FAIR price for hay for Texas and Okla

Help Support CattleToday:

Biggest problem with trucking the hay is the back haul. No one wants to go home empty and there nothing to bring home making it worthwhile for the truckers. Shytty situation all the way around.
We're getting rain here and hay prices are still going up.on top of that I've been feeding hay all spring and summer because of winter and spring drought and having to hold my MIL's cows on my place till hers is finished clearing and established. Costs right now running 2 bucks/hd/day
 
You guys are making me feel guilty....We got rains about 3 weeks ago down here, and the grass shot up...everyone has been cutting hay and its not that hard to find some decent hay for $50 or $55...bahia/bermuda mixed. Most people sold so many cows when the prices were good, they have more grass than needed....Ive got 235 acres of good grass that someone could cut for free if they could get the water off of it long enough... Ever since Ike destroyed the flood gates, water does not drain properly off our property and that field has about an inch of water on it half the time.
 
Don't feel guilty. Glad you got the rain and the grass Mark. Heard CB mention he got some good rains too. As for hay, I know these guys can't grow it and deliver it for nothing. Those that are getting a little hay are probably getting half what they usually produce but with same imput costs....delivery??? Well we all know what fuel cost are now. Was checking the hay exchange yesterday and one guy in Central Texas had corn stalk bales for $55 each...another was trying to get $75. If it had to be loaded and delivered on a semi I'm sure you would ahve to add another $20-25 dollars a roll depending on bale weight and distance to the farm. Hard to get a 50,000 lb. load of hay so rate per bale or ton is higher. Really weird driving thru the country and seldom seeing a cow and the ones you see are ganged up under trees and 200 lbs. under weight.
 
2barmcattle":vullj0mh said:
I may owe some an apology then. Heck....this drought is Baaad. I've had .3 since Oct. Cows are walking on roots and YES I have seen myself...people taking advantage of drought stricken farm folks. Good points from all of you and...$30.00 hay hauled 200 miles and sold for $100.00???? Just looking for an honest way to help folks and maybe my hands are tied. If $70.00 hay is the price this year vs the sprayed and fertilized 6x6's I bought last year for $40.00 then that is the way it is. BUT when these folks are selling the $70.00 hay for $100 I start to really wonder if they can sleep at night.
Click to expand...

This is precisely the reason I do not irrigate the coastal fields and sell the hay. Irrigation is expensive. If you sell hay for $5 over cost, everyone accuses you of gouging. Everyone wants to come around tire kicking and expecting you to take a $50 loss per bale. Hence, it just aint worth it to irrigate.

I have sold a little hay to customers who buy every year. I donating some of last year's hay to folks who got burned out in Possum Kingdom area.

I am going to be short on hay myself so I am selling cows.

We're all in a crisis. I simply cannot afford to irrigate and take a loss on hay while "gouging" folks. I could sell to strangers for a modest profit.

This is a crisis.
 
I posted on this about a month ago. People are hurting and people are taking advantage of them! I sold some hay for the same price i got for it a year ago. Why because they needed it! They actually offered to pay me more, told them NO! Why because i may need the same favor sometime! Its what good neighbors should do! REGARDLESS OF THE MARKET!
 
Anyone on here besides me donate hay to fire victims this year?

I have been gouging away at the sale barn. Calves have been going for double the price they went for 2 years ago. :lol:
 
backhoeboogie":80yw8c9a said:
2barmcattle":80yw8c9a said:
I may owe some an apology then. Heck....this drought is Baaad. I've had .3 since Oct. Cows are walking on roots and YES I have seen myself...people taking advantage of drought stricken farm folks. Good points from all of you and...$30.00 hay hauled 200 miles and sold for $100.00???? Just looking for an honest way to help folks and maybe my hands are tied. If $70.00 hay is the price this year vs the sprayed and fertilized 6x6's I bought last year for $40.00 then that is the way it is. BUT when these folks are selling the $70.00 hay for $100 I start to really wonder if they can sleep at night.
Click to expand...

This is precisely the reason I do not irrigate the coastal fields and sell the hay. Irrigation is expensive. If you sell hay for $5 over cost, everyone accuses you of gouging. Everyone wants to come around tire kicking and expecting you to take a $50 loss per bale. Hence, it just aint worth it to irrigate.

I have sold a little hay to customers who buy every year. I donating some of last year's hay to folks who got burned out in Possum Kingdom area.

I am going to be short on hay myself so I am selling cows.

We're all in a crisis. I simply cannot afford to irrigate and take a loss on hay while "gouging" folks. I could sell to strangers for a modest profit.

This is a crisis.
Click to expand...

No reason to accuse you of gouging unless the price more than doubles from one year to the next like so many others have this year.

YOU will get repayed 'tenfold' for your donations to the fire victims. Good for you.
 
There will always be those who "Gouge" (truly take advantage of other's misfortunes) and those who are simply trying to do business...there are alot of factors in why a farmer may change his prices..I know diesel is up and fertilizer is INSANE..

I wont doubt some people are really sticking it to others..but I think alot are simply just, as I said, doing business. This is the part of keeping stock that sucks..some years are "good" (like last year for us..lots of wheat hay) and others, like this year, are truly bad.
 
spinandslide":1i9lnlvb said:
There will always be those who "Gouge" (truly take advantage of other's misfortunes) and those who are simply trying to do business...there are alot of factors in why a farmer may change his prices..I know diesel is up and fertilizer is INSANE..

I wont doubt some people are really sticking it to others..but I think alot are simply just, as I said, doing business. This is the part of keeping stock that sucks..some years are "good" (like last year for us..lots of wheat hay) and others, like this year, are truly bad.
Click to expand...
I agree
and you can usually tell who is trying to to hook you and who is just trying to get enough out of his hay to pay the bills
 
We bale hay and I can tell you that the bills DO go on. Long after you have bought your hay we are still paying the bank for the meadows, the equipment, and let's not forget insurance, maintenance costs, fertilizer and the cost of diesel is outrageous. Routine annual maintenance on the equipment without any repair work is generally $1000-1500. This is more than most clients spend on hay in a typical year.
This month was a very light baling month and we spent over $2000 in diesel and another $1300 in bank/insurance payments. Don't even consider any hired help, do it yourself and see what you are making an hour for all your work. It costs the same to run those tractors around a 50 acre field that yields 20 bales as it does to lap around the same field when it yields 150. And we get paid BY THE BALE. We are all in this hades of a drought together and I can tell you that NOBODY in the drought is profiting. NOBODY.
 
I'm a bit guilty of taking advantage of a good market... when I ship hay about 150 miles to the big city, I sell it for $14 an 80 lb bale.. I will also say my custumers are picky bastards and have money to spare
On the other hand, if you pick it up, I have sold the same hay for $7/bale for years now, about $.50 t $1.00 above my neighbors price, but I grow it organically, and as lauralee said, it costs the same to go around the field regardless of your yield.

The best I can do is wish you some good luck, and some rain, even though it probably won't do much good now
 
Nesikep":lpxkwl2l said:
I'm a bit guilty of taking advantage of a good market... when I ship hay about 150 miles to the big city, I sell it for $14 an 80 lb bale.. I will also say my custumers are picky bastards and have money to spare
On the other hand, if you pick it up, I have sold the same hay for $7/bale for years now, about $.50 t $1.00 above my neighbors price, but I grow it organically, and as lauralee said, it costs the same to go around the field regardless of your yield.

The best I can do is wish you some good luck, and some rain, even though it probably won't do much good now
Click to expand...
Nesikep.......rain would help....a lot......as we still have 3 months of growing weather if it would just rain....not to mention the cool season grasses, the ones I use extensively, are just coming into season to plant next month.
 
1982vett":1n8zt2u7 said:
Nesikep":1n8zt2u7 said:
I'm a bit guilty of taking advantage of a good market... when I ship hay about 150 miles to the big city, I sell it for $14 an 80 lb bale.. I will also say my custumers are picky bastards and have money to spare
On the other hand, if you pick it up, I have sold the same hay for $7/bale for years now, about $.50 t $1.00 above my neighbors price, but I grow it organically, and as lauralee said, it costs the same to go around the field regardless of your yield.

The best I can do is wish you some good luck, and some rain, even though it probably won't do much good now
Click to expand...
Nesikep.......rain would help....a lot......as we still have 3 months of growing weather if it would just rain....not to mention the cool season grasses, the ones I use extensively, are just coming into season to plant next month.
Click to expand...


No joke on winter pasture if we could get some rain. I was penciling it out 500 pound calf's are going to have to bring .94 a pound for a cow to break even. Having to start feeding in July has got cow cost up to 470 dollars a cow this is figureing in winter pasture seed. I have got that seed price locked in. Feeding cotton seed hulls and corn gluetin at 210 a ton to minimize hay loss. These numbers are good till October if I have to keep feeding out of super sacks to supplement hay. I figure I will have to feed hay till May to let pastures recover. I am actually thinking on containing them in a 15 acre pasture as a sacrifice pasture and carry them totally on hay until I can get winter pasture up. Pull them again to the sacrifice pasture when warm season grass starts and let it get well established and recovered before putting the cows back on it. Problem has become heat and maintaining BCS. Have to hold BCS or it will raise the cost trying to hold them through the winter.

My head hurt's.
 
slick4591":cg0r6qg7 said:
I've never fed hay grazer and I'm not starting with this. He is 8 miles to my south in case someone wants some.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/grd/2543830899.html
Click to expand...

We were paying those prices 2 years ago and we have to feed 7 months out of the year, that is why alot opted to disperse.

Sure hope the rain that some are now getting rolls through to everyone that needs it. I know how a drought tests ones faith and puts the weight of the world on your shoulders . :(
 
We feel bad for you cattle people down in TX and OK! Not much we can do for you from WA.

Have a truck driver friend in Mich. with some small acreage who told me recently that they're burning round bales, because there's too much there and they can't sell it. ???

Our local hay people export out of country. We drive 50 mi. and get alfalfa for $125-$150/ton, rather than $240+ right here, next door.

Has anybody called Bill Gates?!?
 

Similar threads

M
Jeans for Women Farmers?
2 3
Replies
50
Views
2K
bdcattle
B
B
Looking for suggestions on calves
6 7 8
Replies
148
Views
6K
Farm Family
Farm Family
B
Milk for everyone
Replies
3
Views
540
gcreekrch
G
G
Raw day for a cow move
Replies
13
Views
741
farmerjan
F
Silver
Beautiful day for a preg test
Replies
1
Views
434
Dave
D

Latest posts

Top