# Where are the Hay Customers?



## haygrl59 (May 19, 2014)

Just wondering if anyone else is having slow hay sales? We are located in west central Illinois and our sales right now are lower than last year during all of the Covid shutdowns. I have tried contacting some of our larger volume customers/horse farms and received no replies. I have noticed that several boarding stables have closed, probably due to last year's problems. Other producers I have spoken with say that we need a good snowfall to get sales going (we have had cold days but no snow so far) and another producer thinks that a lot of the animals are gone from the state. (There has been a good exodus of people leaving the state over the past couple of years.) One producer is shipping hay out west to the drought areas and thinks in time the sales will come back. So, is it just a regional problem or is it a more national issue? Animals need the hay to eat and I'm surprised there isn't a big demand right now. My local customers are coming in but at a trickle most days. Our marketing is right on and current, so it isn't due to the lack of advertising. Its frustrating for sure!


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## Ox76 (Oct 22, 2018)

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger, haygrl. Same thing happening here in upper s/w Missouri. I reckon once some cold comes in and some snow flies things will pick up. But it sure is slower than last year as far as sales go.


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## Edd in KY (Jul 16, 2009)

I make hay mainly for my own horses. I sell my excess and I have already sold as much as I want to let go until spring. But, I get a call every day wanting to buy some hay. All repeat customers. I raised the price and no one batted an eye. Quality straight grass horse hay, small squares.


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## Red Bank (Apr 28, 2019)

I have two more loads I need to deliver already paid for and I will be out of hay. Last winter at this time I was sitting on around 800 square bales and around 30 round bales. Don’t know what the difference in this year and last was unless everybody is thinking there is a hay shortage.


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

In my area in SW MI there was a lot of talk about hay shortage again in the spring because of the drought. People bought up early and those that were selling at the best price sold out. People with the higher priced hay still have inventory but the buyers are stocked up. I sold everything for $6 this year. I run lean so I can do that. I could sweeten the deal for me if I went to $7 but then I started to get some balking because there's still too many other people still selling theirs for $6.


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## Markpnw (Dec 27, 2019)

Send yours out west it’ll get sold instantly. Prices went up to $400 a ton for small squares. Big bales roughly $340 a ton


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## mstuck21 (Oct 4, 2019)

southern Illinois has been too warm … pastures are still green… my uncle is still grazing his cows and hasn’t fed a bale of hay yet.. that’s good if you are the one with animals and tough if you are the one with hay to sell.

hang in there good luck. Please tell Mr. Tim to keep carrying that camera around (I’ve got a lot to learn)


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Markpnw said:


> Send yours out west it’ll get sold instantly. Prices went up to $400 a ton for small squares. Big bales roughly $340 a ton


 There is still plenty of western hay being shipped here


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## BisonMan (Apr 27, 2020)

SW Ontario - So far things have been slow. Since Finishing up the harvest in September I've sold about 50 large bales out of 500 total. Starting to get a little worried. I did get an offer from a large buyer at $0.08/lb CAD. Feels like a break even proposition for me after figuring in all the costs but might take it just to ease the burden/worry on holding onto all the inventory. It's my second year at this and there is a fair bit of hustle just selling the stuff. I do like the cash buyers though.


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## Ox76 (Oct 22, 2018)

I had a hay buyer try to negotiate through another guy to buy everything I've got. Still sitting on over 3,000 from 5,400 total this year (sold about 2300 earlier during 1st cutting). Bales average around 55 to 60 lbs of mixed grass hay with very few weeds. Told them the $5 price and was asked if I'd move off from it. Told him no, I'll sit on it and get what I need to get later and that I don't need to sell now. Never heard back. There ain't no sense in doing it (to me anyways) if you can't clear a little money. Or else it's just an expensive hobby (to me anyways). I won't tell anybody that they're doing "it" wrong. To each his own! Just sharing a little ditty that happened last week.


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## cjsr8595 (Jul 7, 2014)

Its the same situation around here. It was a good year for hay production and grass in general. We have yet to have a hard freeze and animals are still picking at pasture. I have quite a bit of hay laying around, it is slowing trickling away but man not like last year. It was gone in a hurry.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Lots of hay around our area this year after two years of shortages. May try to pick up a few extra cows.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

As many have said, unseasonably warm for us in VA, paddocks are still growing if they have fescue and most do. We do day turnout and even though the horses are in longer than on night turnout during warmer months we are feeding very little in stalls at night. My rule is if they don't clean it up overnight, they don't get more til they do and then we cut back some till they clean it up each night. I hate to waste hay. This is a really good year to sell up front before your customers know what the winter brings. They just won't be buying any supplemental hay from anyone else.


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