Hay prices not going down?

[movin' on]

Beef11, you are one of the few people that sees this the exact same way that I do! Opportunity cost is a term that a lot of people don't want to talk about, but it's very real. I won't add anything as you have made the case for me very well, it's just refreshing to know that somebody else gets it, too!

 

[frenchie]

I can,t believe what you guys are paying for hay... :shock:

I can buy all the hay here I want at $20 a roll and less squares at 1.50 to 3.00 bucks

 

[ga. prime]

Demand far exceeds supply down this way, frenchie. '06 was a bad drought year. Hope '07 is better.

 

[ga. prime]

Corollary to Beef11's proposition that same quality hay is worth the same no matter who grows it (which I believe to be true, as far as it goes) is my proposition that this is a best case scenario. More likely your hay cost you more to grow and bale than hay you can buy and have delivered, therefore more than what you can sell it for. Meaning, you lose money on baling hay. And at these prices, you lose money on the cows you feed it to.

 

[rc]

Angus brangus said,There is something said for doing it yourself, and that's what I'm talking about! Let me have myself to blame.

 

[MoGal]

If you don't already have the equipment or access to it, I can understand the startup cost of buying equipment may not be feasible until cattle prices go up.... whenever that may be.

In my own situation, I think ours is a win-win one. The family already has the equipment and my brother in law said he would help with the haying and I know I can cut and rake, I've just never baled hay but I can learn. The Cimmarron SR alfalfa seems to last 8-9 years so its just going to be the most expensive this first year. With the Lord willing, we'll get good weather for the hay and not have to pay $800 a month next winter for hay.

 

[preston39]

AB,

Your points are well made.

We bale ourselves and will do some in the area for others as time permits. A hay type gets ripe all at once. A commercial baler cannot be every where. So some hay gets over ripe and is not good.

To avoid this problem we have differnt hay in different fields. In the spring we start with scirica..it is the first to be baled. Timothy and OG is next. Fescue is a close third. Scirica is usually the 1st... 2nd cutting in the fall.

Recent studies show that Fescue must be cut when the head starts to form. After that, the value drops rapidly and does not come back for that growing period.

We tarp our hay and save 20-25% from loss.

 

[3MR]

I dont know about the rest of you, but I dont loose money on haying myelf even if I were to buy the same used equipment every year.

My swather was 6k, baler 7k, rake 3k. Even with depreciation it cost me much less to bale my own than buy it, especially now. What I cant get baled in time someone else does on shares. OSU figures you need to bale at least 800 acres to pencil doing it yourself. They use the cost of new equipment as a starting point. When you buy used equipment the 800 acres is significantly reduced. Anyway you slice it, the economic sense of baling yourslef is directly related to the amount of acres you are baling.

 

[frenchie]

ga. prime .My biggest problem here is finding trucking( big Rds) to get it home.

Hopefully you guys have it better next year.