The local rumor is that feed prices are going up because corn prices are so very high. Has anyone seen prices increase at the feed store? I don’t feed much so I did not notice price change last week but I will look the next time I buy feed.
corn itself is up 233% on the spot market from one year ago… $3/bu to over $7/bu… several reasons primarily the floods in central China has forced the Chinese government to advance purchased astronomical amounts of corn, soybeans and wheat (several countries have contract all their expected production for 2021 and some of 2022 to Chinese contracts)
Their government is attempting to head off a prediction of famine
then there is what is being called “a perfect storm as far as ingredients, labor and every other element”
nonetheless, anything that is related is going to become very expensive.
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I am guessing farmers planned for post tradewar markets…
My feed bill has increased 15% since December. Prices are going to continue creeping up on basically everything. The only person who has not increased prices is my hay man or not yet…
I find getting my grocery list of feed, harder and harder to find every other week. The stores are never fully stocked anymore. I basically have to go to several stores to get all the things I used to get at one store. Smartpak has been the only consistent supplier.
Interesting visit to the tack store. I went to have a Birthday splurge that included an Edgewood bridle, a fleeceworks shimmable show pad, a sheepskin lined show girth and a pair of Tailored Sportsman side zips. I was also looking for some square schooling pads in cool colors and some Cavallo Trek boots to fit the splotchy pony.
Guess what I came home with, 1 bare basic wilkers pad , a can of effex oil and Pessoa bridle. All the other stuff was backordered for months, some with no dates. The best date I can get on the Cavallo’s was two weeks from Stateline Tack. Apparently there is a huge fleece shortage, rubber shortage leather shortage and tailored sportsman is back ordered for months. We can add that to the chicken shortage, ketchup and on and on.
It seems like everywhere I go people are talking about shortages, back orders and rising prices. Fuel going up, feed, groceries up 11%. When I look around new car lots are barren, store shelves barely stocked, lumber skyhigh and gas stations with no fuel due the pipeline. The good news is my taxes are paid, lol.
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I work in a feed store and yes, the price of everything is going up. I don’t even quote prices of things off my head anymore because it well could have changed since yesterday. Not only are ingredients going up, but it also costs more to run the mill to make the feed, more to pay the folks in the mill and more to ship it to me. If we are out of something, we probably can’t get it right now. Ex: I placed an herbicide order in January that should have set me for the year and I have maybe received half of it. Believe me, we are trying to keep stores stocked, but are chasing ghosts trying to get things. Ok, my vent is over. Thank you for listening 
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Hopefully everyone knows it is not you. This is everywhere, we have gone from a society that was used to cheap gas and overnight shipping to a bygone day of waiting weeks or months for products that used to be everywhere. It is just a sign of the times and will cure itself in time, hopefully soon.
We are having the same trouble finding supplies for our business. As they say, “this too shall pass”. We are just to tighten our belts a bit and hope that suppliers don’t get used to the new higher prices and adjust back down when the supply chain sorts itself out.
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Yep, that is what I try to explain to folks. That, and ordering more of something won’t make it come any faster when there isn’t any to be had. Some get it, some don’t. When they “threaten” to go somewhere else, I just wish them luck.
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Feed prices don’t affect me much. For two horses and a pony I only use 60 pounds of ration balancer a month. So a couple of bucks there is not bad. However hay prices have gone up several dollars a bale. I feed a lot of hay so this hurts! I am picking hay up from out of state so no delivery charges just the cost of my diesel fuel which has increased some.
What was 6 or 7 dollars a bale is now 8 or 9. And one guy that was bringing in really nice orchard grass hay that was $8 a bale ( several dollars above what others were charging) - he just brought some in for $12 a bale. Yikes! I am hearing that fertilizer and fuel prices are driving this. Plus many farmers had a bad year last year and they are trying to recoup their losses this year. This hurts a lot worse than a bag of feed.
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@four2farm, you can order Trek hoof boots directly from Cavallo. I usually wait until they have a sale, but have always gotten good service from ordering from them directly.
Thanks @cutter99! I actually got them on sale at Stateline but they were not backorder this time and will be in this Monday. So I ordered 2’s and 3’s and I have already sold the 4’s at a tiny profit. 
Chicken feed is up here. 50lb All Flock was $13.99 and 40lb Chick Starter was $14.99, now they’re $16.99 and $17.99 respectively.
I make enough money and I don’t keep so many birds that it would break me, but it’s quite unpleasant to think it may continue trending upward.
Normally I would have been aiming to hatch at least 50 spring chicks, it happened to work out that I have 9 or 10 on the ground is all. So positive and negative there, really.
I remember people saying, “Don’t they know they’re never going to see $7 corn again in our lifetimes?” Welp…
soybeans did come down some from $16.61/bu now down to $15.32 bu compared to May 2019 pricing of $7.97/bu
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Not only have all the bagged feeds I purchase increased by almost $4 a bag, the grains I buy in bulk to mix my own feed ( for cow , goat herd) has gone way up as well as dried molasses. The worst increase was whole flax that went up almost $8 a bag. I was paying $21.25 and a month later it was $ 29!!
That hurts. Thankfully the grass is good and I can cut my cow and goats way back on feed, which I did immediately.
Part of this is the time of year as well. Give our farmers a couple months to plant, grow, and harvest, and prices will come down a bit.
maybe for locally produced whole grains such as oats but I would not old my breath thinking the costs will be downward.
“The Asian nation, the world’s largest commodity importer, bought American corn for shipment in the fourth quarter , according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the deals are private. Crops for the fall harvest are currently just being planted and traders estimate sales to China were at least 1 million metric tons.”
https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2021/04/corn-wheat-and-soybean-prices-continue-to-surge-china-buys-u-s-corn-for-fourth-quarter-shipment/
I am thinking it is the fallout from 2018.
the crops rotted in the field, the farmers took the losses and had to readjust their busines model.
throw in a pandemic, and some unexpected natural disasters, and there we are.
This is part of the tough cycle (we are doing the same as candyappy) we are considering not getting that second crop of hay, moving cattle onto hay field after the first cutting. We always sold extra hay, so now we are contributing to less hay supply and higher prices. Plus some areas are seeing drought or very low rain fall.
I am truly fortunate, my two horses and two donkeys are extremely easy keepers, and we have land to make these adjustments. I feel for others. I want to see our 4-H’ers still be able to afford their horse or pony.
I talked to the guy that farms the fields next to me late this winter. He was very happy to say that he had gotten great prices for all of his crops (corn, wheat and soybeans). The % increase from prices over the last couple of years was enough that he said to beware of increases in the cost of food stuff.
Talking with the manager of one of the feed stores, they are having difficulties getting deliveries because of a lack of drivers for the 18 wheelers. I don’t see this changing in the near future, so continue to expect supply chain issues. If you normally wait until you are on your last bag of feed to go get some, you may want to change your habits so that you don’t run out.
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TCSr has gone up by $5 per bag in my neck of the woods. I read one article that blamed the rise on the Derecho that hit the heartlands last year, damaging crops and we’re feeling it now.
