Posted 2007-01-20 12:28 PM (#54151 - in reply to #54144) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Expert
Posts: 2828
Location: Southern New Mexico
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.
Posted 2007-01-29 1:34 PM (#54670 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Member
Posts: 10
Location: Eureka, MO
We are very lucky, my husbands' cousin has a century old farm and grows the best alfalfa around. So we get it at a super "family" price! We find with good alfalfa we can feed less due to it's good protein and density.
Posted 2007-01-30 1:45 PM (#54741 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Regular
Posts: 81
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
Posted 2007-01-30 7:14 PM (#54755 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Expert
Posts: 2453
Location: Northern Utah
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.
Posted 2007-01-30 9:13 PM (#54759 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Elite Veteran
Posts: 644
Location: Odenville, Alabama
My hay guy called tonight and said he's going to be out of grass hay soon, so I better make plans to get some more quick. I'm hoping another 75 bales will hold me until they can cut some time in June.
Posted 2007-01-31 8:21 AM (#54778 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Veteran
Posts: 274
Location: Memphis, TN
My place is surrounded by a 400 acre cattle operation and they are kind enough put up some good round bales inside the old dairy barn that is no longer used for my horses. Been paying $40 per round bale this year but seems the horses have eaten more this year than last as we are out of round bales. They have just enough "cow quality" bales left for their herd. Have resorted to buying sq bales at local feed store. Did not plan this in the budget
Posted 2007-02-01 1:11 AM (#54819 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Veteran
Posts: 143
Location: southeast U.S.A.
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.
Posted 2007-02-03 12:38 AM (#54965 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Member
Posts: 44
Location: Montana
Yuck all the hay troubles sound horrible. We grow our own hay on 5 acres and get 11 tones. I have a wonderful neighbor who cuts, turns, bails and stacks for just cost. This year I paid $345 for 10 3/4 tons of hay. I have a good source for my boarders that is $2.15 a bail and he will deliver and stack for me. (The bails are 80lb 80 orchard/20 Alfalfa)
Posted 2007-02-03 6:48 AM (#54967 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Expert
Posts: 1205
Location: Danielsville Georgia
I bought a trailer load in Sept.for $3.50 a bale.Bermuda mainly.Then prices around here went to $6.50 a bale for common grass hay(mainly Bermuda which I'm NOT fond of)any how everyone stated about the shortage and the high prices and all of a sudden in the last few weeks theres lots of hay available.Guess with spring coming on theres more stashed around then folks growing it wanted folks to believe.There were a number of hay growers that did have a issue with Army worms that show up in drought and can eat fields to nothing in a few short days.
Posted 2007-02-03 10:24 AM (#54978 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 391
Location: Columbia, KY
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.
Posted 2007-02-03 5:47 PM (#55006 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Expert
Posts: 1989
Location: South Central OK
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.
Posted 2007-02-03 7:59 PM (#55011 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 335
Location: Decatur, Texas
"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!
Posted 2007-02-03 8:54 PM (#55014 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Veteran
Posts: 274
Location: MO in woods
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.
Posted 2007-02-18 8:31 PM (#55799 - in reply to #53699) Subject: RE: Hows the hay holding up
Veteran
Posts: 164
Location: Delaware
I resorted to round bales about 5 summers ago when we had a drought and lost our pasture in August. Around here round bales were not horse quality. The farmer had baled for his horses and had extra. I used round bales for the next 3 years and we built a square box in the corner of the lean-to that we placed the round bale in and kept the horses from ruining so much of it (round bale feeder $200, homemade $20). Last year I ended up getting square bales from the hay farmer that was cutting the field down the road. He dumped it from his stacker right to our barn door. He and his wife do it all (they are early 20's). He has 3 barns that hold 8-10,000 bales each and he said he fills these up 2-3X in the summer. He has an automatic stacker and the only time he touches the hay is when he sells it. His hay this year was $3.25 to $4.25 for 60-70 lb bales. We have 3 horses and take 5 bales out in the tractor bucket and dump in the hay box. This lasts 3 days. This works for us. When I throw hay I use 3/4 bale a feeding so this is just 1/2 bale more free choice than if I feed 2X a day. My horses constantly have their heads in the hay box. My husband wants to keep with the square bales since they take up less room in the barn. We buy all our hay in the summer so we don't have to worry about $6.00 hay in Feb.