Hay= the price of gold (or almost)

[Marsha Cassada]

Just finished helping to handle 320 bales of hay. 4 of us locally bought a large trailer load. It came from Kansas. The bales weigh 70-90 pounds. Only 20 were mine. Luckily the guy and his son who delivered helped to unload. I was the youngest, at 58, of the local unloaders! Those puppies were HEAVY!

The price was $10 per bale. I only bought 20 bales, as I have pasture and only two miniature horses. We had a rain a few weeks ago and the winter forage grasses are showing some life. You should have seen us sweeping/raking up the hay debris and stuffing it into tubs to save so it wouldn't go to waste.

Ah, the good old days when 20 bales of grass hay would have cost $60 instead of $200.

I learned that our OK governer has waived the weight and wide-load permits for hay being transported in OK. No wide load at night, but otherwise hay is good to go.

Looks like very nice hay. It is "native KS prairie hay"--whatever that is. It is harvested off huge properties, some as large as 6000 acres. The hay guy told us the field is burnt off every year which controls the weeds.

Anyway, it is beautiful, soft, and a nice green. My two boys have already sampled it and seem content.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

AWESOME!!We got in ten giant bales yesterday and paid $20 a bale. Three strings, probably 70LBs. HOPEFULLY we should be OK now for the rest of the winter. We have about 200 regular squares in the haybarn and maybe another 50 or so distributed throught the other barns.

 

[shorthorsemom]

I just paid $6.50 a piece for "kicker bales" of fine grass hay. Come winter they will be $8.50 or more each. They are fluffy and not all that heavy, but they are super clean and no weeds and no waste...

SE PA and hay is like gold here, hard to find since we had so much rain after so much dought. Glad to get it though.

 

[Hawks_Eye_Minis]

I buy timmothy orchard grass hay the bales are arround 50-60 lbs and i pay $2 a bale... I could get rounds for $25 but for only 2 minis theres no point in those... I buy 100 bales a year so for $200 i can pretty much feed them all year

Im from wisconsin and i found a private grower only 5 minutes away

 

[chandab]

AWESOME!!We got in ten giant bales yesterday and paid $20 a bale. Three strings, probably 70LBs. HOPEFULLY we should be OK now for the rest of the winter. We have about 200 regular squares in the haybarn and maybe another 50 or so distributed throught the other barns.

With three strings, I'd say they are probably more like 100# bales. I don't think I've seen 3-string bales much under 100#; but I've seen 2-string bales upto about 90#.

 

[ohmt]

I feel for all of you. We pay anywhere from $25-$40 a ton for pretty decent hay. This year it was on the high end ($40) due to all of our flooding, but still not bad, especially when some of you are paying $20 for a 70 lb bale. Yikes!

 

[LindaL]

Well, living here in Florida...unless you want to feed your horses Tifton (coastal), which my horses turn their noses up on...probably with good reason since I've heard that coastal causes a lot of colics...ALL other hay is shipped in from other states...which means...$$$

I just paid $17.99 for Timothy!!!!! Yes, that is PER BALE!!!!

I am hoping to find a dealer that will ship and deliver a load for less, but so far, no luck in this area.

Last year, I found a lady who had semi-loads of nice T & A shipped down from Michigan and I paid $13.00 bale.

When I lived in Oregon that same bale would have cost about $8.00 and NICE local grass hay would have been about $3.50 bale.

Guess this is the price we Floridians pay for living here with horses.

 

[chandab]

I feel for all of you. We pay anywhere from $25-$40 a ton for pretty decent hay. This year it was on the high end ($40) due to all of our flooding, but still not bad, especially when some of you are paying $20 for a 70 lb bale. Yikes!

Wow, and I thought I was getting a good deal on hay at $75-100 per ton. I'd love to pay only $40/ton for horse hay, I might have even more at that price.

 

[disneyhorse]

Hay is $13-28 per bale here... #80 and #100 pound three-string bales... Pretty expensive! A #50 bag of beet pulp pellets is $15.50

Andrea

 

[Riverrose28]

Talking about hay, right now I'm totally disgusted! We had a deal with the farmer , cattle farmer accross the road, to buy all of a 48 acre field. We have always shared the hay, he would bale some in round bales for cattle and some for us square for horses. Well the owner of the farm died, the guy accross the way, cattle farmer is still renting the fields from the wife, and all was well. Then last year the cattle farmer died. His son has taken over, this is were the problem lies. He is in a hurry. First cutting was full of weeds but at least eatable for the horses, but now he wants to cut one day, turn the next then bale, it doesn't have enough time to dry out. He is young and you can't tell him anything! They just brought a flat bed truck load in here we had to turn away, it was so wet you could wring it out! Between the dry weather, wet weather, we are not going to make it thru the winter. I can't put wet hay up in my barn, it will catch on fire, and will mold, what are they thinking. He said well I'll put it in my barn. Well good luck! My farm hlep spent all day in this field picking up the bales, not to mention the cost of fuel with the tractor, I'm peeved! I went out to check the hay and it was not acceptable and you are right it is needed and cost too much to take a risk. Last load had night shade in six bales. Just too much to take. Don't know what I'm going to do next year, but this guy has got to go.

 

[shorthorsemom]

In SE pa it is almost impossible to put up dry hay this time of year, by the time the sun gets high enough to dry it out, it starts getting wet again. My supplier for my horse hay has a hay dryer.

My husband puts up his cow hay wet and in a silo this time of year, but we can't even get dry enough conditions to do that. We are going to be so short on hay. Horrible year for hay. I wish we could put up hay here for my mini horses.

Our friend put up some horse quality hay, or so he thought, and it got mouldy.

You can never put up horse hay in a day unless it is 95+ degrees outside. Tough when you have a reliable source of hay dry up.

That guys hay is going to burn down his barn. You cannot mow wet hay, very dangerous.

 

[Miniv]

We're looking at $200 per ton for quality orchard grass (two string bales).... and we live in a top hay growing area. A lot of the growers either ship it over seas or truck it out of the area for more.

Fortunately we are currently feeding off some of our own home grown....but it's not going to last through the winter.

 

[Lizzie]

We have always envied those who live in other parts of the country. We have paid about $17 a bale (three string) for several years now. One of the reasons we have not bred any big horses fror some time. And for those who at least have a little pasture for some of the year, we envy you even more.

Lizzie

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

Prices and availability were a problem here in southeastern MO earlier in the year. Too much rain and folks were saying production was going to be a problem. But things dried out a bit and just toward the end of summer folks started loosening up on their personal stockpiles and started selling. It took me until late Sept to secure my fall/winter supply. The quality isn't as good as years past, but it is certainly edible and properly cured/baled. I've got 400 70lb squares of orchard/brome/lespideza (sp) mix. I paid $3 per bale. He stores and assists with loading. I pu 50 bales at a time.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I feel for all of you. We pay anywhere from $25-$40 a ton for pretty decent hay. This year it was on the high end ($40) due to all of our flooding, but still not bad, especially when some of you are paying $20 for a 70 lb bale. Yikes!

$40...a...ton?? That's two small square bales here!

I just paid $17.99 for Timothy!!!!! Yes, that is PER BALE!!!!

...

When I lived in Oregon that same bale would have cost about $8.00 and NICE local grass hay would have been about $3.50 bale.

I want to know what part of Oregon you were in- north of Seattle we've always payed $15-20 per bale for good quality Timothy or Orchard Grass from over the mountains. The local stuff isn't worth buying no matter how cheap it is! My area is just too wet to grow good hay, especially in a La Nina year like we just had. I want another riding horse but there's no way I could afford to feed him and do the vet care for three horses on my salary in this area. ($300 for teeth, $600 for a gelding procedure, $1,000 for stifle surgery that elsewhere is $150.) Oregon is sounding better and better!

Leia

 

[LindaL]

$40...a...ton?? That's two small square bales here!

I want to know what part of Oregon you were in- north of Seattle we've always payed $15-20 per bale for good quality Timothy or Orchard Grass from over the mountains. The local stuff isn't worth buying no matter how cheap it is! My area is just too wet to grow good hay, especially in a La Nina year like we just had. I want another riding horse but there's no way I could afford to feed him and do the vet care for three horses on my salary in this area. ($300 for teeth, $600 for a gelding procedure, $1,000 for stifle surgery that elsewhere is $150.) Oregon is sounding better and better!

Leia

When I was boarding out in Scappoose, there were signs all over the sides of the roads for grass hay for $3-4/bale. Now, if I wanted Eastern Oregon grass, then of course the price went UP and yes, the quality was always better than local.

 

[ohmt]

Yep, $40 a ton, that was not a typo! We got good hay that wasn't rained on and wrapped for that. I bought 100 80lb bales of really great grass/alfalfa mix hay in May for $2.00 each too. Now don't you guys wanna come on up here to ND?

Actually, we are one of the few states that is still doing ok in this economy. Cheap living and lots of jobs.

 

[susanne]

When I was boarding out in Scappoose, there were signs all over the sides of the roads for grass hay for $3-4/bale. Now, if I wanted Eastern Oregon grass, then of course the price went UP and yes, the quality was always better than local.

Other than the glorious "Brinster" local grass hay, most of that $3-4/bale around Scappose/St. Helens is cow hay and/or filled with weeds. Some on Craig's List advertise "local orchard grass hay," which translate to "more expensive cr@p." It simply doesn't compare to orchard grass from east of the Cascades.

At our feed store, orchard grass goes for $23-28 per 110# bale, local grass hay for at least $8-10.

We currently buy central Oregon orchard grass at $11 per 90# bale from a farm that trucks it in...it would be less if we could purchase by the ton, but we have very limited storage.

I've heard news reports that our hay prices are up this year due to so much being hauled down to Texas and Oklahoma, creating our own shortage, but so far, we've paid the same for the last 2-3 years.

 

[Katiean]

I feed alfalfa. It seems to be the cheapest. I get 100-130lb 3 string bales for $13-$15 each. I try to buy extra each month because I don't want to buy any in December. I am feeding 4 minis. I wish I could afford the mix. They are even bigger bales and the orchard grass smells so sweet.

 

[Minimor]

Some of you definitely make me feel good about our hay price. This weekend I'm getting my winter supply of hay delivered-- 2 1/2 semi loads (50 bales per load--800 lb bales) of round bales, $33 each. That better last us through to spring!