# Talk about selling hay



## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

I saw the post on here about selling hay the other day. This is my first year also, saying that I have cut hay before for the farm but never sold any. The word of mouth thing is the best way to go. I have put up 3500+ squares so far and only have 900 in the barn now. If you put out a good product and stand behind it the rest will take care of its self. I have sold hay as far as 600 miles from the house. I have a local Vet in Hot Springs sampling some hay now. I give samples away for people to try. His office is up buy the horse track, so good customers. I am cutting almost 200 acres and believe I can have it all gone buy the first of Feb. I am delivering 200 bales tomorrow that's 400 bale in 10 days and they all say the same thing I have friends with horses. I was at tractor supply with the wife on Saturday, walked out side and a lady was standing by here car with the trunk open and feed on a cart. I told the wife I am going to load her feed for her. Started talking and her son raises bucking bulls and rodeos. I gave her a card and got the call today. She said she told her husband that she liked me and wanted to buy their hay from me. She said they go through 150 or so a month (good for me). So talking to people and being able to deal with the public and selling your self is as important as selling your product. My, wife, inlaws, mom&dad tell me I can sell anything to anybody so I am good at that part I run my own copany for 15 years selling my self to the public. Just thought I would share my good season so far.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

yarnammurt said:


> I saw the post on here about selling hay the other day. This is my first year also, saying that I have cut hay before for the farm but never sold any. The word of mouth thing is the best way to go. I have put up 3500+ squares so far and only have 900 in the barn now. If you put out a good product and stand behind it the rest will take care of its self. I have sold hay as far as 600 miles from the house. I have a local Vet in Hot Springs sampling some hay now. I give samples away for people to try. His office is up buy the horse track, so good customers. I am cutting almost 200 acres and believe I can have it all gone buy the first of Feb. I am delivering 200 bales tomorrow that's 400 bale in 10 days and they all say the same thing I have friends with horses. I was at tractor supply with the wife on Saturday, walked out side and a lady was standing by here car with the trunk open and feed on a cart. I told the wife I am going to load her feed for her. Started talking and her son raises bucking bulls and rodeos. I gave her a card and got the call today. She said she told her husband that she liked me and wanted to buy their hay from me. She said they go through 150 or so a month (good for me). So talking to people and being able to deal with the public and selling your self is as important as selling your product. My, wife, inlaws, mom&dad tell me I can sell anything to anybody so I am good at that part I run my own copany for 15 years selling my self to the public. Just thought I would share my good season so far.


Rodeo people are good to have buying your hay. They know their animals fairly well and generally easy going about hay. We used to supply all the hay for the Greeley Independence Stampede Rodeo (It's a fairly big rodeo event) The people that supplied the rodeo stock said our hay was the best hay their animals generally got all year. We don't sell to them now because the powers in charge of the event decided to get bids from hay sellers. So now I suppose they supply lower quality hay to the animals.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

yarnammurt said:


> I saw the post on here about selling hay the other day. This is my first year also, saying that I have cut hay before for the farm but never sold any. The word of mouth thing is the best way to go. I have put up 3500+ squares so far and only have 900 in the barn now. If you put out a good product and stand behind it the rest will take care of its self. I have sold hay as far as 600 miles from the house. I have a local Vet in Hot Springs sampling some hay now. I give samples away for people to try. His office is up buy the horse track, so good customers. I am cutting almost 200 acres and believe I can have it all gone buy the first of Feb. I am delivering 200 bales tomorrow that's 400 bale in 10 days and they all say the same thing I have friends with horses. I was at tractor supply with the wife on Saturday, walked out side and a lady was standing by here car with the trunk open and feed on a cart. I told the wife I am going to load her feed for her. Started talking and her son raises bucking bulls and rodeos. I gave her a card and got the call today. She said she told her husband that she liked me and wanted to buy their hay from me. She said they go through 150 or so a month (good for me). So talking to people and being able to deal with the public and selling your self is as important as selling your product. My, wife, inlaws, mom&dad tell me I can sell anything to anybody so I am good at that part I run my own copany for 15 years selling my self to the public. Just thought I would share my good season so far.


You also bring up the good point about marketing. Not all are born salesmen like yourself. That is a valuable part of the process. If I have extra hay to sell I will gladly pay the auction commission for their part in marketing.


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## Orchard6 (Apr 30, 2014)

This is my first year of really selling any amount of hay as well. It sure feels good when you know you have a quality product and customers spread the word about you and your hay. I've had 3 calls and sold 500 bales this last week and haven't advertised a bit!
Just this last week I sold 300 small squares to a guy that boards 30 horses and goes thru well over 5000 bales a year. The next day I talked to him and he asked if I had more as he would like to buy more if possible. That makes me feel great as this guy knows his hay. I think I now have the rest of my hay sold to just this one customer!


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Good for the new guys! I do hope you're getting good money. There's no sense in selling out early unless the money is good.


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## Orchard6 (Apr 30, 2014)

8350HiTech said:


> Good for the new guys! I do hope you're getting good money. There's no sense in selling out early unless the money is good.


I get $3 off the field (no kicker here!) which is better than most get off the field around me and $4-5 out of the barn which is as good or better than most ads I've seen on Craigslist. Its been a good year for cool season grass hay here as it's been wet and cool most the summer so there is lots of hay and the prices at the auction are really low so I'm very happy with what I'm selling for.
I learned not to sell it too low last year! Barely made enough to justify doing it. Won't do that again!


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

All the CL ads I see are extremely high or low this time of year. Neighbor was paying $7+ for light grass squares last winter. If you are happy with price good for you.

What do rounds sell for there?


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Orchard6 said:


> I get $3 off the field (no kicker here!) which is better than most get off the field around me and $4-5 out of the barn which is as good or better than most ads I've seen on Craigslist. Its been a good year for cool season grass hay here as it's been wet and cool most the summer so there is lots of hay and the prices at the auction are really low so I'm very happy with what I'm selling for.
> I learned not to sell it too low last year! Barely made enough to justify doing it. Won't do that again!


 As nice as your hay looked in the pictures you posted I would venture to say you could raise your prices and still have no trouble selling it. $3 out of the field is too cheap for good orchard grass hay......$5 out of the barn is in the ballpark.....I get $5-$6 depending on what kind of grass and $10 for alfalfa.

Last year I sold my some of my hay early on too cheap($4) because I was concerned I might have trouble moving the product......boy was I wrong.....I sold all I had and bought all I could find that I could come out on to keep my regular customers with hay and turned away I don't know how many new customers because I simply didn't have enough hay. I found out quality hay sells itself. This year I can already see I'm going to have more demand for the hay than I am going to have produced. Already turned down a order for a few thousand bales of timothy at $6 because I simply don't have the hay. If I could just find some more ground to rent to increase my production.


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## siscofarms (Nov 23, 2010)

Not sure about the price for your area but exactly what I price hay for .$3 in field may seem cheap to some but the fact that you can climb outta the tractor from baling and set on the porch watching and collect as they go out aient bad . The expense of putting hay up , by the time you figure time alone , then fuel ,equipment , or if you do it by hand ,labor cost , space in the barn ,,,its expensive . At $3 in the field your making money and they feel their doing good , everyone is happy . We are talking grass hay tho . Good alfalfa is another story .


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I can barely make small squares for $3....I figure I have 2.25 a bale out of pocket....maybe more depending on the yield...


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## Orchard6 (Apr 30, 2014)

deadmoose said:


> All the CL ads I see are extremely high or low this time of year. Neighbor was paying $7+ for light grass squares last winter. If you are happy with price good for you.
> 
> What do rounds sell for there?


4x4 grass rounds are $40 to $60 depending if they're hard or soft core and net wrapped vs twine.
A good net wrapped hard core 4x6 might get $70-80.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

How heavy are your squares?


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## Orchard6 (Apr 30, 2014)

On average I'd say 50 lbs give or take.


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## Qian (Jul 17, 2014)

why nobody sell hays by tons?


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## Qian (Jul 17, 2014)

who can tell me the average price per ton in the market? thanks


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

Same here 55lbs on the grass and 65-70 on my teff. That stuff is hard to bale if its not heavy.


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## Qian (Jul 17, 2014)

yarnammurt said:


> Same here 55lbs on the grass and 65-70 on my teff. That stuff is hard to bale if its not heavy.


i sent you a message. please check


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Qian said:


> why nobody sell hays by tons?


Many times it's easier selling by the bale. Especially smaller amounts. And if there isn't a scale nearby. I won't sell by the ton until the buyer is buying over 10 3x3x8 bales.

You are asking for the average price per ton on the market? That is a very localized average price. What sells for $250/ton in Colorado might sell higher elsewhere or lower. Also depends on what the crop is and you didn't specify.


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## Orchard6 (Apr 30, 2014)

No one in my area sells hay by the ton. It's all by the bale. No scales close by and a big hassle to drive 30 minutes one way out of your way to use one.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Orchard6 said:


> No one in my area sells hay by the ton. It's all by the bale. No scales close by and a big hassle to drive 30 minutes one way out of your way to use one.


It's a hassle to drive 10 minutes.


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

Qian said:


> why nobody sell hays by tons?


I dont sell any other way except by the ton . It is a waste of my time to sell by the bale and it is fair for both parties to have it weighed . Now I will sell a few bales to some ******** or something along those lines once in a while.


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## Dill (Nov 5, 2010)

Like I've said before. There is no point to me trying to sell by the ton here. No one sells it by weight so no one is used to pricing by the ton. The only feed that gets sold by the ton is corn silage.


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

Same here no one sells by the ton. Its all by the bale big or small.


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## siscofarms (Nov 23, 2010)

If you'll go to the USDA web site and click under market news you can follow it to a "HAY PRICES " page . You can also go to the HAY FORAGE web site or the back page of there magazine . ehay weekly is another . Internet hay exchange has a price calculator . Specific prices for your area it may not have but you can get a real good idea of whats going on in the hay markets .


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## siscofarms (Nov 23, 2010)

If you have 2.25 a bale in a 50 lb bale your inputs are way higher than mine . when your talking grass hay that's gonna yield 80 bales to the acre and your gonna make $.75" CLEAR " per bale that's not to bad .


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

siscofarms said:


> If you have 2.25 a bale in a 50 lb bale your inputs are way higher than mine . when your talking grass hay that's gonna yield 80 bales to the acre and your gonna make $.75" CLEAR " per bale that's not to bad .


That's $60/acre. Not worth farming it for $60.


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

I think I have around $1 bale in it to make it. I am on pace to get 150+ bales to the acre.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

8350HiTech said:


> Good for the new guys! I do hope you're getting good money. There's no sense in selling out early unless the money is good.


Ttalking about that I can't help but wonder what hay supply versus demand will be like this winter


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## shortrow (Feb 21, 2012)

yarnammurt said:


> I think I have around $1 bale in it to make it. I am on pace to get 150+ bales to the acre.


I hope you have a bunch of wagons. Or not too many acres. Either way, good yield.


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

Yea, cutting 200Acres, a lot of hay. I see it in my sleep.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

yarnammurt said:


> Yea, cutting 200Acres, a lot of hay. I see it in my sleep.


40 pound bales? Or more than 3 tons per acre?


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