# Pricing hay



## fball1208 (Jul 13, 2011)

What's the going rate for hay off the wagon. Mostly Timothy orchard grass mix. Small squares


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Mine cost 6, it's worth more, but I do alright at that.


----------



## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Be lucky to get 3 hereabouts.


----------



## fball1208 (Jul 13, 2011)

ok, were probably going to try for 2.5 off wagon 4 from barn


----------



## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

As long as you can make money at that price. In my area we have been trying to set the floor at 4 but people always break lower. Customers would only benefit as quality would dramatically increase. Maybe the weed balers would go away as well. Horse customers will pitch damn near anything in front of their bags if it's cheap enough. They will buy a few premium bales to have in their trailer for the show though. Kinda like a moped situation.


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

did a talk on hay several years ago for a local horse group. only women there. I started out with the question-what is the first thing you look for in hay? A resounding answer-price! I spent the next 30 min telling them how ignorant that was, pointing out bale size, density, quality and lord love a duck-what did their horse need (as in food value wise) and was the hay they were looking for a good match for their needs. Thought I was on mars for a while but think I got some converts. Never got invited back though and just as well as I wasn't going to sell them any of my hay anyway.


----------



## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

My "off the wagon" is in the stack where the stacker wagon sets it off at the barn and it's $2 a bale there. Price jumps to $4 as soon as it moves into the barn. I only have one or two people who get hay from me off the field, so I don't mind cutting them a deal. They usually are good about showing up when the hay is ready.


----------



## hayray (Feb 23, 2009)

I am $5/small square at the field, $6 dropped off and $7/bale stacked.


----------



## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

i won't sell anything with strings around it for less than $3/bale. Just a floor I set for myself several years ago. Ive never had any problem getting rid of hay. most of it sells for $4-$5/bale.


----------



## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

I don't do squares but a friend does, he gets 7$ for coastal....

I see on CL Fescue mixed for 6-8$ for small squares in the barn, don't know about their quality or weight .......

I hope I never need to pick up another small square bale myself....


----------



## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Hybrid Bermuda $7 out of the barn......depending on quantity


----------



## Shetland Sheepdog (Mar 31, 2011)

1st crop = $5.50 @ 40 lb bale

2nd crop = $6.50 @ 40 lb bale


----------



## CaseIH (Feb 6, 2016)

I don't think I would even do square bales for anything below three bucks a bale and even then it would be highly questionable... Of course there are always those couple guys in the area who low ball the h*ll out of everybody and sell for two. Just comes down to not even being worth it at some point... You start figuring in cost and there is no way they are making a dime! Just my two cents.


----------



## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

CaseIH said:


> I don't think I would even do square bales for anything below three bucks a bale and even then it would be highly questionable... Of course there are always those couple guys in the area who low ball the h*ll out of everybody and sell for two. Just comes down to not even being worth it at some point... You start figuring in cost and there is no way they are making a dime! Just my two cents.


And they won't be around for long or have any appreciable quantity to offer at that price. The problem is, more people see the ads than buy the hay...the ones that saw the ads for 2-buck hay think that is the going rate. I've had the conversation that went something like this

So and so has hay for $2 a bale

Well then, go buy theirs instead

They don't have any

Well if I didn't have any, mine would be $1.50

73, Mark


----------



## fball1208 (Jul 13, 2011)

Unfortunately 2.5-3 is best off wagon and 4 for first cut 5-6 for second is what I am seeing.


----------



## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

"Well if I didn't have any, mine would be $1.50" Lol.....I'll have to remember that one, although they probably won't get past the dogs if theys lookin for cheap hay. Theys some purty smart dogs


----------



## CaseIH (Feb 6, 2016)

glasswrongsize said:


> And they won't be around for long or have any appreciable quantity to offer at that price. The problem is, more people see the ads than buy the hay...the ones that saw the ads for 2-buck hay think that is the going rate. I've had the conversation that went something like this
> 
> So and so has hay for $2 a bale
> 
> ...


glasswrongsize,

Love it man! Just had a girl in here last night buying hay and she said your exact comment!  Such and such is where I always get my hay, he is only two bucks a bale! LOL! But he is out! I'll have to remember your reply and tell her next time mine drops to a buck a bale when I'm sold out!


----------



## Hawk40 (Jun 28, 2015)

Baled a 12 ac field of OG the other day that never made it to the wagon, customers picked it up in the field for 225$ ton. Wish I could do that with alfalfa, there's way more demand for good grass than alfalfa around here these days.


----------



## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

My first year with alfalfa, I hired the haying operation and paid 2 dollars per bale that was made. Now I have purchased my own haying equipment to do it myself. I don't hire out to make sm sqs for others, but if I did, I would charge at least 3 dollars per bale.

How can anyone make a profit selling sm sqs of anything for $2 - $4 per bale? (Ok, 40 lb bales???) I sell in the field for $11/bale and from the barn for $12 per bale of alfalfa. And I won't go to the barn for one or two bales. There is a small difference- my wire-tied alfalfa bales must be at least 36 inches in length to work on the Hoelscher accumulator, so they weigh in the range of 75 - 80 lbs per bale at 15% moisture.

With only 8.3 acres of alfalfa, I might be able to gross enough $ to break even in three or four years of selling hay to pay for the haying equipment that I purchased used and paid some to get it in working order.


----------



## Orchard6 (Apr 30, 2014)

I get $3 for first cut native grass, and $4 for orchard grass. I do let some second cutting orchard grass go for $3 but I don't touch a bale and the guy usually buys 500 at a whack. Prices here are depressed because every Tom, Dick and Harry has old junk hay equipment and a 5 acre patch of weeds. It makes it hard to make a profit, that's for sure.


----------



## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Orchard, I got the same Tom, Dick and Harry's here, but apparently you are missing the Joes, can I send a few your direction? :lol: Gotta love those guys thou, who else would baling that 'quality 1st cutting in August in Michigan without them. At least sometimes they are honest, telling folks no rain on this 'hay' (no dummy, it is just dead ripe grassy weed combination, that was dry enough to bale BEFORE I cut it). Larry


----------



## Orchard6 (Apr 30, 2014)

r82230 said:


> Orchard, I got the same Tom, Dick and Harry's here, but apparently you are missing the Joes, can I send a few your direction? :lol: Gotta love those guys thou, who else would baling that 'quality 1st cutting in August in Michigan without them. At least sometimes they are honest, telling folks no rain on this 'hay' (no dummy, it is just dead ripe grassy weed combination, that was dry enough to bale BEFORE I cut it). Larry


Dang, how could I forget the Joe's? We got plenty of them too! Plus we have a local hay auction where everybody must give hay away because people seem to expect me to!


----------



## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Here auction sets the mood for hay prices all over the place. Auction prices have really been stale and many people blame the order buyers some weeks hardly anyone shows up at auction and the ordet buyets have the ability to control pricing is what some say. Personally I am not saying anything bad about order buyers, because they along with any other kind of broker or jockey are an important part of the hay auctions from week to week. I guess supply and demand are important it amuses me that's straw has so much more value than hay.


----------



## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

This is an interesting topic. With some of the low prices, I don't see how it pencils out. Unless - like when I was taking back our fields, basically baling up thatch and weeds the first year, other than old junk equipment, my overhead was pretty much nothing. In spite of the low price, we easily made $$$'s

Second year - first cut, with a little fertilizer (and I mean little) and the cheapest 2,4-D, we got a bit more per bale as we had cleaner hay and it penciled out. Then for the 2nd cut, we put down a little nitrogen, Pasturegard (which was expensive) and got an even better price, made hay in the black again. That pricing was probably pushing the limit for mixed grass hay.

Now we've got some pretty good straight timothy. It's AMAZING to me (and we still aren't the highest price) how some of these buyers have been put off. They have crazy nice homes, 4x4 club cab diesel trucks and incredible trailers to haul their horses, but they want the cheapest hay - yet weed free, early cut and tested - LOL!!!! If I sold this crop for what they'd like to pay, I'd be WAY ahead to let the fields go to trash again, make and sell goat hay. BTW - the goat hay folks IMHO are the nicest most unpretentious customers we've ever had - almost worth throwing-in the towel on horse hay - LOL!

Bill


----------



## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

That's why I quit spraying 348. I plant annuals and another the weeds out. Well at least reduce their presence. A lot of horse owners try to cheap out where they really shouldn't.


----------



## fball1208 (Jul 13, 2011)

Wow some good reading lol. horse people are a different breed i swear they would eat the hay first if they could. Absolutely nuts they are. We set the pricing at 5$ out of barn and 3-3.5 off wagon, Seems to be working and were still doing ok.


----------



## Cmm (Jun 5, 2016)

$6-8 a bale
Clean orchard grass down to nice mix of Timothy orchard fescue 
Don't mind if you get it from the field or from the barn Same price

If they haggle I stay firm 
Any crap past no it's $8 and I raise the price


----------

