Don't feel bad. I currently pay $33 each for 120# bales of Montana alfalfa. But it's totally weed & grass free, luscious, & leafy. Totally waste free & worth every penny.
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Get back to me when you're paying $8-10 for 2 string coastal bales, $30 for 3 string alfalfa, and $75-100 for horse quality round bales. Sme of you have no clue what expensive hay REALLY is.Comment
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It ebbs and flows...Texas had a drought last year and hay prices were up but this year the rain has been so plentiful and the grass is so high we have to mow it every two weeks. This summer we only give hay in the stalls at about 9pm at night, and at that, only about a half flake because the quality is so good.Comment
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amen. I pay $27 for a 2 string bale of alfalfa.Originally posted by dressurpferd01 View PostLast edited by supaflyskye; Jul. 18, 2012, 05:07 AM.Comment
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TX is rather large and those of us in the N and West are still in a very serious drought.Originally posted by SanJacMonument View Post
Count yourself lucky to have had rains and good grass and abundant hay, for now.Comment
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Sorry Bluey!
Yes, SE TX is officially out of the drought but over half of TX is still near or in drought conditions.
Wish I could send you guys some rain - I have had enough! We have received afternoon rain every day for 2-3 weeks and my street has flooded twice in the same timeframe. I cannot move dead limbs from parts of the property for mud and standing water. And last year we had forest fires to worry about, what a 180!Comment
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What has me worried is not horses but my poultry. Horses really don't need corn...neither do cattle..and my horses nor cattle get any corn at all...but poultry need small grains/corn etc... I am lucky to have a good hay supplier so I'm not too concerned on that yet. If fuel prices skyrocket, that will hurt me.
I'm planning on doing one more large batch of broilers to finish in mid October I think and I'm scaling back on hens to winter over. Chickens can eat you right out of house and home and feed never really came down from last year's increase. I will probably also slaughter all the turkeys. Keeping breeders makes little sense unless you are going to sell poults. I'm a bit worried how high the feed prices will go so the fewer birds I have to feed this winter, the better.
A bag of chick starter can run over $17 now and layer/finisher about $14...that's the cheap stuff. At the feed store yesterday I was told the price of a bag of corn went up one dollar overnight. Ouch...Comment
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Our barn just cut the second cutting--it was dead on the stalks, but if they want any chance of a third, they had to do it now. We need rain desperately. Lucky's moving to my parents' soon, and at least there the grass is still green, and if necessary I guess we could feed cubes--I don't actually LIKE alfalfa for horses, but it'll do. A bigger issue around here is going to be the pastures--my lawn's dead, not dormant-dead, dead-dead, and the horses' pastures are just grazed down to sand. At least up at Dad's nothing's grazed on that paddock for seven years now, and he's kept it mowed nicely, so for one horse it'll do all right. Maybe next year we can get hay in again but he'll have to have someone kill out the field before to even worry about the rain or lack thereof (anyone know how to get rid of spotted knapweed? Bringing in a herd of sheep is starting to seem practical...)Originally posted by dangerbunny View PostComment
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Man, I hate to add to the "possible hay shortages" but SE Oregon just lost 800,000 acres of range land. Yup, the biggest fire in a century. Because it burned sage prairie, not big news coverage (Frenchglen, Oregon, one of the towns nearly burned, has a population of 12 people!!).
Anyway, lots of cattle lost, but many thousands of head were saved, and now nearly 80,000 cattle are without food--the rest of their summer range and all the winter range is gone, and quite a bit of hay was lost too.
They are accepting money and hay donations...but god help them trying to find enough hay. Many will simply sell up. BLM lands (most of SE OR, UT, ID where these ranchers graze) cannot be touched for 3+ years following a range fire.
I'm worried about getting my OR hay in now, for a decent price. I'm guessing second cut orchard/alfalfa will run $250/ton now...Proud member of the "Don't rush to kill wildlife" clique!Comment
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Ain't that the truth. We still have some grass..at the moment. Unlike last year most everyone near me has baled twice this year, but the prices haven't dropped. Fertilizer has gone up. Baling wire has gone up, etc., etc. I doubt if a 3rd cutting is going to happen, so I filled my barn with $9/bale bermuda. I got a little miffed at one hay supplier the other day who told me he had 3300 bales put up that he isn't selling yet. He's going to wait 'til fall and see if he can raise his price when we all get desperate again.Originally posted by Bluey View Post
"Everyone will start to cheer, when you put on your sailin shoes"-Lowell GeorgeComment
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Last year about this time I was paying $6.50 for very decent coastal hay about 60#s. Now, I am having to buy the 3 strand 120# bales out of California. I'm paying $25 for those
We need rain bad in North Central Texas.
Its tough when you are a single gal just trying to make a living....Comment
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Much of the CO mountain hay has burned. The east part of the state is dry. Add to that the forest service has announced that it's going to use hay and "wood chips" on the Waldo Canyon burn scar. I guess no one has told them that there is livestock that needs to be fed.
I have heard through the grape vine that there are a couple of hay growers who intend on holding on to their hay until fall, so they can get more $$$$$.Comment
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I just spoke to my Northern New York hay guy. He says he got in a good first cutting but it's been very dry there the last three weeks and he does not expect a second cutting. So, yes, hay will likely be a problem for me too unless I can find an affordable local source. Local hay here is usually more expensive than trucking it in from NY>Comment
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I'm jealous of all of you, I pay $40 for a #100 bale of mediocre timothy. I have no real options for buying anything else either. Most folks around here feed nothing but cubes and pellets. If things go up anymore I may have to switch to that, though I hate doing it.Comment
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I think the hay they use to control erosion is (if they do it like they do around here), moldy, rained-on, nasty, weedy hay that companies and gov't agencies buy from farmers just for this purpose. The Forest Service can't afford to buy quality hay to spread on burned ground. And believe me, you want those steep hillsides stabilized.
There is tons of local hay here in the Portland area--we got a week of hot temps right at July 4, and everyone was putting up hay. "Local" here means natural or pasture grass, cut and baled. Varies in quality, but many use it as filler or for airferns.Proud member of the "Don't rush to kill wildlife" clique!Comment
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I know, I was whining and wishing they would find something else to use. In the past, I have seen the forest service use edible hay. By edible, I mean hay that could be eaten by horses or cows. I hope you are right and it's the nasty stuff.Originally posted by Calvincrowe View PostComment
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Cows can eat some pretty nasty hay. Unlike horses, they can regurgitate, so it's more difficult to poison them with poor-quality food. Never buy hay for your horses that's advertised suitable for cows/cattle - it most likely will be nasty & unsuitable for them.Comment
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