I was talking to a friend of mine that said he was hauling hay to areas in northern colorado and areas in the south selling it. He said it was a grass mix with alfalfa hay and that he was getting $300 per ton in colorado and even close to $400 a ton in areas in the south for the hay deliviered. Is this correct or is he pulling my chain? Has me wondering what people are paying for hay and who all is actually looking for hay? He said he just pulls it with a 1 ton pickup and a trailer cause he gets the best mileage and has no cdl.
Hay Prices
- Thread starter Buckaroo
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
bigbull338
Well-known member
yes people are paying high an wide for the hay that they buy.ive got a friend that bought hay for $80 a bale.an i know where theres barn stored hay selling for $90 a bale.alot of the has thats been selling has brought $150 a bale.but we are getting in the time of year that hay sells slow down.
Massey135
Well-known member
ive seen as high as $140 for a 5x6 in pilot point, tx Granted it was excellent quality coastal but still...
CottageFarm
Well-known member
Yep, he's right. $300-$400/tn for anything that looks decent here.
Glad to see prices are coming down in the drought areas at least.
I mananged to find some really crappy hay for under $200/tn last month. Prices just keep going up here.
Corn stalks were running about $150/tn, sometimes higher, but I see they're come down recently :frowns:
Heres a link to the results from last weeks hay auction at our local barn.
http://cla.casauction.com/2012/02/janua ... y-results/
Glad to see prices are coming down in the drought areas at least.
I mananged to find some really crappy hay for under $200/tn last month. Prices just keep going up here.
Corn stalks were running about $150/tn, sometimes higher, but I see they're come down recently :frowns:
Heres a link to the results from last weeks hay auction at our local barn.
http://cla.casauction.com/2012/02/janua ... y-results/
HOSS
Well-known member
I really feel for you guys out there in the drought areas with the hay prices. 
I just bought some 4x6 barn stored round bales last week. It is good, high quality mixed grass with clover and oats mixed in. I paid 30.00 per bale and delivered the 4 miles to my farm for free. I bought 1 load to see if the cows would like it......they seem to love it so I am getting another load next week which should get me well into green up. I cringe at the prices that I hear about out there.
I just bought some 4x6 barn stored round bales last week. It is good, high quality mixed grass with clover and oats mixed in. I paid 30.00 per bale and delivered the 4 miles to my farm for free. I bought 1 load to see if the cows would like it......they seem to love it so I am getting another load next week which should get me well into green up. I cringe at the prices that I hear about out there.
Why not buy all you can store Hoss just in case we face a drought this year or next?
HOSS
Well-known member
TennesseeTuxedo":3a8sqbng said:
I hope to fill up off my own fields this summer. I didn't have room for a whole winters supply in the barn. I built a new barn this fall so I can bale more of my own and hold it. I was able to pick up some more hay ground just down the road so if I get one cutting I should be fine. The guy that bales for me charges me 12.00 per 4x6 bale. The ground is free.
Can't beat that with a stick.
Lon
Well-known member
CottageFarm":zdkfrank said:
Why would people give that 3 to 4 hundred for decent or even 150 for the cornstalks. I know of a guy with roughly 240 ton of hay left that hasnt sold yet. It is 50/50 alfalfa grass hay maybe more than that even on alfalfa that told me to sell it all for 200 a ton if i remember right. Now this is about 500 miles from ft. collins though. I could be wrong on the trucking here so tell me if i am wrong but say you get a semi pulling a trailer and a pup i would think they could haul 50 bales each weighing 1200lbs. this would be 30 ton. 500 miles @4/mile is another $2000 that would be 8000 for 30 ton delivered wich comes out to 266 a ton. Wouldnt that be better than corn stalks with all the waste there is there and would be way better than over 300 ton. This would be same kind of hay we have wintered on. and that would be including the 25 a ton he offered me if i sold any. I never did ask around cause didnt think people would pay that for hay. So you take the 25 a ton off that i would get in comission (mostly just cause i like to believe if i wasnt profiting off poeple in a bad spot than somewhere along the way karma would pay me back by someone helping me) that would put the same 30 ton delieverd for a price of 241 and some change per ton. 30tonx175=5250+2000 for trucking(500 miles@4/mile)=7250/30 241.666666 per ton. unless i am off on the trucking wich very well could be.
Lon
Well-known member
Also come to think of it i know where 200 bales if they havent sold yet are. which is roughly 120 ton of hay and i believe he said if sold it all in one swoop and didnt have to find trucks he would take 150 a ton for it. this is say 350 miles from ft collins. say if the truck could get 30 ton on it @150 ton would be 4500 for hay than 350 miles @4 would be another 1400 wich is 5900 for 30 ton or 196.666666 a ton deleivered for decent hay. i dont know how far under 200 you paid for that crap hay but if it was close to 200 than dont buy more and get ahold of me cause if you could buy 200 bales and he had it all i would need to do is go visit him. not to mention if i bought the hay from him myself i might even get it cheaper than the 150 ton (or maybe if nothing else at least buy fewer than the whole 200 bales)wich would put it cheaper deliverd to you.
If i new it would still be dry everywhere next year and i wouldnt have to sit on it i would go rent this section of land where i run cattle at and put it all to millet than sell the hay to anyone on here for 100 ton and come out about the same as i would if i was farming it to corn. well maybe not as good but i would least have less tied up in it once crop was sold.
If i new it would still be dry everywhere next year and i wouldnt have to sit on it i would go rent this section of land where i run cattle at and put it all to millet than sell the hay to anyone on here for 100 ton and come out about the same as i would if i was farming it to corn. well maybe not as good but i would least have less tied up in it once crop was sold.
chippie
Well-known member
Many truckers do not like hauling hay and I have never seen one hauling a pup trailer with hay.
The freight is expensive. Lately it has been around $40 per bale. Not by weight but by bale.
The freight is expensive. Lately it has been around $40 per bale. Not by weight but by bale.
Lon
Well-known member
chippie":18rr81dx said:
40 bucks a bale for how far
chippie
Well-known member
From Florida to the San Antonio area. Semi truck full. I think 36 bales. I remember that the load of hay was going to cost a total over $4K. Cost about $140 a bale.
Lon
Well-known member
why is the trucking so high? is it same reason the hay prices are so high just because they can be and people have to pay it or no back hauls or is all trucking running that much. i am assuming from florida to san antonio is 600 miles or so your talking about?
chippie
Well-known member
it is over 1000 miles (one way). Large Round Bales are not easy to haul. I've seen many loads where the bales were not really tight and the load shifts.
Another thing most truck drivers would like to go back with a load.
One person told us that the man who brought his hay (to Stephenville from Montana) had to go to Houston to get a load so that he would not have to return empty to Montana. The driver told the guy that was the last hay he would bring.
Another thing most truck drivers would like to go back with a load.
One person told us that the man who brought his hay (to Stephenville from Montana) had to go to Houston to get a load so that he would not have to return empty to Montana. The driver told the guy that was the last hay he would bring.
CottageFarm
Well-known member
Lon, alot of the hay being sold here right now is from SD, NE, & MT. Tell him to just bring it here for the next auction. If it's good stuff, he'll get about what he's asking. Alot of what was grown here was shipped South last Summer. We didn't have a drought here, but Southern Colorado did, and of course all other points South.
Your friends $200/tn sounds good until you factor in the fuel costs, drivers' time, and if it goes thru the auction, profits for them too. I don't begrudge everyone making their profits. Hay producers don't get many years where they can actually make some money.
People are paying the prices because they have to. There are lots of people, like me, who don't need all that much hay to begin with. So buying from out of state won't work for us. Right now I only use about 3 tn year, and I haven't been willing to expand because of the price of feed. And we can't handle big bales. 3x3's are the biggest we can handle. And you'll notice in the auction results that the smaller bales are really sky high. 4x4's and rounds are a little more reasonable. And then, of course, the horsey people factor in. They'll pay pretty much anything that's asked, because alot of them around here can.
It's all just supply & demand.
Your friends $200/tn sounds good until you factor in the fuel costs, drivers' time, and if it goes thru the auction, profits for them too. I don't begrudge everyone making their profits. Hay producers don't get many years where they can actually make some money.
People are paying the prices because they have to. There are lots of people, like me, who don't need all that much hay to begin with. So buying from out of state won't work for us. Right now I only use about 3 tn year, and I haven't been willing to expand because of the price of feed. And we can't handle big bales. 3x3's are the biggest we can handle. And you'll notice in the auction results that the smaller bales are really sky high. 4x4's and rounds are a little more reasonable. And then, of course, the horsey people factor in. They'll pay pretty much anything that's asked, because alot of them around here can.
It's all just supply & demand.
Buckaroo":itzlv4ql said:
If your friend is hauling into Oklahoma, and has over 10k lbs, he would need a CDL. Hay prices are all over the place it seems. I've seen anywhere from $60 - $150 for big bales.. ( I knew I should have kept my baling equipment..... :nod:
user1
Well-known member
I know of guys who charge 3.25 a mile. Figure 30 round bales on a truck at 1100 punds apiece. I know if sorghum sudan selling for 175 a ton on the 1100 pund rounds. There has been real good alfalfa selling for 320 a ton on ton sqares at 24 on a load
Hay prices are not bad if you're buying hay here in Wisconsin but it's a completely different situation here than where most of you are. My dad knows a dairy farmer who buys reed canary grass hay off marshes for $60-$70/ton and mixes a syrup with it and feeds it to dry cows. We've been selling our 3rd and 2nd crop hay between $150 and $175/ton and our reed canary grass mulch hay for about $100/ton.
Massey135
Well-known member
You don't need a cdl in Oklahoma for 10k. Operating commercially Under 13tons only requires a driver safety card.Limomike":370pgaz3 said:
