Outrageous hay prices

[backhoeboogie]

Do some calculations TB. If you're pumping 400 gpm, it takes just under an hour to put an inch of water on an acre. About 9 hours per ten acres. Consider a 50 acre field of coastal getting an inch a week. That is a whole lot of fuel and a whole lot of water. He must have one heck of a well and one heck of a pump.

 

[TexasBred]

Do some calculations TB. If you're pumping 400 gpm, it takes just under an hour to put an inch of water on an acre. About 9 hours per ten acres. Consider a 50 acre field of coastal getting an inch a week. That is a whole lot of fuel and a whole lot of water. He must have one heck of a well and one heck of a pump.

Boogie all I know about it is a little he told me last year. Well is a drilled well like a deep well but he swears it's less than 70 ft. deep. I have no idea what size pump is in it but it sure shoots out a lot of water. Wish I had more details. Wish even more I had some of that pretty hay. :lol2:

 

[dun]

Do some calculations TB. If you're pumping 400 gpm, it takes just under an hour to put an inch of water on an acre. About 9 hours per ten acres. Consider a 50 acre field of coastal getting an inch a week. That is a whole lot of fuel and a whole lot of water. He must have one heck of a well and one heck of a pump.

Boogie all I know about it is a little he told me last year. Well is a drilled well like a deep well but he swears it's less than 70 ft. deep. I have no idea what size pump is in it but it sure shoots out a lot of water. Wish I had more details. Wish even more I had some of that pretty hay. :lol2:

If he uses a water canon like they use in the foothills of calfironia in a lot places he may be using an old pinto engine running on 2 culinders and the other 2 acting as a pump. Still takes a lot of fuel.

 

[houstoncutter]

........."Its time for all of to rethink our operations."...........

That "re-thinking" would probably work pretty good. But, you seem to be assuming that it will rain every now and then. Even miniature cattle need SOMETHING to eat, and thinking about grass ain't gonna make it grow. I know----------I've tried it.

Jim62, I am not assuming that we will get timely rains, really quite the opposite. I and others are guility of pushing the envelope when it comes to beef production, and now that chicken has come to roost for some. I think many of us are going to have to fight with our local tax offices over the number of cattle per acre that are required to keep our tax exemptions.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Its time for all of to rethink our operations.

Yes. Never sell any hay until their is a drought. Makes no sense to sell it for $5 a bale profit. You are paying yourself next to nothing for your time. I can afford to sit on hay. That is what I intend to do from now on.

I understand the profit margins are small for alot of hay producers, but it seems there is pretty good money to be made right now in the hay trading business. You can still get it trucked in for $70 - $80 a roll, then turn around and sell it for $140 - $150.

Brokering it is a whole nother deal. We should just leave that to the feed stores. Friend of mine bought several semi loads of a hi-brid crab grass. The nutrition value is surprising. It cost him $89 a bale out of Louisiana.

 

[Suzie Q]

For us the cost of irrigation is electricity alone. However we could do with a new hose for the irrigator and that is over $5,000.00.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I've got all the piping too with sprinkler heads; the cost of the piping does not need to be considered. Whether it is sitting on the trailer or being drug around the field, the cost is the same.

For me it is fuel. When you figure my time moving piping and refueling, I am making way less than minimum wage. I'd be better off riding the Cat or Hoe and earning enough nickels to buy hay, even at these prices, with my extra time.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Next year could be a wet year. We could all have surplus hay - especially with all these folks selling out. If the going price on hay is a $15 loss per bale, no one will have pity on the hay producer.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Next year could be a wet year. We could all have surplus hay - especially with all these folks selling out. If the going price on hay is a $15 loss per bale, no one will have pity on the hay producer.

Your dead on Boogie. I sold all my hay equipment this spring, there is absolutly nothing worse than bailing hay for someone or selling it to them. Thats the whining, crying bunch of people there are when they have to fork over payment . Ninty percent are as confused as a hungry baby in a topless bar what it cost to produce a roll. They pat you on the back on Sunday morning and cuss you like the devil all week, until they need their hay cut again.
Last year I had 36 dollar's a roll in my own hay. This year a 100 in fertilize alone, the twenty dollars a roll to bale it is a bargin. Anyone that buys hay should have to spend a summer in a hay field working with their back and wallet.
This is the same bunch of people your hay is worthless, they tell everyone at the local coffee shop they are feeding to their priceless cattle.

 

[JSCATTLE]

if we do have a wet year next year I'm gonna build another barn .. ill have 3 years worth of hay before I sell any ... and even then ill sell to a select few who appreciate it... ive been down that road of ..." I can't pay that for hay" or " your asking to much its not worth that". My mother in law called yesterday she lives in a new sub division. some guy is in there bailing the vacant lots and he told my fil that he was sending it out past Houston for 130 a roll... on top of getting paid 40 an acre to cut the place... I feel sorry for the people buying it .. its salt grass and tallow trees..I doubt if a billy goat would eat it ..

 

[novatech]

Next year could be a wet year. We could all have surplus hay - especially with all these folks selling out. If the going price on hay is a $15 loss per bale, no one will have pity on the hay producer.

Your dead on Boogie. I sold all my hay equipment this spring, there is absolutly nothing worse than bailing hay for someone or selling it to them. Thats the whining, crying bunch of people there are when they have to fork over payment . Ninty percent are as confused as a hungry baby in a topless bar what it cost to produce a roll. They pat you on the back on Sunday morning and cuss you like the devil all week, until they need their hay cut again.
Last year I had 36 dollar's a roll in my own hay. This year a 100 in fertilize alone, the twenty dollars a roll to bale it is a bargin. Anyone that buys hay should have to spend a summer in a hay field working with their back and wallet.
This is the same bunch of people your hay is worthless, they tell everyone at the local coffee shop they are feeding to their priceless cattle.

This year I have made money on hay. Of course I gouged them. :roll:
The only way to make money on hay in normal years is to buy and resell.
I flat out don't understand the mentality of people. It seems to be OK for them to pay a 3000 % mark up at the drug store, Or 100% mark up on goods from china. But when it comes to an farmer making ends meet they are being given the shaft. Then you have the farmer that can't add and wonders why he can't seem to make a living on his 1/2 million dollar investment.

 

[TexasBred]

To me buying hay is no different than buying cattle. You don't mind paying extra for a better product but you still have your limit. I've never baled a bale and don't intend to. Always figured I could buy better hay than I could grow and I know it would be better and cheaper compared to what I would do.

 

[TexasBred]

Do some calculations TB. If you're pumping 400 gpm, it takes just under an hour to put an inch of water on an acre. About 9 hours per ten acres. Consider a 50 acre field of coastal getting an inch a week. That is a whole lot of fuel and a whole lot of water. He must have one heck of a well and one heck of a pump.

Boogie all I know about it is a little he told me last year. Well is a drilled well like a deep well but he swears it's less than 70 ft. deep. I have no idea what size pump is in it but it sure shoots out a lot of water. Wish I had more details. Wish even more I had some of that pretty hay. :lol2:

If he uses a water canon like they use in the foothills of calfironia in a lot places he may be using an old pinto engine running on 2 culinders and the other 2 acting as a pump. Still takes a lot of fuel.

dun, visited with the young man via phone. He said his well is 42 feet deep, 18 inch casing and initial test on the well was at 700 gpm for about an 90 minutes and never lowered the well. Pump is what he called an "Line Shaft Turbine submersible" pump 3 phrase and he is only pumping about 400 gpm now. If he pumped 24 hrs. a day he said he could cover the place in 10 days. Said the pump was really sort of "overkill" as it's basically idleing now. Water travels about 125 feet from the cannon.

And Boogie he said he figured he had $48.00 a roll in irrigation cost. :cry2:

 

[JH_cattle_co]

It seems to me the problem with selling hay at a reasonable price this year is that unless the people you are selling to are your neighbors or someone you know well, is that they will just buy it then turn around and sell it to someone else for double the price. If I were producing hay I would sell at a little under the going rate so that some Jacka$$ middleman cant come in and make a profit on my hard work. Just my opinion.

 

[TexasBred]

Shouldn't matter at all what they do with it as long as you got your price.

 

[JH_cattle_co]

It matters to me.

 

[TexasBred]

It matters to me.

Would you feel better if they built a bonfire with it? Fact is you set the price..they give it....it's theres to do what they want. Comes with ownership. ;-)

 

[JH_cattle_co]

agree to disagree

 

[TXBobcat]

It seems to me the problem with selling hay at a reasonable price this year is that unless the people you are selling to are your neighbors or someone you know well, is that they will just buy it then turn around and sell it to someone else for double the price. If I were producing hay I would sell at a little under the going rate so that some Jacka$$ middleman cant come in and make a profit on my hard work. Just my opinion.

You know JH, this is the same type of thing I'm seeing all over Texas right now, and although I couldn't do it myself, I suppose there are others that have no problem with it. To me, it is kind of like going to Sam's club and buying a bunch of cold drinks for .25 and then re-selling them for $5.00 a pop at some 'special' event.

I also agree with TB, in the regard, that if someone buys a product and wants to mark it way up and resell it, then they have every right to do so. People always have a choice to buy or not. If there was not market for this overpriced hay, then these brokers wouldn't be coming out of the wood work.

 

[Todd 02]

My $0.02 is that this just another example of the disgustingly extreme level of greed in our society, created by our obsession with money and worldly possessions. We're all guilty of it to some extent and we'll all suffer for it, in this life or the next.