# High-Priced Hay.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

From DTN....it's all about location. I talked with a farmer in Southern Illinois Monday and he said that hay demand was very strong there.

Regards, Mike

https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/article/2018/03/02/tight-supplies-strong-demand-winter


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I'm getting at least a call a day from people looking for hay, I'm basically sold out as now. About half of what I have left is already paid for, the other half have a verbal understanding, the understanding being if they change their minds and don't take what I agreed to hold back for em they can go elsewhere next year to find hay.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Here is the hay auction results here. I would have liked to see what quality the 624 pound 3x3s that went for $92 a bale were. http://casauction.com/2018/02/hay-auction-representative-sales-february-24-2018/


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

I have nearly depleted my hay from 2017. I carried more weight over through the winter and by NC standards, it was a cold one.

Looks like this year my surplus will be on the short side. My normal buyer hasn't been buying as much because he can get it 'cheaper'. His wife notices my bales last longer and cattle fill out better compared to their other supplier. What can I say, fertilized hay is better than fields that never see a spreader. Not all hay is created equal. NC buyers are mostly ignorant to price/quality. Can't compete with using grandpa's equipment and unfertilized fields producing $15-20 pancakes no matter if it's 48" or 60".

Which is fine, I never intended to be in the for sale business. Depending on how the summer plays out this year, I'll probably cut once or until my barns are full and then bush hog any extra down into the ground to add organic matter. Watch the weather and late growth, scalp it and drill if I can.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

BWfarms said:


> I have nearly depleted my hay from 2017. I carried more weight over through the winter and by NC standards, it was a cold one.
> 
> Looks like this year my surplus will be on the short side. My normal buyer hasn't been buying as much because he can get it 'cheaper'. His wife notices my bales last longer and cattle fill out better compared to their other supplier. What can I say, fertilized hay is better than fields that never see a spreader. Not all hay is created equal. NC buyers are mostly ignorant to price/quality. Can't compete with using grandpa's equipment and unfertilized fields producing $15-20 pancakes no matter if it's 48" or 60".
> 
> Which is fine, I never intended to be in the for sale business. Depending on how the summer plays out this year, I'll probably cut once or until my barns are full and then bush hog any extra down into the ground to add organic matter. Watch the weather and late growth, scalp it and drill if I can.


Sounds like here, they go else where if they can save $.25 without really looking at it. Then I have a customer that says I should be charging more.


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## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

Every once in a while someone leaves a note in my mail box asking if I sell any... my fields do look very good compared to everything else around... but I only fill my barn,like BW I will let it seed and bush hog it down to help my ground...


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

Come January I had most of my 5k bales still in the barn and no phone calls one month later and all I have left is about 125-150 bales left..and picked up a bunch more customers that all said I had the best looking and smelling hay from here to central NY? I don't know about that but it makes you feel good, especially when they keep coming back!


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

It's been a strange winter,more hay demand then I've seen for yrs.Alot of new customers or old ones taking more hay.Hay demand really picked up the last couple weeks.

Went into the yr with 100 ton carryover.Produced 200 ton more then normal.Lost a couple 100 ton customers to retirement.So I figured I'd have to start hauling to auctions this winter.Got it all sold!

Hay price is about 50% higher then last yr also.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

Had a current customer call that is getting low on hay. He buys out of the field and has now run out 2 years in a row. Last year he wanted a discount and we obliged and it did work out as he brought along a new customer, however this year he calls again and I have $3.50 1st cutting. He wonders about a price break for for large quantity ( 100 Bales) did not want to but offered $3.25. He is not sure his cows are worth that much. He basically wants it for the same price he gets it out of the field.


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

I have not seen that type of demand or price increase here yet. Hope I do.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

IH 1586 said:


> Sounds like here, they go else where if they can save $.25 without really looking at it. Then I have a customer that says I should be charging more.


Yeah I have a couple that sometimes say I should be charging more. I did this last year and then they didn't like it. Wait until they see this years prices. All signs point to a big increase. I suppose if those signs come true we producers of hay here in Colorado will be called greedy once again.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Here's the prices from the local auction as of March 3rd.

http://www.hamiltonhayauction.com/?page_id=39

Note alfalfa square bales at $6+ and grass at $5-$7, OG RB's at $74. Last year, they went for $2.50+ and $25 respectively.

Very little volume relatively speaking.

Ralph


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

http://www.lancasterfarming.com/market_news/market_reports/hay/wolgemuth-hay-monday-auction/article_28a74fc2-1e1b-11e8-9daa-23903875cb88.html


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Hay volumes are strong here yet. Most good auctions are running full. Most people are saying it will run short before New Hay gets here


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

endrow said:


> Hay volumes are strong here yet. Most good auctions are running full. Most people are saying it will run short before New Hay gets here


I've been hearing that all winter, still same number of loads showing up at the auctions though.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

endrow said:


> Hay volumes are strong here yet. Most good auctions are running full. Most people are saying it will run short before New Hay gets here


Seems suspicious that the auctions are full despite terrible prices if people are ready to run out of hay. The mid Atlantic market is just plain crap right now.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I have seen years just like this in the past. Everyone trying to empty their buildings before the new crop. And then the new crop year be a average to poor one and folks could not meet demand....and they would think back and say, " I wish I would have just carried over last years excess and not have discounted it. I too, still have less than a thousand bales and I am just going to let it unfold and not worry with it. Now if I had 4-5000 left, I might bend a ear.

Regards, Mike


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

What we have here in my area is a HUGE abundance of round bales! 
Biggest issue I see with them is handling and poor quality. There are not many guys around that make a good quality round bale or silage bale for that matter. I know only of a few guys that make them correctly. The rest make silt hay..black in the middle or just plain molded slime bailage..
They would sell more if they had stuck with "small squares". I don't mind, it helps me sell all mine. 
I had.. a good customer but she thought my price was too high and bought auction hay for her "plugs" (this is what my father calls horses LOL) and I am quite sad as we had to plant a couple of them last winter and again this winter.... nice hay ya feeding toots.. it killed half your horses...and they were nice animals too what a shame! Oh well I managed to get a much bigger customer now and may not have anything left when she comes whining for hay next year! Funny the stable owner has 2 horses there,one is 38 years old and she only feeds them my hay and they never got sick.
If I do have left over hay I use it for mulch in the garden and bedding for my beef when it gets muddy but that is usually quite rare because we sell out almost every season. 
Oh and just for the record;the customer that thought my price was too much left during the year we had a HUGE drout...and I had to buy hay from NY to supply them..didnt make anything on the hay either. Oh well, this is why I now only sell what I grow, be it hay,produce,or beef and pork! Most understand but some... well we all know about them..


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Right now, I planning on holding over about 1/3rd of my needs for next year. I figure I will feed my hold-over first, then this year's coming crop. With the current weather patterns, I don't know if I'm going to have too dry to too wet. But I'll bet that it won't be the Goldilock's weather.

I've got a swag as to how much I'll need before the pastures come in and what I'll need next winter, so I'm selling off the excess.

Ralph


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

endrow said:


> Hay volumes are strong here yet. Most good auctions are running full. Most people are saying it will run short before New Hay gets here


After reading your post and thinking auctions must be running low I checked out the largest hay auction in the area.Rock Valley,Iowa.and the number of loads per sale is running the same as last yr.Kinda scratching my head as a lot of the hay that comes in there is out of SD and they were dry last summer.


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## ozarkian (Dec 11, 2010)

I fulfilled my orders by the end of September. It got dry and stayed dry until 2 weeks ago.Demand has been very high and prices have sky rocketed. If I had an additional 1,000 round bales, I could have sold everyone by January 1st. Just my luck, a low production summer followed by a dry winter. There is no carry over stocks around here. Hopefully pricing will stay high going into next winter. It's disheartening selling quality hay at reduced prices due to too many bales sitting around.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

8350HiTech said:


> Seems suspicious that the auctions are full despite terrible prices if people are ready to run out of hay. The mid Atlantic market is just plain crap right now.


Reasonably priced dairy hay is in strong demand . Here in the east many dairy herds moved to high corn silage diets over the years but this year we had high tonnage yields in corn silage but with all the rain corn silage not feeding worth a darn ,, Very poor digestibility with lots of unusable fiber. . Some herds were falling apart and when nutritionists learned how to feed it supplement bills went threw the roof . $160 per ton average dairy hay is much better deal . After what guys were getting for hay the current prices don't look too bad .


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Prices still have me pricing corn seed. I can't make hay as cheap as I can buy it. Mill feed is creeping up so I figure I better go back to corn and buy 15$ round bales


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## broadriverhay (Jun 13, 2014)

IH 1586 , I don't give discounts because I don't get one when I buy fuel , fertilizer , equipment, or herbicides. They either pay my price or don't get hay. I hate people to try to get a discount for a 100 bales . That is not quantity that's just a good average load of hay. It takes the same to produce 100 as it does a 1000.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I had a guy call the other day and wanted a discount on 10 rd bales of hay.I about spit up my coffee.


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## Uphayman (Oct 31, 2014)

Maybe the comeback is...... "I'll tell you what...... I'll skip the surcharge for less than a 100 bale order."


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Dont tell anyone about my secret. I price my round bales $5/bale more than what I want. This covers the pain in the butt fee for all those people picking up one or two bales. Than if someone asks for a discount on 100 bales I still get what I wanted for the hay.


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