So with winter in full tilt upon us, we are having a hay price increase of a dollar. With a 70+ Horse barn that is FULL FULL, this poses as a MAJOR price increase. Anyone know of other contacts that may be able to give us a less expensive price? This also goes for the hay auctions! I am completely nieve as to where those auctions go on so help is needed!!!
It would help if you post what you are paying now (for square? roundbale?) and where you are in Michigan. Cheaper prices won’t help if someone is coming from the other side of the state and charging you gas.
There is a hay auction coming up this Friday in downtown Metamora. Not sure where you are but it’s worth a shot. I only went to the first one. NO ONE was there so I snatched up a good 250 bales @ $1.50 each and it was NICE stuff! I’m not sure how populated the auctions since then have become but it’s worth a shot. If you need more information about when, where, etc please PM me. I think they are usually right around 1 pm. Hope it helps!
A dollar . . . what? Per day? Per bale? Per horse? Per month?
Hay price went up last year 20% for me. I buy everything I need for the year in June/July. Around this time of year, if you want to buy hay, you can expect to pay a premium.
Michigan is a big place. 
There is a hay auction in Dorr (south of Grand Rapids) every Tuesday.
Hay whoops price works
The hay we are buying now is at $3.50 a bale they want to put a dollar ontop of that! We are based out of Northville MI. We have to buy it now because we FILL the every possible place for hay in the Summer, however with as many horses as are in the barns and outside, we run through it rather quickly. .
You could come to Indiana, it’s $8-10/60# bale right now.
I’m in Minnesota and right now it’s close to $6.00 a bale (for NICE stuff) at the hay auction. Last year at this time you could pick it up for $4.00.
I don’t envy you guys paying upwards of $10 a bale. I would seriously have to consider getting rid of a couple horses.
[QUOTE=StorybrookeFarms;3046264]
There is a hay auction coming up this Friday in downtown Metamora. Not sure where you are but it’s worth a shot. I only went to the first one. NO ONE was there so I snatched up a good 250 bales @ $1.50 each and it was NICE stuff! I’m not sure how populated the auctions since then have become but it’s worth a shot. If you need more information about when, where, etc please PM me. I think they are usually right around 1 pm. Hope it helps![/QUOTE]
WOW!! How do you find hay auctions? Any in the SE/MidAtlantic? My last 2 loads of hay were $12 and $15/ bale (60-70#) That’s about twice what I paid last year, which was about 1/3 higher than what I paid the year before that.
If you’re only paying $4.50 this time of year for good-quality bales, you’re getting a good price. Sorry to say it, but it’s true.
You may have more luck at a Michigan-specific BB, perhaps www.horsepage.com/board for local suggestions in your local area.
L-
Um…that’s nothing in our market. We are paying 5.00/bale up from 2.75 last year this time. Because of diesel prices, when we got our hay delivered yesterday (260 bales…gulp) he told us that it would probably be that way this year, too. I ordered my hay last summer- and the price was up to 3.50 and then by Sept, was at 5. He has held it there for us, but still.
He does have some more, but not a lot.
This should probably be on Off Course…you will get more answers.
Would this work?
If there is a major increase in fuel prices, transportation companies add a fuel surcharge.
If the price of hay goes up drastically, can a barn add a hay surcharge?
No whining! We produce our own hay here, and with the price of diesel now, we cannot MAKE the hay for less than $3.50 a bale (40# bale). If I sold any for $4.50 it would be a gift.
If you have to, it is better to raise your board price and continue to provide good hay. You’ve been very lucky to have the cheapest hay prices in the country for many years, and will probably continue to do so. No complaints.
I used to pay $22-24 per bale. This was normal in that part of the US.
In Indiana we paid $7.50 a bale.
It’s the middle of winter, I’d quit complaining and buy all the hay you can at that price. You can always sell it if you get a first cut in early. If it doesn’t rain this year I’d expect to be paying even more.
1.50 a bale!!! I’m moving to MI! Can’t complain I got my last load at 5.00 a bale which is up from 3.50 which is what we’ve been paying for a few years now. I never thought about hay auctions, are they reliable to get quality hay for your horses?
4.5 for a 60 lbs is dirt cheep, buy what ever you can get, stack it outside if needed, plastic tarp on the bottom and than stack the stuff on it, fold the sides up and cover it with a tarp from the top, hay condom, works great. Diesel went up again at the pump and it takes a ton of diesel to produce hay, vertelizer is an oil based product, it will go up to. Expect 1 to 2$ more by the fall of this year.
prices in Georgia
You guys up North are so lucky with those prices! For a yucky yellow bale of 1st cutting fescue starts at $7.00 and goes up to $11.95 per bale.
Feed stores are selling fescue round bales at $100.00.
If you want anything with orchard grass or alfalfa in it then prices jump up to $14.00 to $22.00 per bale on 2nd and 3rd cutting.
It’s really bad down here and folks are getting desperate.
Good luck, I haven’t seen 3.50 a bale for months.
The barn where I board my horse (in Michigan) imposed a temporary hay surcharge of $40 per month due the market pressures. I think that this is understandable given the situation barn owners are finding themselves in.
oi vey!
Ha alright guys! I will relay this info to the barn owner, she asked me to start digging for cheaper hay when I told her I was going to Bring another horse into the barn…
Maybe the prices from you guys down south and around will put her in perspective… I think we’ve got a bunch of horses going to Prairie or Hoosier at the end of the month so that will eliminate a large amount of the mouths…
