Sorry some of you have to pay big bucks, but look, what do you pay for a mocha latte from Starbucks, 4.00??

Fortunately there is no starbucks around here.  But when we travel I have to let my husband stop.  If I make him give up his "special" coffee then I have to give up my "special" horses.

I use square bales and I am fortunate to have enough storage to support my four horses.  I am in middle Middle Tennessee and buy first cut every Spring.

This year, the grower was three weeks late on the first cut because of the rain. I was getting nervous because he is a breeder and his brood mares come first before he sells any off.  It goes without saying that the $3.50/bale I pay for 35#-45# bales is well worth it because the hay is top quality grass mix with no weeds.  Even the first cut is hardly stalky.

I know there is a bit of a hay shortage in my area, and you pretty much have to "know" someone if you run out or be prepared to pay BIG dollars at the local feed stores. 

I hope this year's hay season is better for EVERYONE.  Those cows need to eat too, or we might not see as much beef and milk products in the grocery stores.  Plus they'll raise the prices on US and the farmers won't get any of it.  Sorry for the momentary rant, my dad dairy farmed when I was a kid.  He eventually leased our land many many years ago to the big guns because we couldn't survive and fell back on his journeyman's trade that he learned in the military

I buy hay from neighbor for $2.25 a bale. 32 bales to the ton.  Or about $72 a ton for Alfalfa/grass mix.

I had 200 bales of hay get ruined in a freak thunder storm last october where the area where I stack my hay got flooded. ( heck of a way to run a desert). It turned moldy real fast and was wet and heavy to haul off.   It cost me more to get rid of the bad hay that it cost me to buy it.

So I'm having to buy a little hay to carry till first cutting. My neighbor was hooking up his trailer the other day and I asked where he was going. Said he was going to pick up some hay for his horses from his ranch in South East Idaho. Asked him if he had room to throw some on for me. He said sure and brought me home four 1000lb square bales on his gooseneck flatbed trailer. Two bales of meadow grass and two bales of Grass/Alfalfa for $40 a bale. Put the forks on the skid loader and picked them up off the trailer and stacked them in the shed. I think I'm going to have to buy a lot more of those 1000lb bales come summer. Moving 1000 lb bales with a machine beats the heck out of picking up 60lb bales in the in the field in the July heat.

A good friend let me buy 4 round bales this past friday. That really helped out alot! We have small acreage and have to have enough to make it till first cutting in the spring. Went around buying all the hay that we could find last summer and still didn't look like it would be enough.I had a conversation with one of the guys that we buy from and he said that his stepfather had never seen a hay shortage in this area this bad and he's in his 70's. I hope for the horses sake that everyone has enough to get through till springtime. Really heartbreaking to see horses that have nothing to eat.

                                                     Ardly

In south GA where we used to live I'd pay 2.50-$2.75 bale out of the field for nice looking bermuda hay.   When we moved to VA  s yrs ago at first all I could find was crap hay for $4.50/bale.  since my horses would only eat a portion of it and waste the rest it came out to more like $10/bale...

there is a hay store nearby that sells  good hay by the pound and it's anywhere between 18-22 cents/lb.  they loaded 30 bales on my truck and the bill was something like $560!! unbelievable. 

lately we've been getting 1000 lb square bales 2nd cutting orchardgrass for $95/bale and are happy to pay that and have decent hay.  they are more trouble to move around but it's just another excuse for my husband to get more implements for his tractor.

This is exactly why I plan on putting 80 acres of fertigated(irrigation that delivers liquid fertilizer) hay pastures in my new location.

Around Dallas you can't find horse quality hay.  Cow quality rounds are around $100.  Earlier this year there was a ban on transporting hay out of some counties in Texas due to fireants.  I guess they think this will stop them from spreading.  Good luck with that one!

I think this problem will ony get worse, imagine...farmers may move away from cattle due to increases in feed costs because corn is now fetching high prices due to ethanol production.

What is the American farmer to do?

"What is the American farmer to do?"

Outsource to China or some other third world country like everything else. I have nightmares about a foreign flag waving over the US Capitol. Not because of war, but about America being cashed out!

We pay farmer to cut 2 fields for us and husband an I ride rack an load/stack square bales.Also pay help well to help stack in barns.Our hay man never has any luck getting kids/young adults to help and I knew he pays them cash an well too.So whats a farmer to do????We feeding 7 this winter an 4 are preg so we'll probaly look/need 60 more bales.

I just know of all farmers that do hay They all complain on getting No help on stacking or riding the rack.Its real hot dirty dusty job and If we could I would pay to have someone else stack an load it an ride on rack.Hopefully we get enough rain this year.