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Hay sticker shock

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#41

However…my horses hate it. Just pick at it and look at me like I’m torturing them.

we have been through multiple hay shortages, believe me eventually the horse will decide what they thought was trash they will eat, eventually.

We just reduced the amount fed until they eat it all.

Today we have no problem as we have just become accepting that hay is expensive and will be $400 to $600 a ton… we have been paying $400/ton since about 2007.

The hay we get today is very high quality but even so at times they just roll their eyes like a little child complaining that is ice cream the only thing you have? Well, these days we have goats that the grand kids are training…horse will not eat hay…goat will… our goats trash the hay…the neighbor’s goats will eat it as they are not fed any hay other than what our guys think is trash… so, if ours will not eat it then they will not get it.

I do not worry if they decide the hay is not eatable, they will change their opinion

#42

We have had the opposite problem - too much rain. People in Tennessee that cut the first of May got really nice hay and were able to get another good cutting the first of June. I wish I had better storage because I got some really nice big bales in May. It has been so humid here and rainy I hate to store hay for too long.

Now what is available is either really pricey hay brought in from outside the area or stuff that didn’t cure very well. It isn’t moldy per se but doesn’t smell that good and horses will not touch it. I am hoping this 3 month weather pattern will move on out soon and people can get a Fall cutting that isn’t overly mature and is cured well. This is cool season grass - OG in my case. I don’t know what people that feed warm season grasses are going to do because when that hay got ready to cut it was raining almost every day.

I have reconciled myself to the fact I am going to be paying through the nose for good hay. One upside of the rain is that pastures are green and the horses are getting roughage from the grass.

#43

Here in eastern middle TN, we had a really, really good spring/early summer for hay production. Mid/late summer has been wet, wet, wet; I’m not sure how the warm season guys will do - most storms have been scattered, so depending on location, they may or may not have had opportunities to get hay dry and baled. Word of mouth found me a guy just a few miles down the road, and I have a loft full of second-cut orchardgrass ($6.50/bale or roughly $260/ton) and alfalfa ($8.50/bale or roughly $340/ton).

The bigger concern here is that army worms are wrecking absolute havoc on pastures and hay fields across west and middle TN. Which means that, not only are fall cuttings unlikely, but horse and livestock producers are having to start feeding hay months earlier than anticipated. So, while hay supplies WERE going to be plentiful this year, now things are looking pretty dire. The nasty creatures haven’t made their way this far northeast yet - crossing my fingers and holding my breath. I have about 4.5 acres of pasture and shouldn’t need to start feeding hay until after a hard frost or light freeze, IF the army worms stay away.

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#44

The bigger concern here is that army worms are wrecking absolute havoc on pastures and hay fields across west and middle TN

we had commercial company spray all the pastures last week with a contact killer which did kill all the army worms otherwise they would have eaten everything blade of grass leaving just the weeds.

This also occurred here three years ago.

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#45

At the risk of hijacking this hay price thread into an army worm one, what insecticide did the commercial company elect to use?

My personal criteria are zero grazing restriction, safe for pollinators, and available for me to apply myself. Last year for an army worm invasion I used Intrepid 2F, which matched my requirements, and it worked quite well.
armywoorm

#46

At the risk of hijacking this hay price thread into an army worm one, what insecticide did the commercial company elect to use?

I need to ask as my concern was how long did we need to keep the livestock off… 15 minutes

Whatever they used killed those worms.

We also use them to spray for weeds as whatever I would buy, mix as directed, apply with diligence the weeds thought it was a growth application… so it has become less expensive to just have that contracted also. (the company primarily does household yards but will have over mixed then need a place to get rid of that so they can change the spray tank contents … so they just call saying they need a place to get rid of the mix at cost which has been as cheap as no cost at all)

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#47

Is it just freshly baled? It just may need to sit and cure a bit. Try it in 2 weeks and see what happens.

#48

I am scared enough that I’m using some OT to buy one of those Harbor Freight carports, and going to buy four tons or so to hold back. I’m not worried so much for winter, even tho getting hay NOW is scary - I’m more worried about spring when nothing has been cut yet and everyone is out. My current barn, I only have my 8x12 feed room to store hay and I can get at most maybe 16 bales or so (4x2 bales) in there with my other feedstuff. I did the math and can easily fit 80 bales in the 10x17 carport, which will get me pretty close to May when I can start putting horses out and hopefully reduce my hay need by half.

I started feeding hay in July in the mornings in the paddocks, something I’ve never had to do before. Thankfully I have mostly very easy keepers, even the growing baby.

ETA: my feed store gave me some seconds (bales with sun scorch, got dripped on, obvious mold in sections) at half price yesterday, I scored seven bales, some are obviously about half bad but most are more than half good or even all good but an end.

2 Likes
#49

Yes, this is my fear too. I have enough in the barn right now that I should be good until next June (when first cut starts where I live), and that includes about 20 bales of last year’s dusty strawlike stuff plus 50 questionable bales from a different farmer that I got about a month ago. The less-than-ideal stuff is in my garage on pallets, and if I manage it right with the pasture we have, it should get us through until snow starts in late November/early December. Then we move to the “good stuff” in the loft for the winter & spring. But I think you’re exactly right, next spring & early summer is going to be scary.

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#50

I was commenting to my oldest daughter this morning that we have nearly finally gotten rid of the weeds that we got from using some round bales we had gotten during a drought back in 2007 (8?) …the hay supply got so critical that states were allowing the highway right of ways to be baled… trash and all. We got hay with all sorts of junk in it.

Since then we gave up on local supply by contracting from distributors who have access to hay from anywhere. The only problem we have had since was some bales that had something other than hay… just commented to supplier who asked how many bales and replaced those pulse extra to cover for our loss…then delivered the hay that morning, picking up the questionable bales

#51

The hay guy near us just did his 4th cutting. It looks really nice but I don’t think he will get as many bales off the field as he usually does.

#52

So I need your wisdom:
I have 5 tons of gorgeous green orchard my horses love. I also bought a ton of gorgeous green orchard (not the same grower/provider) that my horses hate. I’ve let it sit, as maybe it was just too ‘fresh’. I’ve fed only it, nothing else, and they kind of pick at it. It looks and smells good, though occasionally I’ll get a musty whiff off of it, and it appears that there was some old hay or swaths of brown, musty grass picked up as they baled. It’s not obvious when you just look at the hay. It’s not bad, moldy or really off, but even my “I’ll eat anything you put in front of me” horse is just wasting half his feed and begging for something to eat.

Do I cut my losses and sell it? I’d have to find another ton to replace it, which I think I can get from the hay guy who sold me the stuff they love. Or just make them eat it…or pee on it…or poop on it… I have no where to dump the hay they mess up, and it’s such a waste of $$$. Thoughts??

#53

Just saw this question elsewhere, the suggestion was to let it cure for a couple weeks and try again.

#54

@TheJenners. It’s been curing for 3 weeks post-purchase in my barn. So at this point it’s probably 4-5 weeks from baling (possibly more). Hay folks-- do I let it sit some more??

It just kind of smells funky…not moldy but just musty. They pick through it and leave behind the brown ‘old looking’ portions, along with the green hay that was touching it. It’s weird, and Clipper, my Paint, will literally eat damn near anything.

#55

I’ve got ~50 bales that are like this, which I took because I was not sure if the 500 from my typical hay guy which I really need for the winter were going to materialize and I didn’t want to be stupid and pass up on something to bridge the gap between late summer and real winter. These 50 bales are definitely not great, but I have air ferns who don’t need “great” to begin with. Fortunately for me, they are eating this stuff just fine, probably because they still have decent pasture so this is just nibble time for them right now.

If your horses aren’t eating it though, that really stinks. Where I live you can easily post “free mulch/cow hay” on the neighborhood message board and someone will come pick it up from you, so if you decide to get rid of it, that might be the way. I find contractors/landscapers seem most interested because they use if for projects and if they can get it for free they save a little on the cost of a job.

#56

@MorganMaresVT
Since I paid $390 for this ton of hay (19 bales), I’m not prepared to give it away. I’m sure someone’s horses will love it! I’m not sure if I want to wait any longer to let it “cure” or if that’s even the issue any more. I’ve had some hay over the years that some horses just won’t eat, mysteriously, so I guess this is like that. It’s just a hassle to advertise it and help folks load these big bales up and then having to source another ton in this high price, high demand environment.

#57

Yep, I don’t envy you having to deal with all those logistics. Good luck!

#58

I would cut my losses and sell it for what you can get and replace it with good hay. Every time I waffle with the hay my horses don’t like I get stuck with a huge mess that goes out in the manure spreader. Although last time the hay smelled really good but they did not like it. My farrier who has helped me mechanically for free many times was completely out of hay. So I gave it to him. His horses were OK with it, I wasn’t stuck trying to use it for mulch and now I have some credits with him when my manure spreader breaks again!

If you can get good hay I would not sit on that option and let it get away from you.

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#59

If it has patches of mustiness, is dusty and even your non picky eater won’t touch it I would call the person you bought out from and see if they will hopefully replace it or give a refund?

If not, I wouldn’t sell it to someone else, unless you let them try a few bales to see if their animals will eat it first. If you can’t unload it, I would feed the non- musty parts now while there is still good grass to be eaten and get more of the stuff they will eat for Winter.

I hate wasting hay.

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#60

Are there any cattle growers nearby? Could this hay be sold as “cow hay?”

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