5.00 a bale delivered for basic orchard grass,from a farmer 2 miles away. I was paying 6.50 for Timothy/Grass mix but that farmer went corn. Tried a new guy, he was creepy, raised the price 1.50 a bale when I got there, I didn’t bother asking how much delivered, nice hay but not how I like to do business.
In the fall hay producers were advertising alfalfa/orchard grass 45-50# bales for $12-$15 each. Now, they seem to have figured out people can’t/won’t pay those prices around here and I’ve been watching the prices fall as they try to clear out their barns in prep for the first spring cutting. I’m now seeing those same bales (from the same producers) going for $6-$8 each.
Many people I know cut back on hay and went to different forms of forage to get through the winter, as I did. I’ve been able to get 1,100# round bales of mixed grass for $55, if I pick them up, but the quality is all over the board.
Here in the PNW/Portland, OR area local hay (not good quality, generally) is $4/bale for 60lb. bales. Higher quality ‘west side’ hay (west of the Cascade mountains/Willamette Valley hay is harder to put up due to wetness, and isn’t as nutritious as east of the mountain hay) that is actually farmed and fertilized runs $7-10 for 70lb. bales. Eastern Oregon hay (this is export quality–best hay grown, anywhere IMHO) is selling for $14.50 for 2nd cut orchard 100lb. bales, $18 for 120lb. 3rd cut alfalfa.
I paid $285/ton for 120lb. 2nd cut orchard/alfalfa mix hay last July. For those who buy the smaller squares (60lb.) the equivalent price would be about $7.50 for a 60lb.
one would think that the actual cost in a singular area to produce hay would be much the same, if the quality is the same. One wonders why some crappy quality hay costs more than good quality…hmm…
do hay growers just randomly pull a number out of their heads and decide that what’s they’re going to charge? do they ever barter?
personally glad I’m in the horse business, not the hay business.
Just under $375/ton for gorgeous E-WA Tim/Orchard Grass mix with delivery. I think it was $350/ton w/o delivery. So right around $20 per 120 lb bale.
I am nervous about this, as this will be my first year buying bulk hay (so I don’t have any relationships). I may just board another year. I bought second cutting alfalfa from my husband’s cousins a few years back and that was $5.00 or $5.50 (can’t recall) a bale (75lb bales). That was not a “deal” price, but probably on the high side of normal back then. Also, then good grass hay was $3.50-$4.00 a small bale. I wonder if I should just buy first cutting to make sure I get some?
I’m hearing $7-10 if you are trying to buy grass right now and it is probably ditch weed (watch the trash!) or CRP. With corn and bean prices so high, some farmers have been planting what normally would be pasture quality fields with grains. Everyone seems to be hoarding hay still. We had the second driest year ever last year I believe (my SE area being the hardest hit). The crops around my house were a total loss. I have to seed new pastures this spring, so I’m really worried about rain. I’m hiring it done (want to drill the seed) so I hope something grows.
UGH.
NorCal. Feed store orchard grass, 20. Alfalfa, 22. 3 grain, 18. Delivered and stacked add $40-50 because of gas, and im onky two miles from the feed store. That was the last time I looked, around December, I have stopped buying from the feed store. I bought from a local guy instead, 3 grain, 110 lb bales at $11 a bale. Really nice stuff, going back for more this spring- unless I can find some really nice grass at a reasonable price (meaning less than $20 a bale)
$9-$11 for 50ish pounds of EDIBLE costal, sometimes more. T&A and Orchard is $13-$17 for around 50#. This is in central FL feed stores. The hay guy that brings it down by the semi truck charges quite a bit less, bit the price is still high.
EDIT
I should honestly hitch up my truck and flatbed and buy from other states and bring it back Would be cheaper. Some of you guys are making me jealous about the prices.
I agree FL Eventer wnat to make a stop in NE.FL on your way down 
!!I just paid 37.50 for about 120lb+ bales of compressed O/A
East TN - $4 for 50lb(ish) plain grass hay, decent quality, and $25 for 4x5 rounds, quite nice.
We just paid $10.50 a bale for 80% Alfalfa/Orchard hay around 55-60lb, north of Atlanta, GA.
Western WA here. I paid $12 a bale at the end of summer for some gorgeous local orchard grass that tested as good or better than eastern WA hay. That was for 100lb bales. That guy is out now so I restocked with some lesser quality grass hay at $7 a bale for 60 pounders. Its not gorgeous like my summer batch but not bad either. The horses like it and I feed high quality grain and supplements so I don’t worry to much about feeding slightly lower quality hay. If I recall my eastern WA hay guy was running $360 a ton (80lb bales) which is why I sought out a local supplier. I was lucky to get the first guy’s name from my vet. Next year I’ll figure out how to get it in the loft w/o a lift so I can get a full year’s supply from him.
Thanks for this thread, OP. Seeing these prices makes me wonder if I need to find a new supplier.
Louisiana, $300/ton for coastal bermuda, including delivery. $320/ton to have it stacked, too.
Potentially looking for a timothy supplier, as I recently moved down here and my old boys are not doing as well as I’d like on the coastal after two decades of consuming timothy.
I’m in SW WA and have found that pound for pound, the “cheaper” local hay just doesn’t make economic sense (unless you find that rare local hay, as someone above did, that tests well). The stuff hauled over from Eastern WA/OR is just so much better. In this corner of the state, the local i have tested was always low in protein and high in NSC. But I still buy local as I use it as “low-cal” filler for the fatties. I have two people that grow local grass hay as a crop, not just baling whatever is in the neighbor’s field or ROW. Weed free, put up right as long as our fickle weather cooperates. Paid $6 per 50 lb. bale, so that’s $240/ton plus we had to haul ourselves. Not a bargain, but it keeps the boys busy when the good stuff runs out.
For Eastern orchard grass, we paid $280/ton, 110 lb. bales. Okay, not fabulous quality, a little dirtier than I like to feed. But it was mid winter so few choiçes. Hauled ourselves from local hay dealer. His cost transporting the hay over to this side undoubtedly bumped the price up a lot.
Then just got some beautiful teff from Central WA, $250/ton for 70 lb bales (so $8.60ish a bale). Getting it here cost a fortune as we had to rent an enclosed truck (rain) but we needed hay fast and can’t buy large enough quantities to make it worthwhile for a trucker. If the hay tests ok, as I am waiting on results, I’m filling the barn next year from this same guy. Given enough time to look,and having more room in barn by then, I think I will be able to get a hauler to bring it over for us.
I’m also in the PNW, right in the middle of the Willamette Valley in OR.
I just paid $100/ton for a local grass mix that the horses like - as much or more than the orchard/alfalfa I’d been feeding. I was afraid they would drop weight, but it’s been about two weeks and everyone seems to be holding steady (gaining, albeit slowly). I’ve had issues before with one particular horse and eastern hay being too rich. I wish I had a good, reliable/affordable source for eastern Timothy, but all I ever seem to find is mixed with Orchard.
However, that’s not the normal price of hay 'round here. Right now, local grass is running $150-185/ton, eastern orchard is $300-380 and alfalfa is in a similar range.
Pacific northwest - just paid $13.25 a bale for Timothy delivered.
friend of mine in michigan is paying $7/bale for not-great hay, and about $10/bale for nice hay. square bales, about 60#.
[QUOTE=equinekingdom;6842366]
NC
I pay $2.50/bale for fescue/grass hay from a friend, or $3.50/bale for slightly better hay from other suppliers. Bales weigh anywhere from 40# to 70# depending on the supplier.
Round bales - pay $20-$25/bale for 1500 pounds.[/QUOTE]
I also forgot to mention that delivery is included for the round bales, but we pick the square bales up out of the field ourselves, that’s why the cost is so low.
how many of you guys get your hay delivered vs going to pick it up out of field/barn?
Southern Tier of NY. If I cross into PA, I can get 40# tim/grass for $2.50 and if I stay in NY, I pay $3.00 for 50# bales of tim/grass. Just depends which direction I feel like heading in that weekend…both are 25 miles each way. I already locked in for 2500 bales this year.
Rounds are $30-44. The $44 are 4x5’s but beautiful tim/alfalfa/trefoil. My girls just eat it like candy so I save it for a few times a month. This year we are baling our own rounds so that will help out.
[QUOTE=equinekingdom;6843700]
one would think that the actual cost in a singular area to produce hay would be much the same, if the quality is the same. One wonders why some crappy quality hay costs more than good quality…hmm…
do hay growers just randomly pull a number out of their heads and decide that what’s they’re going to charge? do they ever barter?
personally glad I’m in the horse business, not the hay business.[/QUOTE]
Dallas, TX - $10/bale for coastal and the quality varies by feed store, but is often questionable.
Down here, we have the terrible combination of poor quality and higher cost because we’re in the midst of a drought - causing a few years in a row of reduced quantities of hay produced and reduced quality in the hay that is produced.
