# Hay in Texas



## CantonHayGuy (Sep 25, 2008)

Hey there folks,

I already posted this down in the hay marketplace threads, but I'm hoping for more exposure on this request so here's what I've already posted:

Can any of you guys down in TX help me out? Well, it's actually for my sister and nieces. They live in Stephenville and are in need of a dependable source for hay for their horses. They have a 16ft flatbed trailer as do I, and I could find two trailer loads of hay pretty easy around here, but economically it doesn't make sense to go this route for only two months worth of hay. Soooo.... can anyone help them out?

Thanks


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Canton, SD! All this time I was thinking you were at Canton, Texas.

I would think they living in or near Stephenville they would have access to considerable bermudagrass hay. 
At least I hope they are looking for grass hay. I try to encourage horse owners to feed only grass hay, HERE. 
I really try to avoid horse owners as hay customers, due to their buying habits. 
If they are still looking for hay come October, they can give me a call at 254/982-4274. I am 110 miles from Stephenville down TX 36, 10 miles past Temple, TX.

For some degree of independence they should have hay storage to last 18 months.


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## CantonHayGuy (Sep 25, 2008)

hay wilson...
Thanks for the help. I believe she sticks with the grass hay. The good thing about my sister is, she's not one of those high-dollar horse owners; just has a hand full of 'em and is hoping to feed them without taking out a bank loan to do it. I will keep your number for her. Thanks so much!

...and I agree about the storage, it would help them out a lot.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

hay wilson in TX said:


> For some degree of independence they should have hay storage to last 18 months.


LMAO.I don't know anyone that has 18 months of hay on hand.Especialy horse people.Typicaly they have been out for a day before they call.

I don't disagree with you Hay Wilson,but very few buy much ahead.A few cattle guys are buying ahead this yr HERE.


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## GeneRector (Jun 4, 2008)

Howdy! If we don't get some good rain soon, there may not be much hay. I still have not gotten a first cutting, just no rain. However, there is news of a tropical storm coming so maybe we will get some rain and not the destructive forces. Always, Gene


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

swmnhay said:


> LMAO.I don't know anyone that has 18 months of hay on hand.Especialy horse people.Typicaly they have been out for a day before they call.
> 
> I don't disagree with you Hay Wilson,but very few buy much ahead.A few cattle guys are buying ahead this yr HERE.


Same here, don't have anybody I know of that has that much storage.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Scattered around the country I have met a few hay Dealers who cater to the weakness in hay storage, where horses are kept. They always have hay to supply forage, *just in time*, for the animals. That cost money, and the high dollar horse people are willing to pay for the service.

In any livestock operation first there must be enough forage. The sheep and cattle producers have the option to sell down their herds & flocks. With horses that essentially have a zero resale value in the hobby horse circles. They are in for a ride.

In this climate of *perpetual drought *with random flooding events you will run out of feed if you do not have an 18 month supply of hay on hand. 
North of Denton Texas there are a number of horse farm buildings that are standing empty. They had all their money in facilities and horse flesh and nothing invested in feed.

HERE, with management, 5 acres will support one horse for one year. Then the rule of thumb is never stock more than 65% of your carrying capacity. That means no more than 7.7 acres per grown horse. For the ones that do nothing but eat. Start riding the barrels or cross country trail rides and the land needs goes up. 
Go east of here and you can crowd them up. Go west out around Midland and you want more than 100 acres of forage, with some management to boot. No matter how you cut it. this is not the Old Dominion.

I do not make it a practice to hold hay. No one will pay for the service and I can not sell 5 bales a week to some one for 52 weeks at the price I get for a 48 bale pick up load or a 80 bale tandem trailer load of hay. That is why my hay cost you less than at a feed store, but more than in a truck load lot.

I do not have the up side potential of the grower with 60 pivots in hay, nor do I have the price margin of the feed store. It is a different world but comfortable. .


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I typically keep between 2-8 months worth in storage. I'll feed it down in the spring to make room for the new stuff. In the fall, after I've baled my fields, I typically buy "insurance hay" stored off site and take delivery during the winter. I'll either feed it out or sell the excess in the spring. This year, I had to scramble to keep from running short and I've already bought a number of truckloads because of my parched fields. However, I've got enough in storage now where I can sleep at night. I'd love to have 18 months of storage, but would have a real hard time making it pencil out. I can make much better returns on other things.


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## CantonHayGuy (Sep 25, 2008)

Yeah, without a doubt, my sister doesn't have room for 18 months of hay either. I have a big enough barn that I can (and do) store enough hay for the amount of critters we have for about 8 months; I only sell off what I don't need for those months after I get my last cutting done.


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

*18 month supply of hay on hand * is a stand in for having enough forage for your animals, before you get any.

HERE is after all part of the Southern Great Plains, which is nothing at all like the green hills of the Old Country. This is chicken today feathers tomorrow country. 
Two hundred years ago there were no fences or "Private Property" as we think of today. When grazing became little to none, the larger animals simply walked to where there was green & growing forage. 
Now we have some limited options, but they are options. The meat, milk, and hair animals can be sold before the forage runs out, during times of stress. 
Not so with Horses. The market for horses is limited. Unless the horse owning public has enough grass during lean times they will have to find feed.

With last years fertilizer prices, and last years equipment cost a full sized round bale has about $45 cost in it. Looking at next years fertilizer and equipment cost there may be closer to $75 real cost.

This is not to say these are what hay is selling for. The laws of supply and demand are alive and well. Last year hay from potential urban development land, with little or no investment in fertility might have sold for less than $45. With supply & demand working for the hay producer that hay may have sold for $75. If things do not improve that same bale of hay will be sell


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

hay wilson in TX said:


> This is not to say these are what hay is selling for. The laws of supply and demand are alive and well. Last year hay from potential urban development land, with little or no investment in fertility might have sold for less than $45. With supply & demand working for the hay producer that hay may have sold for $75. If things do not improve that same bale of hay will be sell


At my local saddle club meeting last Thursday, I told the members to start stocking hay if they could because I thought QUALITY hay was going to be in the $200-250/ton range this winter ($5-6/square bale). They thought I was crazy!

I had another woman call me looking for grass hay and I told her my best OG round bales were $75 (1000# bales) right now out of the barn plus delivery. She said: "Oh my, that's way more that I want to spend." I thanked her, said goodbye and hung up. Dollars to donuts I'll hear from her this winter!

Ralph


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## jdhayboy (Aug 20, 2010)

Good for you rjmoses, I used to hear alot of that stuff... "Well, I can go down the road and get it for $50". And I say well go get then, if your horses eat it then its a good deal for you. But I guarantee you get what you pay for here. I had a guy cryin to me one time about how he wasted so much money on fertilizer, so I asked him what he put out, it was like a 16-8-10 or something like that, and he said he put out 150 lbs an acre. And I'm thinking to myself... WHAT!! That ain't nothin, are you kidding me. It was like $20 an acre he spent. And he was attempting to grow the hay to sell to horse people. I told him here in our part of the world you at least need 50 units of N and to not skimp on the other stuff or you'll lose your stand. 
Personally I like to put out 350 lbs of 20-4-16. Sorry for my ranting, I guess the bottomline is "If you want something cheap, take your butt to walmart." My stuff is American made, not Chinese...


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## RCF (Sep 14, 2009)

I am a little late on this thread but we still have quite a bit of last years hay in storage (20,000+) in sulphur springs. Coastal, Tifton 44, and Tifton 85 in small squares all the round grass hay has been sold. BTW $5-$6 small square bales is gonna be CHEAP this year in this area. Here is the website with the contact numbers on it Jim Russell Hay & Sprig Farm, Inc. - Tifton 85, Tifton 44 and Coastal bermuda grass hay and sprigs for sale


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Here in south Georgia, the first cutting was weak, 2nd much better. I can tell you that I have 60 -90$ of cost in each 1100lb roll, depending on precept. I need to get 150 a roll to try and make a living, hay is primo, just don't find alot willing to pay for the RFQ


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Can I ask how you came up with the 60-90 a roll figure. Is way high in our area, or I was losing money on $225/ton hay and didn't know it.


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## RCF (Sep 14, 2009)

IDK about somedevildawg but here if you fertilized and that cost you say $60 per acre and you have got one cutting and only made one bale to the acre all year that equals a lot of money tied up in not a lot of hay.


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## CantonHayGuy (Sep 25, 2008)

RCF said:


> I am a little late on this thread but we still have quite a bit of last years hay in storage (20,000+) in sulphur springs. Coastal, Tifton 44, and Tifton 85 in small squares all the round grass hay has been sold. BTW $5-$6 small square bales is gonna be CHEAP this year in this area. Here is the website with the contact numbers on it Jim Russell Hay & Sprig Farm, Inc. - Tifton 85, Tifton 44 and Coastal bermuda grass hay and sprigs for sale


Thanks, RCF, I will pass this along to my sister. BTW... are you on some of the truck forums (TDR, DTR, TowRigs.com)?


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