mark.r said:
My boarder did say that she though maybe they were headed to a horse show and need bales to travel with quickly or were feeding it to goats or something so I don't know. Either way, makes no sense to me either.
My guess:
1) Convenience factor is big. Being able to just swing by and grab some bales every once in a while (like you would shop for groceries) probably feels normal to folks. I personally think buying enough hay for the year and then feeding out of the barn sounds a lot more convenient, but that's just me.
2) Known quality. All it takes is one time getting burned by the local farmer, and they want store-like quality assurance. Of course, there is nothing to say the local feed store can't sell crap hay, but I'll bet folks "feel" like the hay is better and there is more of an organization backing it up if there is anything wrong with it.
I recently converted my neighbor into buying hay from me after years of buying feedstore hay. His wife wanted the quality assurance, and had some ideas about how the hay had to be shipped out from California to be any good. Well, they got in a pinch and came over and bought 5 bales out of the barn. That did it. Once she realized that my hay was just as good, and her husband realized that I would stack it in his barn for him (no difference in work for me, I've got to stack it in mine if not his), they were sold for life. Now they just give me a ring when they see me baling hay and the bales show up in their barn. The husband gives me the money with a big ole smile on his face, he saves $4 per bale and never has to touch one. It's like he hit the lottery.
That being said, I definitely don't have it all figured out. WTA is right, I feel like I'm going to have to start raising prices. I just spent another $800 on fertilizer and with the rain spigget shutting down recently, am not going to get much to show for it. I believe the market will bare the price increase though (although I don't actually know what my local feedstore is selling for now). I probably should have taken the hint when both my 1st and 2nd cutting sold out in 2 days... I've probably been selling too cheap at $4 and $6.
Ha! I just checked today's USDA hay market report for Texas and it sounds pretty similiar to the conditions WTA and I are describing. Again, I don't really know what I'm talking about, but it has the feel of a nasty drop in hay availability (and probably spike in prices) coming on unless we get some rain. Makes me wish I had kept some hay in storage even more...
From:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/am_gr310.txt
"Compared to last week: Hay prices steady to mostly firm. Alfalfa hay supply, especially in West Texas, is short and demand for it is good to very good, with many producers having no hay left and customers waiting for third cutting to take place. Demand for old crop grass hay in the Central and Southern areas has gone up due to the increase in price for new crop. However, many of these areas that have made new crop Coastal Bermuda are experiencing lower than normal yields and quality. Most areas are still very dry, with high temperatures and windy conditions persisting. There have been wildfires in these dry areas as well. Some spotty showers have occurred, and have provided some relief to those areas. The increasing costs of fuel and fertilizer are still of great concern. Supplemental feeding has increased, due to lack of moisture for grazing pastures. The drought conditions are also affecting other crops such as wheat, corn and cotton, hampering growth and production."
