Hay Prices.....My wallets taking a beating........

[Farmerdoug]

Well, I went and filled the flatbed trailer up with 48 bales of alfalfa. Just about died of price shock when the register rang up $802.00. :skeered: This is starting to get out of hand real quick. I hear rumors that the prices will continue to go up. Some say $20 bucks a bale. My feed store blames the prices on the Japanese tsunami and some drought over in Saudi Arabia. What are ya'll hearing? I've tried the pellet game in the past. Last time I filled my hopper up with 3 tons, it ran me just over a $1000. So, just out of curiosity, how are you guys coping. Anything short of thinning the herd, I'm not quite sure what to do......

[dustin ray]

(Inflation) if this crap keeps up by next year $20 bucks might sound cheep
I'm glad not feeding any critters right now.
sorry farmerdoug i hope things get better

[Rob P.]

It's the old law of supply and demand. They have the supply and you pay what they demand.

Feed prices are hurting every livestock owner. I'm glad that right now I'm only feeding 1 because I'm certain that feed price increases have not topped out yet. Pellets/cubes have the same protein / carbohydrate levels at less feed bulk, but that comes at a cost. Less time eating means more time for bad habits/mischief and maybe colic is a bit more likely from the shorter eating cycle/food concentration. Either of which usually means a Vet bill. (Not that Vet bills are an unheard of phenomenon...)

About all you can do is turn them out on good pasture and supplement only the ones in work. If you can. Otherwise, about all I can say is that misery loves company and that I hope the price goes down as the new crop starts to come in later this summer.

[Farmerdoug]

It's the old law of supply and demand. They have the supply and you pay what they demand.

Feed prices are hurting every livestock owner. I'm glad that right now I'm only feeding 1 because I'm certain that feed price increases have not topped out yet. Pellets/cubes have the same protein / carbohydrate levels at less feed bulk, but that comes at a cost. Less time eating means more time for bad habits/mischief and maybe colic is a bit more likely from the shorter eating cycle/food concentration. Either of which usually means a Vet bill. (Not that Vet bills are an unheard of phenomenon...)

About all you can do is turn them out on good pasture and supplement only the ones in work. If you can. Otherwise, about all I can say is that misery loves company and that I hope the price goes down as the new crop starts to come in later this summer.

I hear you brother. Just this year year we opted to put down an old mare that might have had an easy retirement if the price of feed hadn't skyrocketed. It was a tough decision, but sometimes logic has to overrule emotion. Also, we've tried thinning down the herd on pigs/sows now that corn is holding steady at $13.50 for a 50lb pound bag. Just this weekend I took a small sow to slaughter just to cut down on some overhead. I'm sure with with the drought in Texas and the rising costs of feed, most, if not all will be feeling the effects on their wallet when they have to buy meat at the grocery store.

[3056_HUNTER]

Ouch! I have 3 head plus a mini for the little ones. I pay $120 every two weeks. 3 horses are barefoot so I just trim them myself and the one that needs shoes only needs them about 3-4 x per year. That cuts down a little plus I don't let my kids feed and I have their needs pretty nailed down. I do all my own vet stuff and they are very low maint-easy keepers. Plus I made it my only hobbie due to the $$$ so it's worth it for me.

[brknarrow]

20 acres o dirt i'm feel'n it now

[smithstation]

I have 25+ head now, thats down from 30+ last year. I grow about 35 acres of dry land hay. I usually get enough for me and sale enough to pay for the cutting and baleing. Because of the lack of rain last year I got 1/3 of what I expected. I had to buy four 10 high stacks. It was pasture grass and mainly a filler for them. The stallion, jacks, and working mares get premium hay but thats about it. $20 per bale is feed store prices here. $250 a ton is average. We buy 300+ tons of hay for the ranch every year. We usually buy from a guy in Idaho but he is contracted for the next 3 years to Texas. We will probabnly pay more for Nevada hay this year but it is what it is.

[warren nelson]

I buy in GJ Colorado 70/30 grass/alfalfa mix(great hay) and haul it back here to SOL CAL. I usually get about 150 bales on a trailer load.But their prices have jumped way out there now too. Starting to look at cubes and bags.

[ChrisAMX]

I paid 23.00 for a bale at local feed store here :(

[KTKT70]

ouch. i remember when u could get hay from Al Besale for $5 bucks a bale if it had a little weeds. (good for cows) $7 if it was clean and for horse. Dam i miss those days. To bad all the hay farms in kern now grow houses... or tryed to.

[wildwingsgamebirds]

Where are you at? We grow and sell hay. #1 hay we are selling for $15 a bale. We are in Nuevo. The cost to grow it has really been the blame for the price increase. Off road diesel is over a $1.50 gallon more than a year ago, baling twine is $4 a roll more, seed prices to plant the crops are way higher, parts, labor, equipment and the big one "WATER" are rediculous. There is also a supply issue driving prices up as well. Alot of hay is being put in containers right out of the field and being exported. It's the same as everything, prices are rising in,everything. Trust me no farmer is getting rich. It seems like we should be making more money with prices up but in reality we had more cash 5 years ago. I raise game birds on the side for extra money and game bird grower feed ran me $280 a ton 18 months ago, now I pay $560 and people cry about a pheasant or chukar being $.50 more. It's not easy for anybody right now.

Wild Wings Game Birds

[KTKT70]

wow so u grow hay and birds. Thats so cool. The dream life for sum ppl. I live in bakersfield and there is lots of land here but most ppl that grow hay started to build houses and than that put a real hurt on things. I have 5 acers in the mt.s that would b good for birds but no land for hay yet. I have always wondered how many acers i need to make it work. The real dream for me would b to have enough land to have a few head and also sum land to grow hay also. Sum how use both grasslands and hay to raise the beef. Not sure i will ever do this but for now i will work on sumthing to do with the 5 acers of land just waiting for a use.

[wildwingsgamebirds]

Yeah a dream for some but a sort of nightmare for others. It is rough making a living some times. Home building has moved us around a bit, taking over some of our fields. You need roughly two acres per head for your cattle. I have 6 head myself.

Wild Wings Game Birds

[cjack]

Yeah a dream for some but a sort of nightmare for others. It is rough making a living some times. Home building has moved us around a bit, taking over some of our fields. You need roughly two acres per head for your cattle. I have 6 head myself.

Wild Wings Game Birds


Just curious, at two head per acre are you having to buy hay or does this sustain them throughout the year? A friend in Tehachipi told me thhey run three per 20 acres.

[wildwingsgamebirds]

No I said 2 acres per head. That is a general rule of thumb on a decent rain year. We do that in a dryland planted pasture. Running hills would require a bit more but it also depends on what feed grows and the rain. There are so many variables and as soon as you think you got enough feed you end up scrambling when it doesn't rain chummin them with hay.

Wild Wings Game Birds

[cjack]

Does rainfall dictate whether or you make a profit or can it be done even if you have to suppliment? Even at 2 acres per head that you run on dryland planted pasture, that's quite a bit more than grazing hills, say in the rolling foothills of the sierras.

[wildwingsgamebirds]

Free feed is always gonna put the odds in your favor. More often then not I think lady luck determines weather you make a profit or not. Alot of things happen, from sickness to cows having problems calving, they could bust through your fence, theft, injury, you never know. I had my first cow die just getting bred. I have seen them get out and get hit by a car, you name it. But once you get a decent herd going it doesn't sting as bad if you loose one.

Wild Wings Game Birds

[KTKT70]

i like how the hearst count. They can tell you how many acers per cow insted of how many cows per acer. i think they run about 3000 head of all ages on 150k acers. So they give around 50acers per head. They say they never feed hay and all the cows are free range grass feed only. Even finished on grass. I guess mayb we would all like to do it this way. But ofcorse not all of us how that kind of land just waiting to b used for what ever. lol

[Orygun]

Until that drought in the lower midwest stops it will stay high. If that lets up the inputs will still keep it somewhat high. That is not counting the devastating fires in SE Oregon, SW Idaho, and NW Nevada where the ranchers have to feed year round for the next 3 years because BLM won't let them on their grazing allotments even though the grass has comeback fine in many spots. There is just a LOT of demand all over.

It is still over $200 a ton in Central/Eastern Oregon. Running about $6-8 bucks a 50lb 2 string bale if you get it straight from the grower. Mainly for orchard or alfalfa. Other grasses and mixes a bit less. We are in Redmond and it is about that. In Burns it is under $200 but goes over that unless you buy it by the semi. Many folks I know that need a lot usually contract for a whole field or circle and buy a whole cutting. They usually get it for a bit less.

I use site: http://www.hayfinder.org/HayFind.html to look for hay around my area. It also has it for Klamath and Lake Counties. Might be worth a look for you.