Hay prices

[Hpacres440p]

Grass is coming in nicely in central Texas, and it seems there is a lot of it standing, not being grazed. Sellers are still asking $80-100/roll for last year's corn stalks, you can imagine the price for legit hay.
I'm not saying that hay guys shouldn't make a profit too, but are they following the rule of gas stations-"never go back" to lower prices? Fewer cattle after drought sell offs. Maybe they're selling to horse people?

 

[tex452]

The problem I'm having now is that it's too wet.
I want to clean off the rye so I can renovate and fertilize again.
It's just too wet to bale.

 

[moses388]

My hay source has also been selling to a hay jockey in Oklahoma. Hay jockey sells to horse people.

 

[Otha]

Just doing some quick math on inputs for irrigated coastal in my area I bet rain or not the floor on irrigated hay is $100 plus. That's not to say if it keeps raining there won't be dry land bringing $50.

 

[tex452]

Just doing some quick math on inputs for irrigated coastal in my area I bet rain or not the floor on irrigated hay is $100 plus. That's not to say if it keeps raining there won't be dry land bringing $50.

I agree.
I listed some good fertilized, clean coastal and tifton a couple years ago for $60/4x5 roll and didn't sell one roll, there was lots of hay that summer.
I wouldn't have broke even at that price.
I'm glad no one bought it because I ended up using it.

 

[Otha]

I agree.
I listed some good fertilized, clean coastal and tifton a couple years ago for $60/4x5 roll and didn't sell one roll, there was lots of hay that summer.
I wouldn't have broke even at that price.
I'm glad no one bought it because I ended up using it.

Yep that good hay is worth keeping. It'll last 3 years around here pretty well.

 

[TexasRancher]

We are getting a lot of rain...corn is looking very good here. You can hear it grow.
I'm buying my 50 bales of corn stalk hay early...in september-october right after it's rolled-up from the field...whomever has the best prices gets my business, hoping for $40. will probably be $50. It's a shame but Loyalty is out the window, does not exist, between ranchers and hay producers. I can guarantee some hay producers that didn't do well in the past will do very good this year...while others will see their sales decline and their bales build-up beyond capacity. I'm openly expecting to truck in 40 bales a few hundred miles this year.

 

[BC]

Inputs are still high $35 per roll to cut, rake and bale. Fertilizer to replace the nutrients removed from soil by hay is going to add another $40 a roll (350 lbs of 21-8-17 per acre) if it makes 4 rolls per acre.

 

[RDFF]

Inputs are still high $35 per roll to cut, rake and bale. Fertilizer to replace the nutrients removed from soil by hay is going to add another $40 a roll (350 lbs of 21-8-17 per acre) if it makes 4 rolls per acre.

Don't forget the land cost, and trucking. Nobody can do either for nothing. Around here, $300/acre for land is toward the bottom end now... so at your 4 rolls per acre, that alone is $75/bale. Storage (including plastic wrap?) = $15/bale, hauling bales off the field to storage (Iowa State Custom Rate Survery) here gives that $3.45/bale. Baling with wrap = $14.75/bale. Mowing + raking = $25/acre, so $6.25/bale. All totaled, that comes to about $140........... not including any fertilizer costs, or irrigation. And it's still not delivered, just sitting in the bale sellers storage.

I get that hay has to pay through the cow........ so as cheap as possible is always the goal. But for the hay guy... the BALES have to pay through the input costs. I used to be in the hay business... but no more. I prefer to harvest as much as possible directly through the cattle of my own hay, and then rely on buying in whatever I might need above that. There's always gonna be "hay guys" that just don't want to have to deal with animals, and like playing with equipment. And just like us in the cattle industry, inevitably they end up being at the mercy of "the marketplace"... supply and demand. They just don't have to deal with the monopoly that is the meat packing industry today.

 

[Dave]

Alfalfa was $250 a ton and grass hay was $200. Cows are being turned out and there is still a lot of hay around. The prices are down to $175 and $150. The hay guys don't want to sit on it all summer. And the cattlemen are tired of feeding it. There are still some cows on hay but a good portion of them have moved out.

 

[RDFF]

Hay is more difficult to "carry over" than grain is... and not generally a better market waiting for it as it ages. They pretty much HAVE TO get each year's crop marketed before starting to make that next year's crop... so once the cattle start going to pasture and feeding stops, the market usually will dry up pretty fast. Most buyers will wait for the new crop product to come to the market before buying... OR, buy up old remaining inventory cheap, because it HAS TO MOVE....

 

[Travlr]

Grass is coming in nicely in central Texas, and it seems there is a lot of it standing, not being grazed. Sellers are still asking $80-100/roll for last year's corn stalks, you can imagine the price for legit hay.
I'm not saying that hay guys shouldn't make a profit too, but are they following the rule of gas stations-"never go back" to lower prices? Fewer cattle after drought sell offs. Maybe they're selling to horse people?

There's a lot of people around here selling good alfalfa to China by way of LA. They run big square bales through a processor to make little 20 by 20 bales and ship them back to China in storage containers that would otherwise be empty or hard to get rid of.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

Alfalfa was $250 a ton and grass hay was $200. Cows are being turned out and there is still a lot of hay around. The prices are down to $175 and $150. The hay guys don't want to sit on it all summer. And the cattlemen are tired of feeding it. There are still some cows on hay but a good portion of them have moved out.

I noticed it was coming down in the basin, E-burg and east.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

Hay is more difficult to "carry over" than grain is... and not generally a better market waiting for it as it ages. They pretty much HAVE TO get each year's crop marketed before starting to make that next year's crop... so once the cattle start going to pasture and feeding stops, the market usually will dry up pretty fast. Most buyers will wait for the new crop product to come to the market before buying... OR, buy up old remaining inventory cheap, because it HAS TO MOVE....

On the East side of Washington they tarp all the hay with super tarps. It used to be $5 /ton to tarp a stack of big square bales. Keeps well for export .

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I've sold more hay in the last 2 weeks than I did all winter. 3 weeks ago it hit 80 degrees and guys thought winter was over and they wouldn't need more hay. Well in the last 2 weeks we've had nearly 3 foot of new snow, currently there's about 12-16" on the ground. It'll be probably 3 weeks before things melt, dry and grow enough to turn cows out on pasture. So there's a good bit of feeding left yet. Some guys will turn cows out the minute the fields green, then wonder why they are out of pasture in august.

Also part of my drought strategy is to carry over about 50% of my yearly hay needs in the barn.

 

[RDFF]

3 weeks ago it hit 80 degrees and guys thought winter was over and they wouldn't need more hay. Well in the last 2 weeks we've had nearly 3 foot of new snow, currently there's about 12-16" on the ground. It'll be probably 3 weeks before things melt, dry and grow enough to turn cows out on pasture. So there's a good bit of feeding left yet. Some guys will turn cows out the minute the fields green, then wonder why they are out of pasture in August.

We're past the snow (although it was threatening with a few flakes again just two days ago), but it's been so cold, even freezing overnight yet, that the grass just hasn't gotten started yet. So we'll need to feed for at least another 2 weeks yet too. That doesn't mean that a few haven't dumped their cattle out on pasture already... but they'll be wondering why they don't have grass later just like you've mentioned. I'll feed until I've got at least 10-12" of growth before I put them out.

 

[gman4691]

The problem I'm having now is that it's too wet.
I want to clean off the rye so I can renovate and fertilize again.
It's just too wet to bale.

Same problem here. I finally just let the cows graze off a smaller (5.5 acres) hay pasture and mowed the larger (15+/- acres) one. Waiting for an application of chicken litter to both (3-4 tons per acre). We will have to spray the first week in June. However, I have a larger (30 acre) pasture that will get mowed and sprayed ASAP. If the grass comes on good in that pasture, I will be able to sell most of it. But I feel your pain on everything being so wet. Looking at about 1-1/2 to 2 weeks of a break in the rains which should allow us to get the pastures going and finish cutting the %$#@&^ trees off of the fences from the storms over the past couple of weeks...sigh. Here's hoping the rains will come back...especially in July & August.