Hay Delivery Day!!!

[EddieWalker]

Here in East Texas, I've been able to buy 5 foot round bales for $50 and 6ft bales for $65, for years. With inflation this year being what it is, I expected to pay more for hay.

Yesterday, I found out that a 6 ft bale of clean, fertilized, coastal horse quality hay is $85 each. Delivery went from $60 to $100. I bought 18 bales and I plan on buying two more loads before the end of Summer.

This is what $1,630 looks like. I'm just hoping it doesn't go up before I can buy the rest of what I need for the year.

 

[Jstpssng]

Yep, I fear that everything is going to go up. My bigger fear is not being able to get staple items at all. The shelves at my local feed stores have been looking rather thin lately.

 

[sixdogs]

Good looking bales. My guess is hay will go up because it looks to be a hot and dry summer in the USA and that always means pricier hay. (edit)--I'll bet availability becomes an issue.

Below is a map from the Climate prediction center at the Nat'l Weather Service and has worked well for me when I did hay. It shows a nasty summer of hot and dry.

Climate Prediction Center - Official Long-Lead Forecasts

 

[sea2summit]

I think it was TX Jim here or on hay talk talking about the first cut being so poor/small from lack of rain he was thinking about storing it to see what winter prices would do. My boy and I we’re throwing around that idea ourselves, probably sell the first cut but save second and see what happens this fall.

So, if I was a buyer I probably wouldn’t pass up any quality decently priced hay if I could store it.

 

[oosik]

My neighbor to the south does custom cutting. I'll have to ask him what hay is going for this year. He works with field grass and clover.

 

[Hay Dude]

Im thinking about buying a small sq baler and “re-baling” large bales into small bales later this year if prices continue to go well north of $10.

 

[sea2summit]

My neighbor to the south does custom cutting. I'll have to ask him what hay is going for this year. He works with field grass and clover.

Does he have a pivot or does it grow okay over there?

 

[ponytug]

Wow, hay is a chunk more expensive here; $400/ton in 100 bale quantities, plus delivery/freight.

https://mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov/filerepo/sites/default/files/2904/2022-05-16/592279/ams_2904_00111.pdf

 

[Hay Dude]

Here in East Texas, I've been able to buy 5 foot round bales for $50 and 6ft bales for $65, for years. With inflation this year being what it is, I expected to pay more for hay.

Yesterday, I found out that a 6 ft bale of clean, fertilized, coastal horse quality hay is $85 each. Delivery went from $60 to $100. I bought 18 bales and I plan on buying two more loads before the end of Summer.

This is what $1,630 looks like. I'm just hoping it doesn't go up before I can buy the rest of what I need for the year.

View attachment 747151

Do you know what the load of hay weighs? If my math is correct you paid about $102/bale with delivery (16 bales for $1,630)
I was selling a 10 ton load of 4x5 feed hay round bales for $2,000.
22 Bales weighed about 900-950 each.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have no idea what they weigh. They are 4x6 and tightly wrapped. I've bought 5 and 5 1/2 foot bales with my truck and trailer without any issues hauling a total of 5 bales, but when I first bought these 6 foot bales, I was struggling to haul them. Last year he could only haul 16 of the six foot bales with his Ram 2500, and he was maxed out. This year he has a Ram 3500, which has plenty of power to handle 18 bales.