Setting on their hay

[tryinhard]

Yep, the hay prices will be up from now on, I don't even think that in a couple or three years if hay is and has been good, and there is surplus hay, it will fall back to what we used to pay for it. If n when there is surplus hay in many places you may buy some old hay, to sort of get it cleaned up for someone, at a better price. Then, this is no different from the cattle themselves. Good cows, that people had to cull this past year, were bought for much less than they would have been a year before, which goes back to, Taking advantage of another's disadvantage. The song remains the same. I hate to see anyone go through tough times, especially to have to sell cows that they really don't want to, but have to, but if and when that time comes most of us want to be able to pick them up, for the lesser price. Sad but true. Maybe it will level off somewhere though.

tryinhard

 

[novatech]

My part of the country had a hay shortage last year, I know this is not new for other areas. For a couple of months I was paying $180 to $200 per ton for cow hay, usally it runs about $60 per ton. I was lucky enough to have already put about 17 ton in the barn at $60 per ton for this year, but have room for about 4 more ton. Everyone is haying like crazy here, but not one ad in our local paper. I called some of my past suppliers and they all said the same thing; last year they got almost $200 per ton and they're not going to sell any until this winter when people start running short and start to panic.

Tough position to be in, I'm trying to figure out what I would do in their shoes. What happens if the hay shortage isn't as bad this year, do they get stuck with 2 year old hay and not hay next year? As a guy who doesn't produce my own hay, I hope they get stuck with the hay, just irritates me a bit. Maybe some of you guys to that have been through this already or produce local hay can tell me your thoughts and what this cycle (hopfully a cycle) will do in the next couple of years.

Thanks,
Alan

Maybe the tough position to be in is only getting $60 per ton for your hay.
Wish we could sit on cattle till the price went up.

 

[Lammie]

We've had a wonderful spring and summer. There's hay setting in fields everywhere. But the guy who called us with hay for sale was asking almost the same as we paid him last year when hay was hard to come by. It's better hay than we got last year, but his cost to bale it has gone up considerably because of fuel prices.

We haven't bought any hay. We've got so much grass that we think we can graze standing grass through most of the winter and just supplement with cubes.

So many people sold off their herds last year (or culled hard), if we need hay in Jan/Feb/Mar, I believe it will be available.

Hay hasn't gone down any here. Same price as what we paid during the heart of the drought. Everyone blames it on fertilizer prices, cost of fuel for machinary... I hope to get in a situation by next year where we can grow our own hay. Until then, if it keeps up the way it has, then I shouldn't have to hay until November. Last year I started in late August and I held out then as long as I could. Its my own fault for having animals and hot producing my own hay. I am holding out purchasing until fall and see if the price goes down any, especially since there is hay sitting around everywhere.

 

[mnmtranching]

There are many families making their living on hay in North Western MN [very good hay country] 6-7 tons per acre.
The last thing these folks want is cattlemen going out of business, they always treat their customers right.

 

[TexLonghornRanch]

Hay prices started out at $60 per bale this year. The went to $50, $45 and the hay was still sitting in the fields. Just saw a sign for $35 round bales yesterday.

Because of high hay prices the last two years, everybody is baling hay this year. I see a over supply coming. That's how tha market works.

You had people baling bar ditches last year and selling it of $60 per roll, trash included!

 

[alabama]

Well Alabama is still in a drought but we have had a few rains and are starting to make a little hay. I have not sold any and don’t plan to until I get enough to feed my cows for the winter. After I get what I need then the rest will be for sale. I suspect you will find hay easer on the last cutting when everyone knows what they have.

 

[auctionboy]

My part of the country had a hay shortage last year, I know this is not new for other areas. For a couple of months I was paying $180 to $200 per ton for cow hay, usally it runs about $60 per ton. I was lucky enough to have already put about 17 ton in the barn at $60 per ton for this year, but have room for about 4 more ton. Everyone is haying like crazy here, but not one ad in our local paper. I called some of my past suppliers and they all said the same thing; last year they got almost $200 per ton and they're not going to sell any until this winter when people start running short and start to panic.

Tough position to be in, I'm trying to figure out what I would do in their shoes. What happens if the hay shortage isn't as bad this year, do they get stuck with 2 year old hay and not hay next year? As a guy who doesn't produce my own hay, I hope they get stuck with the hay, just irritates me a bit. Maybe some of you guys to that have been through this already or produce local hay can tell me your thoughts and what this cycle (hopfully a cycle) will do in the next couple of years.

Thanks,
Alan

When you do not take control of your hay price by making it yourself you should not be mad when the price goes up. If I was you I would put a few adds up for hay wanted because everyone doesn't want to move it of the field and store it, everyone wont raise there price, and some one will get hard up for cash.

 

[Lammie]

Hay prices started out at $60 per bale this year. The went to $50, $45 and the hay was still sitting in the fields. Just saw a sign for $35 round bales yesterday.

Because of high hay prices the last two years, everybody is baling hay this year. I see a over supply coming. That's how tha market works.

You had people baling bar ditches last year and selling it of $60 per roll, trash included!

If you found it somewhere for 35 a roll, then let me know. I haven't see it that cheap, but then I haven't started to price it yet. You may well be right. And, what Auctionboy said, someone will need the cash.

 

[TexLonghornRanch]

Lammie
Just shot you a PM with the name and phone number.

 

[Susie David]

Same over on this side of the hills....drought...and there will be no second cut this year. The folks with irrigated fields have rolls getting in the way, the dry-landers are out of luck.
My regular hay supplier dropped off his last bale wagon load after filling his barns...says that he won't know his prices until Sept...doesn't want to leave any money on the table this year.

Have a friend that is selling me thirty tons of grass/alfalfa for $75 a ton should get us through the winter without culling and bred cows. May even but another Thirty ton to speculate on prices in Feburary and March...was going for $200 a ton last March.

Alan...I was over on the coast over the 4th weekend and saw convoys of hay tucks all heading west...lost of good hay moving around but none heading east.

Dave Mc

 

[Alan]

Alan...I was over on the coast over the 4th weekend and saw convoys of hay tucks all heading west...lost of good hay moving around but none heading east. Dave Mc

Yep, they haul a lot of hay over our way. A lot of truck loads of the big square bale (1000 lbers) go to a hay export company that compresses the hay into 65 lb bales (about 14 inches cubed) and ships them to Japan and I assume elsewhere. I know there is a plant in St. Helens, OR and I think one in Ellensburg, WA. I can and have bought hay out of the St. Helens plant but they get $160 plus per ton.

Alan

 

[Alan]

When you do not take control of your hay price by making it yourself

I don't think it makes sense for me to buy a tractor, mower, rake, and baler, plus cut the number of cows I run to get the 20 or so ton I need a year from my own hay fields. Seems to me like a long road to the break even point.

If I was you I would put a few adds up for hay wanted because everyone doesn't want to move it of the field and store it, everyone wont raise there price, and some one will get hard up for cash.

I don't need to put signs up, I can buy all the hay I want right now at $200 a ton, but I just bought 17 tons at $60. I won't buy it now at $200 because I know I can get it when I need it at $200.

you should not be mad when the price goes up.

I'm not mad the the prices went up, they were high last year. What bugs me is that some hay producers, who I have bought from in recent years and know me well, have barns full of hay and won't sell it until cattle producers and others fall into a hay shortage. Seem to me like a the lumber yard knowing the hurricane is coming so they triple the price of plywood. Just doesn't seem right to want to profit on others hardship.

Alan

 

[houstoncutter]

I know I stated in other threads that I wouldnt buy a bale until fall. Think I will stick with the plan. In most parts of Texas their is going to be a glut of hay, if it will ever stop raining... The quality will be poor but their is going to be a lot of it. Keep the faith folks.....if they get some rain in the southeast, so those folks can make some hay, those prices are going to fall like a rock.

 

[Cabo]

I can't see the price of hay going down in my area. It is so dry that the CRP land has been released for haying and I am baling all that I can just to get enough to run me through the winter. I feel for the folks that do not have their own hay equipment but I know who's barn is going to be filled first by me.

 

[Rod]

We've priced our hay back down this year do to the surplus, we've sold some for 20,25 and 30 dollars a roll depending on the quality. People are going to have to get last year off their minds and realize it's a different ball game this year.

 

[msscamp]

We've priced our hay back down this year do to the surplus, we've sold some for 20,25 and 30 dollars a roll depending on the quality. People are going to have to get last year off their minds and realize it's a different ball game this year.

Perhaps in yours, but around here it's the same song, same verse, just a different year - no hay.

 

[Dave]

Alan,
I was thinking it was the same up here but then I talked to a couple of hay guys. They said they hadn't put adds out because people are buying it as fast as they can make it. People got caught short last winter are going to hay producers and making sure they have plenty for this year. But that demand is keeping the prices up. I have heard of little squares selling for as high as $7.00 out of the field. Figure that out by the ton. And at that price people are picking up the bales and hauling them home. A good year to be in the hay business.

 

[novatech]

I know I stated in other threads that I wouldnt buy a bale until fall. Think I will stick with the plan. In most parts of Texas their is going to be a glut of hay, if it will ever stop raining... The quality will be poor but their is going to be a lot of it. Keep the faith folks.....if they get some rain in the southeast, so those folks can make some hay, those prices are going to fall like a rock.

If is a mighty big word these days. We have a little less rain than you and a lot better drainage. What hay that is being baled is being baled wet or already going bad in the field. I baled 348 small squares on 4 A. Most of it was good but some had wet spots.
In the flat land with thick hay it will take a month of no rain before it will be dry enough to cut and bail.
If I were you I would buy a little if I could find it.

 

[Arkieman]

3 ads for round bales in Arkansas state paper classifieds:

Horse quality, net wrapped, fert, sprayed = $40/roll
Hay for sale = $20/roll
Fertilized grass hay = $25/roll

Also, several horse quality square bale ads ranging from $3-$4 per bale.

Local hay guy I spoke w/ last night when I asked how his hay looked, he said,"Looks great - but I REALLY need to sell some!" I asked how much and he said $25/roll. This is decent hay - unfertilized Bahai grass mainly. I thought, at $25/roll - you're not pricing it like you REALLY need to sell it (at least compared to our local pricing)..

With the amount of bales still in the field and recent rains, sounds like prices could fall even more....

 

[houstoncutter]

I know I stated in other threads that I wouldnt buy a bale until fall. Think I will stick with the plan. In most parts of Texas their is going to be a glut of hay, if it will ever stop raining... The quality will be poor but their is going to be a lot of it. Keep the faith folks.....if they get some rain in the southeast, so those folks can make some hay, those prices are going to fall like a rock.

If is a mighty big word these days. We have a little less rain than you and a lot better drainage. What hay that is being baled is being baled wet or already going bad in the field. I baled 348 small squares on 4 A. Most of it was good but some had wet spots.
In the flat land with thick hay it will take a month of no rain before it will be dry enough to cut and bail.
If I were you I would buy a little if I could find it.

No, I think I will stay the course. If I lived in a state that wasnt getting much rain, I would agree with you. Ask yourself this question.... How often have you heard of hay being made in the Hill country of Texas in Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, doesnt happen hardly ever, normally those guys are feeding their hay waiting for the ryegrass and oats to get up. IF the rains slow down they are going to make a bumper crop of hay in months that they normally feeding hay. It a crazy year,, weather wise in our state this year. If I am wrong on the hay price going down, then I will pull the trigger and sell off half the herd. Paying twice as much money for hay is crazy, sell the herd. OF course I am a commercial rancher.....No profit.....no cows....simple as that!!!!!