we are looking at an severe hay shortage on my province with farms getting 1/4 of their normal hay yield. So I am looking into using hay cubes to supplement what I have. I know most people soak the cubes. Those of you who feed them, do you do some cubes and some hay for longer chew time in a feeding? alternate between? Also I can get beet pulp in bulk here easily, apparently you can replace about %30 percent of their hay with it? I am used to having realitively cheap,plentiful hay to feed with reckless abandon so any advice from those of you who are used to tight hay amounts is appreciated.
When i was running low in the spring, I started adding hay cubes LONG before hay ran out, so while I was able to significantly reduce the amount of hay I was going through, without having to go 100% cubes. Where are you located? If you can store a bulk load, you might be able to order hay from pretty far away for cheaper than the price of cubes/beet pulp.
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If you have a hay shortage locally there will be truckers seeing an opportunity and bringing in hay from further away. Yes they will charge a premium. But it is still going to be cheaper than feeding beet pulp at $12 for 40 lbs or alfalfa cubes at $15 for 50 lbs.
If there are horses and feed stores and hay sales in your region, then hay will get brought in because everyone needs to keep on making a living.
Figure your cost per pound. $200 ton is 10¢ a lb, $300 ton is 15¢ a lb, $400 ton is 20¢ a lb, $450 ton is 25¢ a lb.
Beet pulp and alfalfa cubes are at least 30¢ a lb, and difficult to feed at the required volumes. Can you imagine soaking 20 lbs of beet pulp and hay cubes?
I also don’t think it’s good management to feed hay in a wasteful way. Use nets, weigh your hay, don’t allow opportunities for uneaten hay to get trampled into the mud and poop.
Even if you have to buy significantly more expensive hay, you can realize a lot of savings by avoiding waste.
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Manitoba - no hay here, Saskatchewan and Alberta are bad too, not sure about Ontario, so likely to be well over 20 hours shipping.
I’m in coastal BC and our suppliers often buy Timothy and alfalfa in Alberta or Washington State. I currently get Timothy at about $450 a ton.
Rarely are there shortages right across North America at the same time. We had a big scare a few years back when there was drought plus wildfires but there was no real interruption to supply, prices just bounced up a bit, and stayed there.
Horses will need to eat and feed stores will need to keep running so it will be worthwhile for someone to step in and fill the gap, at a price.
I would however get as much stored up as early on as possible.
We ran out of alfalfa here over the winter. I had to switch to cubes. I found it difficult to rate how much they were eating or WOULD eat without wasting cubes. So for those that picked at their supplemental hay source I used chopped, bagged forage. If picky eater didn’t clean up his supplemental alfalfa one night, I could save it for the next night. Cubes, even in the winter, spoiled after 12 hours.
Beet pulp = empty calories. You could add this to grain to increase bulk and fiber, but it will not replace actual forage.
The caloric and nutrient density of chopped forage or cubes is likely higher than most hay (since it’s premium quality) so you could replace a majority of hay and look for a lesser nutrient rich hay (if that is even available) to provide grazing forage.
I’m in Northern Alberta and so far our suppliers have had decent yields and prices have remained the same since the previous two years. Send me a PM if you’re looking for hay and I’ll pass the information along to the suppliers.
If it’s truly a shortage in your area, it might be a good investment to get a tractor trailer load shipped in from elsewhere and sell what you don’t need to local horse folks. Many major hay suppliers will go anywhere in North America (for a price); some will even drop the trailer for you so you don’t have to worry about storage.
25c per lb will decimate our horse community, we are used to paying 4 -8 c/lb. Feed stores here don’t sell hay but they might start if it is profitable to bring in transport loads from out of province. When you buy long distance do you go thru a broker to ensure quality? I am used to driving over and having a look before I buy.
interesting, we are being told $125 a round for Alberta - perhaps a little fear mongering?
I dont know but I hope that is not what’s happening. I haven’t been quoted on rounds yet but can update you when I have the pricing.
East TN is hip deep in it. Both growing and in the barn. Quality will be dicey as we are 8" ahead on rain and that makes putting up hay a difficult business. It also means more weeds (they like rain, too).
I feel your pain. In 2016 we got one, below average cutting and the rain stopped. For three months. Very unusual for us.
What are the import rules for you guys on hay? If you are willing to pay $125/round bale you’ll not have any shortage of what you need.
G.
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Wow. That’s $80 to $160 a ton. Well I guess our hay transport guys need to pay for gas a turn a profit!
When we buy from a hay dealer I trust the dealer which is why I’ve stuck with out current source. When I buy locally I prefer to see it first. I’ve found that with the out of town hay dealers, the commercially grown Timothy tends to be more uniform in quality than the local grass hay which varies a lot from very good to subpar.
yep last year I got 1800lb bales of very nice alfalfa/timothy mix for $70 a bale delivered. This year people are quoting $90 a bale for 1000lb bales you pick up.
please do @Tattooed_Dressage - if I don’t need it, someone else will
@Guilherme not many people here can swallow the jump in hay prices, so I suspect the auctions will be busy as soon as the pasture is done
Round bales are much cheaper out here too. I’ve never used them so don’t know how much. I’m paying about $450 a ton for imported Timothy delivered one ton at a time, stacked in my loft. Probably that puts me at the upper end of prices here. But I only have one horse and not unlimited storage space. I am sure I could get a better price on a ten ton truck load.
That’s actually not a bad price per ton for BC lower mainland; a friend of mine buys by the ton and with delivery and stacking in the loft it’s around $550/ton. Im from the coast originally so when I first bought hay in Alberta I was shocked at how much cheaper it was.
horse quality rounds last year averaged 4c/lb, small squares were the 8c
Are hay crops are down in amounts of bales. Hay guy has one feild that yields 90 big rounds, only got 40 big rounds off it this year.
I got one load of hay need two hay guy won’t have a second load. He has to make sure he’s got enough hay for his cows. We have had plenty of rain too so to dry isn’t an issue.
If need be I’ll have a semi load of hay, shipped in from the south. More $$$$ per bale but worth it…at least my horse’s will have hay to eat, free choice come cold months.
I know Central/Eastern Oregon and Washington are awash in quality hay again this year-- the fires there have only burned wheat (thousands upon thousands of acres of ready to harvest wheat…ugh!). OP- your hay prices are wicked low! Wow! I just drove 200 miles, round trip, to pick up 5 tons of gorgeous 2nd cut orchard for $220/ton and thought I did great. Delivered and stacked would have been $295/ton. I can pick up hay at my local dealer (who trucks in from E. Or) for $300/ton year round.
The big squares are not doable here for most horse owners and are used mainly for dairy cattle, and rounds are usually local grass hay which is generally crap (and so high in NSCs it’s crazy!).
OP- good luck and definitely look into buying a semi load and sharing it with friends. There are good hay brokers in BC I’m sure. Get networking, and I hope you find a good bargain!
Wow, envious of all of you! Here in Nor-Cal (which is still less pricey then So-Cal), we pay about $15 - $20/bale for orchard or orchard/alfalfa. That is about 15 to 20c/pound for hay, or about $280 to $400/ton. Delivery is extra!
