I can speak to issues in rising hay prices - well, at least for my part of the country. Per my supplier, a large ag/cattle farmer, the cost to actually grow and harvest the hay, coupled with the inability to find people to work in harvesting, storage. delivery, etc. required new equipment and technology be purchased so he could harvest/store it himself with no help. Seed, fertilizer, rates on loans for farm equipment have all gone up. Because of climate change, he gets fewer tons per acre while paying the same for seed and fertilizer. Some years less than 1/2 the harvest. Last year he didn’t have much of a crop of hay at all and his soybeans were destroyed by the constant rain.
I’ve used the same supplier for hay for more than 14 years now. We started at $4.50 a bale and he was growing a nice Orchard Grass back then. He switched to Bermuda 10 years ago. This year he raised his price to $7.50 a bale and he won’t even break even on his fertilizer/equipment cost. And the hay, due to the horrid weather last year, was not the same quality as years past either. Most local farmers do good if they break even. Now big commercial outfits that do nothing but forage may be different, but the private farms I can tell you aren’t making money on their hay.
All I can hope for is a better growing season this year and hope to goodness that he doesn’t throw in the towel on his hay business… his Bermuda is typically top notch and the horses vacuum it up, not a stray stem left to see. This year it was just too coarse for my senior to eat and I had to buy special $12 a bale Orchard Grass from a commercial grower that is lovely and as you know, from the other thread, expensive compressed/chopped bagged Alfalfa, but it’s really killing our budget this year!
