[RAyers]

Because your hat dealer out bid others. We are looking at disposing of horses. Our hay grower for almost 20 years said they could only get 50% of their annual crop and he has 3,000 irrigated acres in the mountains. He upped his prices 20%.

Colorado is one of the states in a extreme drought. We had less than 50% of annual snow pack in the mountains. We are looking to buy hay from Montana.

[PeteyPie]

Interesting that your grass is more expensive than your alfalfa! ...then again I may just be in a weird part of the state...

Yes, I'm puzzled by that, too. The orchard grass used to be the least expensive, with imported Timothy the most expensive and alfalfa in the middle. Now, alfalfa is the cheapest and has been for quite a while.

[Wayside]

Yes, I'm puzzled by that, too. The orchard grass used to be the least expensive, with imported Timothy the most expensive and alfalfa in the middle. Now, alfalfa is the cheapest and has been for quite a while.

Although it's kind of sad and stunted, the alfalfa in my neighbor's hay field stayed green and kept growing after most of the grass went dormant. If that was happening other places, it could explain why the alfalfa prices didn't go up quite as much as the grass.

[Joanz]

We bale hay, and this year we just don't have any extra to sell, at any price. If we do end up with more, we will be pricing it high. We are already looking at tens of thousands in lost income, while the cost of producing what little hay we have has remained high.

Rainfall has been sporadic, coming from thunderstorms that can leave one area dry while another nearby area gets a good soaking. So, if you happen to buy hay from a farmer who got rain on his fields, you might not be getting a look at how things really are in this drought.

If you can find cheap hay, buy it, because there will not be enough to go around this year.

And I'm one of the farmers who advertises on craigslist. Not all the hay ads are from brokers.

[baxtersmom]

Yeah, SE MI, it's not chicken little here... the sky really is falling. Very sparse second cutting, and definitely nothing after that. Our BO has two excellent hay suppliers who sold her everything they had and let her reserve everything they might have - last year it was 65 round bales + a supply of squares, and this year they could only do 20 rounds. So she shipped up hay from KY to lay up for winter before prices skyrocket even more. *bows down to awesome BO who was on top on this a month ago*

It's so dry here, my horse doesn't even want to graze on the lawn. He just tries to wander into the barn. Rain's done nothing but make a muggy day or two and bring out the flies.