Hay!

[CKC]

Last year a 2nd cutting of the best orchard grass I have ever had was $5.50(we had 100 bales delivered and it cost us .50 more per bale). I hope it's the same amount this year.

 

[lilfolks]

I'm in Connectcut and just had 200 bales delivered and stacked in my hay barn and I paid $5.00 a bale for good farmer hay. It was $4.00 a bale last year but just like gasoline, hay has gone up. The horses love it.

Speaking of gasoline, we are $3.26 per gallon here today.

Joyce L

 

[eagles ring farm]

we have also paid 5.65 and 5.25 this winter but have gotten our own first cutting

but hay prices should go down locally if the weather would let the farmers cut

I think i know where you got the 5.65 Zoey and we got some too on route 40

it was a bad year for good quality hay around here.

That said its a new season and waiting for prices to drop and quality to come up

 

[iluvwalkers]

[SIZE=14pt]we are very lucky, we buy from a nice family not to far away and pay $1.60 for nice big bales of beautiful hay. Nikki [/SIZE]

 

[jjnov]

down here in louisiana, at a feed store it can range from $10-$20 a bale, depending on what kind. Alfalfa is close to $20 a bale, sometimes more in some areas. I drive 20 minutes into MS and pay nly $6.95 a bale.

 

[Miniv]

Central Oregon.......Hay growing country.....

$8 per bale of two string orchard grass at the feed store. About $150 per ton.

We've been warned that prices are going up to over $200/ton because the growers are exporting for bigger profits.

MA

 

[crponies]

I miss my ID hay prices. I had a great family I bought from up there for $75 or so a ton which was 40 bales, so less than $2 a bale. That was good clean, sweet, fine grass hay. Now that I live in CA I have 1/2 as many ponies and it cost twice as much to feed them! I have payed from $8 to about $12 a bale for the 3-string bales (which is all you can find around here

: ) of orchard with a bit of alfalfa. That's over $200 per ton! Which is another thing, nobody seems to sell it by the ton around here. The $8 a bale stuff was from a family member of someone I know from church but had weedy grass in it. I'm thinking of seeing what his 2nd cutting is like since it would save me a lot of money over time.

 

[Irish Hills Farm]

Here in TN I am paying $3.00 a bale for orchard grass from a guy who is about 2 miles away from me. Last year I also bought from another person, about 1hr away, who had orchard/timothy and also paid $3.00 a bale. This was the same person I told Marty about because her regular hay guy was also going to be short on hay last year.

 

[Georgine]

Southwestern Ontario, Canada, price paid for 1st cut, mostly timothy was 2.25 for a small bale(50 pounds)

Our information from other farmers is that 2nd cut hay is not best for horses. They say "okay for cattle, but "too tough" for horses"

 

[J&HMinis]

I pay anywhere from $5.00 to $8.50 here for hay.

 

[Jill]

$5 - $6 a bail for orchard grass...

 

[minifarmgirl]

I'm in Eastern NC. Getting hybrid bermuda out of the field for $3.25, but a few weeks ago I was forced to buy a bail from the local farm store for a whopping $8.00 :new_shocked: One year I paid $11.00 for one bail.I'm short on storage space, so I always run out before first cut. Hope to fix that problem this year.

 

[qtrmoonfarm]

Anybody with cheaper hay wanna do some trades ? lol We have two ethanol plants near us now and lots of hay ground in Northern CO and WY being planted in corn on lucrative government contracts :new_shocked: ..Hay last year went to $300 a ton and they say this will be the norm now....this year alf big rounds, 1300-1600# are $170 IF you can find any, and the mold is free

First cutting isn't in here just yet.. Grass hay is nearly non existant now except in Western Neb. it's usually orchardgrass/alf mixed, great stuff at a good price, finer stemmed than anything grown locally, $150 a ton NOW lfor large rounds or squares, small 65#'ers go for 6.00 and up IF you can find any....so looks like we'll be hauling semi loads in from there for all the critters. Oh to live where there are green pastures year round! LOL Hey does grass hay grow in Jamaica mon? I need a vacation from stacking hay! :bgrin

 

[Jessica_06]

Here in Michigan the hay prices go up and down like the gas prices LOL. Theres a local hay auction that we go to every monday about 10 miles from us. The winter months are bad around here we were paying 3 to 4 dollars a bale. I complain about it but I'll stop now seeing what you all pay. Just last week it was all new hay and not very many buyers so we got brand new first cutting hay for $1.20!!!!!!!!! I was so happy and relieved it is good 1st cutting hay I don't feed 1st very much because I like the alfalfa hay with smaller stems. But this stuff wasn't stemmy at all it is a nice grass timothy mix. I'll have to brag a few years back right before the new stuff was cut I got some good grass hay for 10 cents a bale!!!! ~Jessica

 

[NyborFarm]

Here in New Hampshire I went and got hay tonight and Im paying $4 a bale out of the field. But this is very good quality and the only stuff my horse will eat now! Some of these bales are the size of two medium sized bales. They weight about 50 lbs on the light side! But I love this stuff, its the second year that Ive bought from this dealer and if Im lucky I might squeak in on second cutting, but most of his fields are reserved already.

~Megan

 

[SilverDollar]

Southern California--3-strand bales (90-110 pounds) Typical prices at local feed stores:

Alfalfa=$15

Timothy=$23

Orchard=$23

3-way=$18 (oat, wheat, barley)

Bermuda=$15

I've reserved 250 bales of beautiful orchard grass hay that's tested low in sugar from a former hay broker. The horses love it. It will end up being about $18 per bale delivered and stacked (hopefully not more!). I'm on only 1.25 acre so it will be tight but my IR/Cushing's pony needs the low-sugar hay and it's hard to get consistently good hay. This load should feed all my horses for a year (2 large, 1 pony, 2 minis). Geez, if we move somewhere else we sure would save a bundle on feed!!

:

(Holy cow!! That works out to $360 per ton!!!) :new_shocked: Geez, based on what qtrmoonfarm said, it sounds like hay prices could go higher.

:

 

[SandyWI]

Holy buckets, I can't believe what some of you are paying for hay! We have plenty of our own hay ground, fortunately. Plus, a neighbor up the road about a mile has about 2 acres of hay ground he doesn't use and lets us cut it and take the hay for free. It's not as good as our hay, because I worry about it having endophyte fescue in it, so I won't feed it to any of my brood mares, but it's good hay for stallions and geldings.

Our hay is a mixture of timothy, orchard, and certified endophyte-free fescue. We had the pasture completely sprayed and then replanted with this stuff a few years ago, and it's the only hay I'll feed to the breeding mares.

I have 12 miniatures right now, and we just put our first cutting up last week. 310 bales of our own hay, and about 300 bales of the neighbor's hay, which we'll probably end up selling most of.

Every year we end up with hay to sell, and we never ask more than $1.50 a bale, as long as they come and haul it themselves.

Geeze... I should load up our big stock trailer and head west! I could probably make enough money to pay for the gas and have a short vacation!

But I guess I couldn't leave my horses. I'd miss them.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

I just "ordered" all my hay for the rest of the winter and thru next spring. I am paying 5.20 a bale

 

[Dona]

As you can see....hay prices can vary DRAMATICALLY, depending on where you live & what the weather has been like!

:

In my area, SW Ohio, I can usually find excellent 2nd or 3rd cutting mixed hay for $2.00 - $3.00.

This year, however, we have had a drought.....and I was beginning to get worried that I would find ANY hay at all! :new_shocked: Most farmers didn't get even 50% of what they usually get from their first cutting...and said if we don't start getting more rain soon...may not even get a second cutting. Well...we did get a nice amount of rain last week, which helped. Some farmers are getting a second cutting now...but they won't get near what they should off of it.

One of my suppliers (a local farmer just down the road from me) just stopped by the house to tell me he had 84 bales of 2nd cutting that he just put down, I could have if I wanted it. He is charging $5.00...which is more than we have EVER paid for hay....but less than others are selling it for (most are charging $6.00).

And, I have bought from him for years & his hay is top quality, excellent, soft horse hay! I told him YES! I definitely want it! Gosh...I'm down to about 10 bales left in my barn...so this was very welcome news! I will still need more...but I feel much better knowing that I have at least 84 bales to get me thru until I can find some more.

Never thought I'd be so tickled to be paying $5.00 a bale!

:

 

[TinyMiteVillage]

Here is north Georiga we pay 25.00 for s big round roll of hay which we feed round and square bales. We got some square bales of coastal bermuda for 3.00 a bale. Alot of the farmers are worried about not getting s second cutting but we have had some afternoon storms this week so maybe they will. Our hay man said he is down 500 round rolls already.