local hay prices ?

[Soggy Bottom Outdoors]

4 x 5s $25-$35 on grass/ legume hay, I bought 100 out of the field for $22. Mixed grass/legume squares $3-$4, alfalfa squares $4-$6. Most of our 4x5 and 5x5s weight 800-1200lbs. The low grain/feed prices make the cheap/lower quality hay a lot more attractive for me. No big squares here locally. A very popular "3 way mix" dry cow feed is $200 ton delivered, equal parts gluten, cracked corn, and hulls.

 

[holeycow]

3 cents/lb

 

[sweettractors]

In central Ky, 40 lb grass Small squares $3 per bale and alfalfa $5-$7 per bale. 1500 lb grass rolls $30-40 and alfalfa rolls $70-$90. Ken Sweet

 

[MattLynch]

$3 per 40lb square, $25 4x5 round and $30 for 4x5 round silage is probably the average price in my area (NS) for good quality timothy/red clover mix or grass mix.

 

[MH8675309]

At Mondays sale we sold 50 LB bales of horse hay (high in alfalfa) for $5 a bale. There was lots of bleached out hay there but it still brought about $2.50 a bale on average. I got some 5x5 round bales of grass hay for $50 a bale delivered to my place. Most of our hay here in MI got rained on this year. Not counting last week when it was sunny all week there were 2 times this past summer where it was dry for 4 days straight.

 

[lutt]

60-70 # squares of bluestem or Bermuda is going for 4.00 picked up in the field. LUTT

 

[lucky001]

I have come to the conclusion that you can usually buy hay cheaper than you can produce it, if you can find decent hay. When you consider all the expenses including fertilizer, fuel, equipment costs, supplies etc. My first cutting was way off due to a dry spring and just counting the costs of fertilizer it cost me about $24 per roll (5 x 5.5). With all expenses it pushed it to closer to $50 a roll.

 

[ultrarunner]

At $24 a 3 wire bale without delivery it sure sounds like there is room for a modest margin...