Hay prices and availability

[lilmissfit]

What is going on in your area?

Here in Northern Indiana we are looking at no 2nd cutting, have only received about 1" of rain in the past 7 weeks and it looks like the price is already at $4.50/bale and $80 for round bales. :shock: :shock:

Last year in this area we were able to get 4th cutting. I'm currently looking at driving about 3 hours to get hay. Not looking good at all. Praying that we still have enough time this summer for it to turn around.

 

[DrumRunner728]

No rain, no hay. Things are going to be tough this winter.

 

[Bez>]

Tons of hay in eastern Ontario - and I do mean lots - running in the 20 - 30 buck range for five foot rounds.

Big squares are running about the same - maybe a bit more - have not really priced them.

We are in the middle of lots of hay - but it is getting a bit mature - just cannot keep up at this stage.

As I said a while back somewhere - I probably will have at least two or three years of hay stacked up in another month or so.

Bez>

 

[flaboy?]

I haven't cut any yet. I had hoped to get two cuttings this year but it looks like one will be it. I should get enough from one cutting for my cow but will have none to sell.

I get my horse hay from Canada. Bunch-o-horse folks got together and have a truck come down every three weeks. I plan to stock up on horse hay while I can get it. Last year I ended up buying some pretty nasty looking horse hay from where ever I could get it at whatever price they wanted.

I fed my last cow hay rolls up in March due to no rain down here to get the grass going.

 

[Bez>]

I haven't cut any yet. I had hoped to get two cuttings this year but it looks like one will be it. I should get enough from one cutting for my cow but will have none to sell.

I get my horse hay from Canada. Bunch-o-horse folks got together and have a truck come down every three weeks. I plan to stock up on horse hay while I can get it. Last year I ended up buying some pretty nasty looking horse hay from where ever I could get it at whatever price they wanted.

I fed my last cow hay rolls up in March due to no rain down here to get the grass going.

Better hurry - a few folks were up here last week from your neck of the woods - buying everything in sight.

Bez>

 

[lilmissfit]

What is the cost of shipping from Canada?

 

[flaboy?]

I haven't cut any yet. I had hoped to get two cuttings this year but it looks like one will be it. I should get enough from one cutting for my cow but will have none to sell.

I get my horse hay from Canada. Bunch-o-horse folks got together and have a truck come down every three weeks. I plan to stock up on horse hay while I can get it. Last year I ended up buying some pretty nasty looking horse hay from where ever I could get it at whatever price they wanted.

I fed my last cow hay rolls up in March due to no rain down here to get the grass going.

Better hurry - a few folks were up here last week from your neck of the woods - buying everything in sight.

Bez>

Yeah, I guess these folks have had an agreement for a while because the guy shows up like clock work every three weeks. Sometimes with one semi and some times with two.

Probably the best thing I could do would be to buy a new square baler and make my own but its hard to justify one for a couple hundred bales a year. My old NH 273 finally gave up and I can't find a decent used one. I have some really clean areas I could square bale.

 

[flaboy?]

What is the cost of shipping from Canada?

I really don't know. The price of a bale includes shipping. $8 for nice T/A and $8 for Alfalfa. Feed stores are getting $10-$20 for the same thing but theirs is not as good. These are the small squares in the 70-80 pound range.

 

[Jim62]

Around here, most folks are still trying to get their first cutting in. It's been raining so much that I don't think anyone has made any hay that hasn't been rained on so far. I've got about 30 acres of coastal down now. Six more hours of no rain, and I'll have it done. Should be more than I need--I figure at least 60 or 70 big rolls.

Last year there was no hay because it was too dry--this year it may be in short supply because it's too wet. Go figger..

 

[Bez>]

What is the cost of shipping from Canada?

No clue - the trucks pull in - load and pay cash - leave for wherever.

Quite often the loading is done straight out of the field - cuts the pricing substantially.

Someone is making money - I just drive the tractor and fork over any cash to the boss - she never tells me where it goes - but the table usually has food on it so I shut up and drive!

Bez>

 

[lilmissfit]

Someone is making money - I just drive the tractor and fork over any cash to the boss - she never tells me where it goes - but the table usually has food on it so I shut up and drive!

Bez>

I hear that. LOL

 

[sjr725]

Boy! I should ship hay to Florida!!
Up here we're getting 90-100 a ton for small squares (70-80lb)of horse hay and cow hay in rounds looks like it's going for 70-80 so far this year. We irrigate out of an irrigation district canal fed by the missouri river so we won't run out of water - but we've had a solid month of temps in the high 90's -100, with all but no rain so we're pretty much watering non-stop - if we were to sell much hay we'd have to make up for the pump bill. We're fortunate to raise our own, we do sell a little horse hay - we try to cover the cost of our own feed by selling some - never works out that way though! - I keep more horses than I need and we dry lot our cows in early spring after calving until they can go to Forest Service pasture - so we go through a bit of hay.

 

[lilmissfit]

I'm so jealous of you sjr. I love Montana, went on a cattle drive a few years ago in Roundup. Looked at some land in Columbus too. Eventually, I hope to be out there somewhere.

 

[sjr725]

Columbus is a nice area - have a friend that lives in Rapelje - just a little north of there, we go there a lot. Lots of nice places to ride.
We're closer to Helena, about 200 mi west and a little north of the Columbus area - more and bigger mountains, just a little different scenery. I like it here.

 

[flaboy?]

The problem I have with Montana is, it snows there. :lol:

 

[3MR]

Amen, snows good for skiing and pretty picture windows, not much else. I like Oklahoma, I can go next door to ski and on a winter morning, for about two weeks, I can look out my window and see all the snow covered ground, but it will be melted before I need to drive to town and I still wont need a coat.

 

[sjr725]

We'll take water in any form we can get it!
We haven't had anywhere near normal snowfall the last few years so, like this year half the state is on fire. We had a lot of rain early so our first cutting of hay came in late June instead of early July like usual - we will be ready to cut again in a few weeks, but if the smoke doesn't clear out we'll wait - doesn't seem to matter how hot it is if the smoke is blocking out the sun , hay just doesn't seem to cure. that happened to us in 2003 - we had all of our hay down and fires started around here and it laid there in 90 degree heat for almost 15 days before we could bale it - it just wouldn't "turn" - needs to have direct sunlight I guess.

 

[Jim62]

Well, so much for the idea of getting hay made without it getting rained on. Got about 10 acres rolled and here we go again. 50% chance for the next 4 days.

 

[lilmissfit]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh...rain!
Haven't checked to see how much, but we got a nice easy rain this afternoon for about 3 hours. Afterwards my horses were so happy they were doing "hotlaps" around the pasture.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

What is going on in your area?

Western Livestock Journal predicted hay to go up to $250/ton by Sept/Oct!!!! Gheeze louise!

Right now it is hanging in the area of last years "high" at $150-$155/ton...

but this winter is making a lot of folks nervous... drought or flood in a lot of areas = reduced supply, cull hard while prices are good [Thanks to the advice of Bez, MikeC, dun, and the other good folks we're hoping to make it through...]