$ 70.00 a roll.... wtf

[TexasBred]

hey $70 a roll is cheap if your in a drought an theres no hay tobe found.the last drought we had a friend of mine was giving $100 a bale for hay delivered.

Luckily I sold out that spring. Now I'm hearing or rather reading prices being advertised from $50 a roll up depending on the type of hay and size of the roll.

 

[chukar]

I have to agree with Dave on this one. Anytime, buying or selling, a standard unit of measure is going to be best.

Seems if you are buying by the bale and there are extreme differences in weight due to size of bale it only makes sense. Especially if you are feeding cattle x number of pounds per day, or some percentage of their body weight. Pretty hard to say one bale of this is going to suffice this bunch of cattle for today, when that "one" bale might only equate to 1% of their total weight.

Only time I have ever paid anything "by the bale" is if I have a custom baler come in and they say $x per bale for the job. I always make them give me a $/ton price for the same job. Then we take a check weight, and if their bales are light/loose/smaller than they should be, we go by the ton price. A guy could get real backwards real fast if it you only went by the bale if you don't ever know what they actually way.

Jus my two cents anyway.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Selling by the ton is a much more fair way to go... But only works if there are scales someplace close. Nearest scale to me is about 30 miles northeast of me, most of my hay is sold to customers to my south and west, so to weigh each load of hay would add 60 miles to my delivery and at 2.50 a loaded mile would really add up for the buyer in a hurry. Add to that the scales are only open Monday thru Friday 9-4, during which times I rarely haul hay because I have other stuff going on.

 

[bigbull338]

hey $70 a roll is cheap if your in a drought an theres no hay tobe found.the last drought we had a friend of mine was giving $100 a bale for hay delivered.

I saw lots of that in '11 and on advertised on Tx craigslist, much of it was coming from Tenn, Ky and Va.

a friend of mine was trucking no telling how meny loads of hay from mississippi in 11 to his ranch in south texas.

 

[bigbull338]

TB i hope we dont run out of hay this year.but if we do i think i know where i can get hay pretty easy.

 

[BAR_R]

Just got offered nothing special grass hay for $120 per ton...I said no thanks. The drought has set a new floor for prices. I think I might need 20-30 bales over what I can produce so this year I will be almost self-sufficient....god it feels good.

 

[3waycross]

Just got offered nothing special grass hay for $120 per ton...I said no thanks. The drought has set a new floor for prices. I think I might need 20-30 bales over what I can produce so this year I will be almost self-sufficient....god it feels good.

They would be sold out in 10 minutes here!

 

[greybeard]

hey $70 a roll is cheap if your in a drought an theres no hay tobe found.the last drought we had a friend of mine was giving $100 a bale for hay delivered.

I saw lots of that in '11 and on advertised on Tx craigslist, much of it was coming from Tenn, Ky and Va.

a friend of mine was trucking no telling how meny loads of hay from mississippi in 11 to his ranch in south texas.

The 18 wheelers came thru here in '11 every day from April thru Feb 2012. Most came from the East up 105 to Tx321, then to us59 going both directions. You could see the blown off hay all along the curbs where they went thru town on 321. Not local gooseneck haulers--18 wheelers from out of state. I never saw anything like it. Counted 8 of them sitting at Love's Truckstop one day in mid summer. When the local feedstore went from $7 little sq bale to $16 for some of the dirtiest and sometimes moldy hay I ever saw, I knew it was real--and he couldn't keep enough, even tho it came in in a big 18 wheeler box they just backed up to his dock and left till nearly empty. Sold mostly to horse folks. Today, he's still asking $9.50 a bale. Dunno how much he sells at that price--not much I suspect. Coastal.
TSC in Livingston (23 miles north of me) still has 4x5s with a $99 sign on them.

 

[thommoos]

A friend of mine is selling 6x5 for 90 delivered 1/2 way, they switch trailers at the midway point. He meets them in Mississippi, they are from somewhere in south texas.hink he said 16 bales a trailer, has sold the guy 280 bales.

 

[B&M Farms]

Wow... I wish I could have sold some I normally have about 250 + 5x5 rolls left over every year. I would feel like im taking advantage of someone for selling them at those prices though. I probably would sell them for 30-40 a roll though.

Add $3 or $4 a mile for 32 rolls to that 30-40 a roll and you can see why it gets expensive to haul hay very far. I don't think its always the guy producing the hay ripping someone off. It just depends on how far you got to haul it. I can end up with 20 dollars a roll in fertilizer nowdays if I'm trying to put up really good hay. Add equipment expenses and fuel and I don't think the prices are that high. It just depends on what kind of hay you want.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Wish we could find some quality hay delivered for $70 a roll!! Hay prices depend on type, quality, irrigated & fertilized (or not), location, local and source weather conditions, TRUCKING expense, etc.

$40 a roll on East Coast would end up $140 a roll (with $100 a roll trucking expense to West Texas)...lol. Trucking charges are out of sight!!

 

[cowgirl_jenna]

120+$ for a 4x5 bale here, 2nd crop alfalfa some grass, the feed situation is getting scary!!! straw is even high priced as dairy's are feeding it to stretch things. I do ask myself, should we be running all our hay through cattle at times???

 

[redcowsrule33]

I hear you Jenna - in our area we are running into a real situation. The drought of last year made us feed anything that resembled forage to make it through to spring. Sold down the herd. Spring arrived in June (had over a foot of new snow in the beginning of May), so not only did we run out of feed but had to scrape together enough to feed for an additional month to grass, at a dear cost. Once the snow finally cleared, we woke up to find that most of the alfalfa was winterkilled. Not a huge deal for us (directly), but the dairy farmers that were depending on first crop were looking at barren fields. Weather caused the new planting of hay to get put in when we are normally finishing up corn, and many people plowed under their killed hay fields to plant corn for forage. We had an abundance of moisture all spring and through June, which caused those of us that put up dry hay to get way behind with 1st crop. Then the rain stopped the first of July, followed by a heat wave with high winds that took care of our moisture surplus. It hasn't rained yet. So the pastures and hay ground have done nothing. And the corn is not pollinating well and in some cases, dying. The late planting of hay left us with about 50% of the oat hay we were hoping for, and late, short corn means there might be a lot of corn silage but the stalks and stover we used to stretch last years hay may not be available. We rotational graze, but the pastures aren't growing back, so we will be feeding in a week or two. We just put the cows on ground that was grazed off 2 months ago (start of second rotation). There is not much there.

So, hay prices are ugly. "Hay" being cut now is off CRP and US Wildlife ground, it will keep them full but nutritional value will be squat. Unfortunately, we might even be competing with the dairy guys for this stuff. Their bankroll is a bit larger than ours.

If corn prices stay low, we may find it is more cost effective to feed corn through the cows than hay. Or just not have the cows. Which is my last choice, as I have worked way too hard for too long to dump the genetics I have.

Just had to get all this off my chest. Sorry for the long-windedness. :tiphat:

 

[greybeard]

Not to make you Wi folks upset but........
CL-1500 4x5s @ $25 ea
No idea what kind or how heavy. Worded the same as another ad that stated it was bluestem, but maybe not.

 

[1982vett]

I hear you Jenna - in our area we are running into a real situation. The drought of last year made us feed anything that resembled forage to make it through to spring. Sold down the herd. Spring arrived in June (had over a foot of new snow in the beginning of May), so not only did we run out of feed but had to scrape together enough to feed for an additional month to grass, at a dear cost. Once the snow finally cleared, we woke up to find that most of the alfalfa was winterkilled. Not a huge deal for us (directly), but the dairy farmers that were depending on first crop were looking at barren fields. Weather caused the new planting of hay to get put in when we are normally finishing up corn, and many people plowed under their killed hay fields to plant corn for forage. We had an abundance of moisture all spring and through June, which caused those of us that put up dry hay to get way behind with 1st crop. Then the rain stopped the first of July, followed by a heat wave with high winds that took care of our moisture surplus. It hasn't rained yet. So the pastures and hay ground have done nothing. And the corn is not pollinating well and in some cases, dying. The late planting of hay left us with about 50% of the oat hay we were hoping for, and late, short corn means there might be a lot of corn silage but the stalks and stover we used to stretch last years hay may not be available. We rotational graze, but the pastures aren't growing back, so we will be feeding in a week or two. We just put the cows on ground that was grazed off 2 months ago (start of second rotation). There is not much there.

So, hay prices are ugly. "Hay" being cut now is off CRP and US Wildlife ground, it will keep them full but nutritional value will be squat. Unfortunately, we might even be competing with the dairy guys for this stuff. Their bankroll is a bit larger than ours.

If corn prices stay low, we may find it is more cost effective to feed corn through the cows than hay. Or just not have the cows. Which is my last choice, as I have worked way too hard for too long to dump the genetics I have.

Just had to get all this off my chest. Sorry for the long-windedness. :tiphat:

Thin the herd....it's the only thing you have control over.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I hear you Jenna - in our area we are running into a real situation. The drought of last year made us feed anything that resembled forage to make it through to spring. Sold down the herd. Spring arrived in June (had over a foot of new snow in the beginning of May), so not only did we run out of feed but had to scrape together enough to feed for an additional month to grass, at a dear cost. Once the snow finally cleared, we woke up to find that most of the alfalfa was winterkilled. Not a huge deal for us (directly), but the dairy farmers that were depending on first crop were looking at barren fields. Weather caused the new planting of hay to get put in when we are normally finishing up corn, and many people plowed under their killed hay fields to plant corn for forage. We had an abundance of moisture all spring and through June, which caused those of us that put up dry hay to get way behind with 1st crop. Then the rain stopped the first of July, followed by a heat wave with high winds that took care of our moisture surplus. It hasn't rained yet. So the pastures and hay ground have done nothing. And the corn is not pollinating well and in some cases, dying. The late planting of hay left us with about 50% of the oat hay we were hoping for, and late, short corn means there might be a lot of corn silage but the stalks and stover we used to stretch last years hay may not be available. We rotational graze, but the pastures aren't growing back, so we will be feeding in a week or two. We just put the cows on ground that was grazed off 2 months ago (start of second rotation). There is not much there.

So, hay prices are ugly. "Hay" being cut now is off CRP and US Wildlife ground, it will keep them full but nutritional value will be squat. Unfortunately, we might even be competing with the dairy guys for this stuff. Their bankroll is a bit larger than ours.

If corn prices stay low, we may find it is more cost effective to feed corn through the cows than hay. Or just not have the cows. Which is my last choice, as I have worked way too hard for too long to dump the genetics I have.

Just had to get all this off my chest. Sorry for the long-windedness. :tiphat:

Thin the herd....it's the only thing you have control over.

That is what I am doing right now as I am feeding hay now. Got grass just absolutely nothing in it except dry straw standing. I cut the herd 70% in 2011. Last year I bought 19 opportunity girl's and ran through the summer with the resident girl's. I am selling some girl's I really don't want to. Guy coming to get them tomorrow.

 

[Stocker Steve]

So, hay prices are ugly. "Hay" being cut now is off CRP and US Wildlife ground, it will keep them full but nutritional value will be squat. Unfortunately, we might even be competing with the dairy guys for this stuff. Their bankroll is a bit larger than ours. If corn prices stay low, we may find it is more cost effective to feed corn through the cows than hay. Or just not have the cows. :tiphat:

- Saw trucks with large square bales going south and east all spring. We missed some of the alfalfa winter kill here but everything else sounds similar. Seed salesmen have had a great year.
- Contracted with a neighbor in May for all his upland hay. I put in sorghum sudan rather than soybeans in June, I am planting oats and cereal rye into the dust right now, and I am working on a byproducts plan. Optimistic cow/calf operators are sitting around thinking they will be buying cheap corn silage this fall since it went in late and now it is burning up, but you are right - - dairy cows have to eat too.
- The problem with doing all this work obtaining forage is does it generate $ profit $ ??? Commercial beef cow gross margins makes it hard to justify growing annuals or trucking in feed or ...
- Cull early and cull often. :cowboy:

 

[skyhightree1]

http://richmond.craigslist.org/grd/3971704426.html newly listed

 

[1982vett]

That is what I am doing right now as I am feeding hay now. Got grass just absolutely nothing in it except dry straw standing. I cut the herd 70% in 2011. Last year I bought 19 opportunity girl's and ran through the summer with the resident girl's. I am selling some girl's I really don't want to. Guy coming to get them tomorrow.

I'm still "understocked" so to speak. Pastures were never very strong this year but the little bit of rain we have gotten has kept the cows satisfied (at least till now). I've was able to rotate through pastures and hay meadows up until a few weeks ago when I opened the gates to all of them. I've got several high strung gals I was so "lucky" to get last year when I was restocking. Also have several with udders breaking down. Really need to get them gone.

 

[1982vett]

http://richmond.craigslist.org/grd/3971704426.html newly listed

Must not have anything better to do with their time or money.....If it needed the hay for myself I'd bale it.
Sure wouldn't bother baling it to sell for $20 a roll.