is very fine, thin stems and just wonderful. Cost was $288 in my barn. Over the years, he has gotten me top quality hay. This hay goes for well over $23-26 a bale. 20 bales to a ton. (anyone want a good hay guy in WA, let me know) I got grain by the ton. It is in a large bag and we have to pick up and then unload it at the barn in barrels. The guy mixes sheep vitamins in it. Last yr is was $170 a ton and now it is about $350-400 a ton. I am cutting my flock in half since I can't afford the extra $$ for hay and grain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaggieDog Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 I believe my mom said she paid $3.50 or $4 for her regular 50lb bales of grass hay for her horses. She's in South Central Indiana. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenajo Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 southern Alabama $40-45 for a 2 ton bale of grass hay (bermuda or coastal bermuda). Down here hay is sold more often by the bale than by the ton. about the same for peanut hay (the vines after the peanuts are dug and harvested, somewhat similar to a very heavy stalk alfalfa in protein and fiber). Perennial peanut (raised for hay, not for the nuts) is ideal, the southern Alfalfa, but it's way too expensive and tends to be held for small bale horse hay. The last 2 year we flushed with corn d/t the drought. This year I just turned the ewes onto new pasture. We won't grain at all until the last weeks of pregnancy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kajarrel Posted September 10, 2008 Report Share Posted September 10, 2008 This was a bad year for hay here in Central New York - it rained incessantly so, although the grass grew, we didn't get the hay (first cutting) in until August! I typically use over 3,000 square bales so I was panicing. I paid $2.50/bale for 40 - 50 lb. square bales of good grass hay for my horses. This was a pretty good price for horse hay. I'm not sure how much the round bales (for the sheep) are going for -- I split mine with the guy who hayed my fields -- couldn't get ANYONE to do square bales for me this year. Most of the farmers have moved to chopping hay or round bales exclusively . . . I get 3 tons of mixed grain blown into my barn every few weeks by the local feedmill during the winter months. It was going for around $800 - 900 early in the summer. Not sure how much we'll be looking at this fall/winter. Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragtimedog Posted September 10, 2008 Report Share Posted September 10, 2008 This was a bad year for hay here in Central New York Kim Bad here in NH. I'm paying 4.50 for small bales, but I do have to feed most of the year. I don't have enough land - so cutting my flock back this fall. My hay guy agrees that he may run out before the winter is over. I don't have storage! Grain stores are getting $7/8 a bale. Same here about a shortage of square bales. I wouldn't mind round bales for the sheep, but don't have a truck anymore. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kajarrel Posted September 10, 2008 Report Share Posted September 10, 2008 That is a big part of the problem -- you need to have the proper equipment and storage for what ever you feed. I'm really lucky that the guy who sells me the square bales will store some of the hay in his barn and deliver it on an "as needed" basis. And, thankfully, we have a tractor to move the round bales. I'm thinking that we might have to bring in our own hay in the near future, but that involves purchasing and maintaining the equipment . . . And, it's hard to justify the expense with only 80 sheep. Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silhouettestable Posted September 10, 2008 Report Share Posted September 10, 2008 Around here (Ontario) the hay grew really well with all the rain but it was almost impossible to get off the fields because it was too wet. I lucked out and got some in the only dry week or so that we had in July. Mine is timothy/alfalfa for the horses and because I don't have a lot of pasture I feed all year round. I cut them back in the summer and feed only as a supplement to what grass they do get, but I do always have to feed some. I usually bring in about 1000 small squares but this year I only got around 860. I was supposed to get some out of another field when he cut more but then we were back into rain and my place was so muddy I told him that I probably couldn't even bring a load in without getting my trailer stuck, so I'd make do with the 860. At least with all the rain even my grass grew better than usual so I've been feeding a lot less hay all summer which should make up for my shortage. I pay $2/bale in the field and haul it home myself, though he uses the tractor to lift the stooks and bring them to the trailer. I think good horse hay delivered was around $3.50-$4/bale or so around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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