2022 Hay prices

I thought about that, but he has been doing bundles for several years, and I know how they fit in the Gator, if nothing else. These are smaller.

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@goodhors, that’s for clarifying what I said poorly.:grinning:. ASB_Stars, I hate that. For me, it becomes difficult to plan.

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Just like what happens at the grocery store! Prices go up and the amount of product ( if you look at the weight) is down :confounded:

Very easy to adjust on the baler how heavy a bale you make. My husband likes to make them heavy but backs off because I don’t want them so heavy.

maybe your supplier did that so he didn’t have to raise prices so high but then of course you have to buy more so no real savings…

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How can it do anything but go up? I believe making fertilizer is tied into Natural Gas and there is a shortage of that. Talking about Natural Gas rolling blackouts in places. Heating homes for some will be eye opening.

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We get hay from TN and at the beginning of the season the OG we got with 1/2 the average fertilizer, cost $12/two sting bale. Last year it was $10/two strong bale. This year the bales are averaging 35 lbs where as last year they were averaging 40 lbs. The quality is definitely down but the horses still love it.

However between having a full house AND a bad grass year in the fields we had to order more hay. OG is now $18/two sting bale and I convinced my boss to get a mixed grass hay at $10/two strong bale. Hopefully that will be a high enough quality for her and we can split the order next year. That will keep the costs reasonable and considering we include as close to free choice hay and a high quality grain the horse’s quality of care won’t deminish.

The drought situation is not improving here in TN at all, though we did get a small bit of rain recently. Temperatures are supposed to be close to 80 degrees this weekend (which is insane for November!). I’m really hoping that my pastures attempt at least a little bit of a comeback for the fall. I had to start feeding hay a month earlier than usual this year. :cry:

I don’t know how my hay guy is managing to sell me hay at last year’s prices ($240/ton for orchardgrass; $340/ton for alfalfa), but I’m not asking too many questions! I’ve got half my winter’s stash in the loft now and should be getting the rest in soon. I ordered an additional 50 bales of alfalfa when I started having to feed hay so early. Fingers and toes crossed that I’ve calculated my buffer correctly.

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Confirmed prices with my hay guy this morning. Small squares (average 50lbs) of alfalfa - $9 for 2nd cutting and $12 for 3rd. That’s about on par with last year’s prices, so I’m relieved. This summer’s drought was brutal in NWNY too.

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In Colorado, 60 lb square bales of second cut Orchard/Brome was $13 per bale here plus $3 per bale for delivery/stacking. Second/Third cut Alfalfa (70lb bales) was the same price, as was 2nd cut 60lb square bales of Grass/Alfalfa mix (20% alfalfa). Last year, I paid $9 per bale plus $2.50 delivery/stacking for 1st cut (stemmy) and the year before I paid $9/bale for nice second cut. This was my price direct from a farmer, but the dealer prices were similar (although the hay not as good). Timothy hay (much lower in protein) was about $2 cheaper per bale. Farmer told me that while the price of gas affected things, the biggest increase for him was the price of labor because they could not find help.

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