Hows haying going around you?

[chandab]

I finally found some good hay thanks to Jill.

They are the smallest bales of hay I have ever seen though, $6.50 at 35lbs

Another draw back, is I have to rent a Uhaul truck to bring enough home to make it worth while... so 105 bales cost me over $800.00.... very glad my horse's are air ferns!

Makes me miss haying our own field in Oregon. Only cost me $1.65 for 65lb bales.

Wow, 35# bales, those don't even seem worth the effort to bale, no wonder they charge so much. My FIL puts up 40-50# bales with his old square baler, but he just puts them up for his own use, and I get them for nothing, if he has any to put up (I don't get his bales very often even with the cheap price, as they are so light and loose, they don't store well).

At those prices for baled hay, I can see why people feed mostly bagged feeds.

I can get bagged hay pellets for $10/50# ($400/ton) from one company or $14/40# ($700/ton) from another.

Small squares at $6.50/35# is $371.43/ton and it takes a ton of space to store a very small amount of feed.

Other places have larger squares at $20/100# bale or more, so that's $400/ton or more; and you need lots of room to store, might as well buy the bagged stuff and not have to store tons of hay.

 

[Davie]

Got my alfalfa back the end of May for $7.00/bale out of the field and got just 100 bales--wish I had bought twice that much but funds were just not available at the time and besides I fell off the back of the truck so after 125 bales we called it quites. Bales weighted anywhere from 80-130 pounds each. The heavier ones I have to bust open and then put on the back of the golf car as I can't lift them. Now that the grasshoppers have made their appearance--no more alfalfa from OK. If I want more I'll have to go to NM or up north.

We will be hauling Blue Stem this Friday and I've got ordered 150 bales but may increase that to 200 and will be $5.00/bale. My girlfriend will be getting 75 so that means we have a lot to haul Friday and it is going to be close to 100 degrees, so will probably be in the fields late evening into the early morning.

I'm not going to get caught short like I did last year. My horses just did not do well on the pelleted or bagged hay. Not going to happen again.

 

[Miniv]

We're in a orchard grass growing area. The fields are starting to be cut now and it looks good, as long as they get it baled by the weekend - when showers are predicted.

What's irritating is that people are still selling off LAST YEAR'S hay for over $200 a ton! (approx. 70lb bales) It makes me wonder how much THIS year's hay is going to be.... Yikes.

 

[Equuisize]

Washington State near the coast:

We had some unusally warm weather in mid May and the local fields here got their first cutting of junk out of the way.

It went into round bales for haylage.

Then the weather cooled down again but I think if all goes well, in July & August, the farmers will get maybe an extra cutting of

usable hay. Fields are growing like crazy and a couple places have already baled once again.

Local grass bales from the farmer we buy from are 'girl' bales at about 65# and cost $6.25, last season.

Our one big guy developed an allergy to it a couple years ago so we don't buy much of it anymore except as

entertainment hay thru the winter, for the minis.

We've gone back to going to our old hay person, where we lived before, and have brought home straight alfalfa all winter

for $11 to $14 a bale for 90/95# and bluegrass bales at 110# for $11.

It comes from Eastern Washington and has been so nice and consistent in quality so not sure we'll mess with the local stuff any more.

 

[sfmini]

We had a great first cutting for us. Since the weather was so dry, we were actually able to drop and bale all of it without any getting wet and no losses. It was thin, but we got enough that we should have enough for the year and the next cutting will be breathing room and can sell some. We are still feeding last year's hay and sold some of that for $1.50 to a friend.

Unbelievable, the old rickety equipment (and Pete) held together and didn't break down which is yet another miracle for us.

 

[attwoode]

We do 50-60lb bales from fields on our property. Just cleaned out what was left of last years hay for $1.50/bale, which is what i pay the neighbor to bale it for me. I just have to stack on the wagon and load in the barn. Any extra I usually sell for $3. Would love to load up a truck and deliver a bunch to some of you for $10/bale!

On saturday we got in half of our first cutting and it was only about 1/3 of what we had from that area last year. However, it is better quality because we had dry weather to bale a month earlier. I'm looking forward to a really nice 2nd cutting in early Aug. Good 1st cutting hay arounf here goes for $3/bale and $4 for 2nd cutting. Might go a little higher this yr. Last winter hay was up to $8 locally.

 

[Carolyn R]

50-60# bales of Timothy hay has been the same from my hay guy for several years, I always tell him, let me know if you need to mark it up......I buy 30 bales every 3.5 weeks-a month at $80 each time. Love the old timers, thankfully his son followed in his footsteps too.

 

[Cupcake]

We get hay from California as Texas has been in a drought since October of 2010(!). I bought my first 3string coastal at $19 in July last summer, prices kept going up so I stored enough in my garage for the winter at $23 a bale because my hay guy kept scaring me about prices going through the roof and the possibility of hay running out entirely. It lasted until march. Prices were at $27 then until last month, now we're paying $25 and $23 or $24 for 3string alfalfa. I pay about $30 in 5 days for one paint and one mini.

I grew up on a farm in Europe and if we would have had those hay prices back then we would've came out millionaires...

 

[wingnut]

Here in Maryland, things are looking better than last year.

My hay supplier did raise his price fifty cents a bale...at $4.50 a bale, I'm not complaining. This is for really nice orchard grass in ~30lb bales.

 

[Genie]

Our bales weigh about 40 to 50 lbs and were 4.00 this year.

Got them in without any weather worries, however, just in the nick of time to avoid an army worm infestation. It's a bad year in this area for army worm.

 

[SampleMM]

For the first time in over ten years, I had to buy first cutting hay and my 2nd load comes tonight. My horses aren't very happy but my hay guy said that with the worms he can't guarantee any second or third cut hay and I was thinking our hay situation was going to be okay due to our nice weather. Where are these worms coming from?

 

[lilnickers]

Picking up our 1st cutting tomorrow. $1.75/bale-40 lbs.(last yrs price, not sure on this yr) Am thinking we should buy extra, because our hay guy said he isn't sure he will be getting any 2nd cutting due to the Army worms moving in. I'd also like to know where these worms came from!

Our hay guy is excellent to us, and always makes sure we are happy. He helps us load it from the wagon. This hay is green and beautiful. I have had many compliments on it from visitors.

 

[Genie]

I think the army worm problem is a result of certain weather conditions. I would be interested to hear from others though, as this is the first time in 20 years we have had the issue.

We dodged the bullet as they had not yet been able to dessimate the crop. The worm likes timothy, for one or their targets.

 

[barnbum]

Here's the article on the army worms from our paper:

http://www.mpnnow.co...myworm-invasion

 

[Riverrose28]

Are these little beggers also called tent catapillars? If they are they are toxic to horses as if ingested the little spines cause ulcers.

 

[albahurst]

I am very thankful that we were able to buy hay the past two years. I thought we would have to again this year, but I just found out our hay has been cut and is baled! AND- it is the best we have ever had! We have had virtually no rain here, but my husband did run the irrigation for the crops and it watered the brome. So, looks like I won't have to buy hay this year.

 

[Magic]

Last year we grew about half of what we needed and bought the other half for $4 a bale (50 to 60 pound bales). Hay was a little scarce last year since there was quite a bit of flooding in places. We have about 300 bales left over from last year since we sold quite a few horses plus the weather was drier this spring than it has been in years past so first crop was able to be cut and baled in a timely manner. We have 450 bales of first crop this year in our hay barn from our five or so acres of hay field. We'll have to buy some hay this year too, and I'm guessing that the price will be similar to last year. It's a dry year here so far, but we're irrigating as usual and so is everyone else so getting second crop shouldn't be an issue at all. If it's another dry year next year, things will be different.

 

[JennyB]

Oh gosh I am afraid of what our hay prices are going to be this summer. We have seen last years hay going from $125. to $190 a ton...because this has been a very dry spring, hay is not tall and if you don't have irrigation you are not going to get large crops. I expect prices will be from $150. to over $200. a ton...this is why we are trying to sell out....Things are getting wayyy out of hand, hay prices, gas prices, vet bills..it wares on a person..

Blessings,

Jenny

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

Wow I'm feeling lucky down here in south carolina......

Just bought a years worth of hay at $30 per large round bale and I can get my square coastal bales about 50 to 60 lbs at $3 a bale.....don't know if I would have horses where you guys live!

 

[JAX]

Yes my number one reason for no more breeding or buying. I am getting ready to spend close to $7000 for a years worth of coastal bermuda, still need alfalfa... still need rounds for the big horses.