Hay

[cowman]

Just about everywhere you go the bales are stacked along the fencelines! Lots of small square stacks tarped and waiting for the hay plant to take them? The plant along highway two is all grown up in weeds as they closed it down last year.
One of the local hay guys(about 2000 acres) is packing it in and selling out. Another is rumored to be considering his options!
And yet...the price of delivered horse hay is still $4/bale...if you were lucky enough to get it up in decent condition.
It is amazing how many small cow herds have simply vanished? It was very apparent last summer that a lot of people had packed it in, and maybe even more so this winter?
Probably only the area I live in, because those cows have to be going somewhere, right? Have you seen an increase or decrease in the cattle population in your area?

[dalek]

Hay here is now at 8-10 cents/lb. I just sold some 4x5 of last years first cut, about 500lb each at $45 in my yard and they were sold within an hour of the ad coming out in the paper. Small squares for horses now $4.50, not delivered and you get them out of the mow yourself. One of my local hay dealers is still taking his to Florida, the feedstores there set them out on pallets in the store and the horse people pick out which individual bales they want at $11 US per bale.

[grassfarmer]

Cowman, there has been a substantial reduction in cows in my immediate area - some during the drought years but even more this winter and last fall. Older guys with small numbers packing in, younger guys heading to the oil patch. This in an area that already had more feed than cattle, at least it's creating opportunities for those of us dedicated to cows.

[cswilson]

I'd say a few more than usual up here-nobody has really dispersed yet.

[cowman]

The problem as I see it for the hay producer is if he has a shrinking customer base and falling prices, at what point does he say enough, and also pack it in? And no I don't know what they are going to do with all this hayland! Grain sure isn't all that profitable!
Lets see: We got out of grain because the economics were terrible. We're getting out of hay because it is cheaper to buy than grow. The logical next step is to get out of cattle...which apparently quite a few are doing?
Where does this all end?

[cswilson]

The hay waddies that did a guy dry during the drought have full stackyards while the guys who took care of their customers are sold out in this area. Amazing those guys who sold all their hay to Alberta all of a sudden are phoning begging a guy to buy some. What goes around-comes around.

[cswilson]

agreed cwilson. In fact, in Alberta some of the people that really gouged producers with hay prices have had to build fences and buy some critters to eat their hay !!! AWWWWWWWWWWW !!
The hay sellers that were fair in their prices and lowered them again once there wasn't a shortage plus make sure that they are only selling good quality feed are still in business with regular customers.

[nicolaas]

It sure is a strange world. I am not a hay producer (I use silage), but in other threads I have seen people BRAGGING that they are SO progressive and buy their hay, as there are all these silly people who will grow the stuff for them at a loss. These are often the same people who get all bent out of shape when they have to pay more for the hay in times of drought. Why is it O.K. for some cattle producers to continually rip of the hay producers, but not the other way around in times of drought? I agree, what goes around comes around, and I do not have any sympathy for producers who do not grow there own hay. It is part of the risk they take. You steal from some one, expect the tables to be turned the odd time.

[nicolaas]

who in hell has stollen anything from anybody ??? I have always paid cash for hay and paid the asking price, including when there was drought and I had all my feed trucked in from Tangent, AB.
Buying hay is the choice of the individual, and in my case its a matter of manpower and land base. I used to haul my cattle to pasture and pay rent, then worry about whether or not someone was keeping gates shut etc.
just so I could use my own land for hay production.

Now I buy my feed, keep the cattle at home where I can move them from one pasture to the other as I see fit and I know they have an excellent water supply.

I have no quarrel with people getting paid more for their proudct when there was a shortage but some of the hay that was sold to producers at that time was crap, and the people who sold it as good quality hay should have been horse whipped.
There is a vast difference between getting paid the going rate for a product and selling garbage for the same price as top quality feed, particulary when it was miles away from the purchaser who had no way of knowing if the feed was what was being described or not, but chose to take the word of the seller.
This happened to many people during the drought, and it is not something that anyone should condone.

[cswilson]

niccolas where's the ripping off come in-what was happening up here was guys were wanting southern alberta price for hay when were 450 miles north of there-the honest guys on both sides of the deal are still doing business-somethings wrong when you can truck hay in from 200 miles cheaper than you can buy it locally.

[cswilson]

Even last year some hay sellers were expecting record prices, they have row upon row of hay still lined up in their fields.

[cowman]

I'm on both ends. Raise hay hopefully for the horse trade, if it gets rained on it is instant cow feed. If it is good stuff the horse boys get it.
Sometimes you get lucky sometimes not.
There is always a buyer and a seller...never had anyone hold a gun on me and demand I either buy or sell? In the drought we got fairly lucky and got a decent hay crop all put up dry. Almost ashamed to say what I sold it for! Scrounged around and bought some slough hay and greenfeed at pretty stout prices, but the horse hay more than paid double! Sold off every cow that even hinted she wasn't top notch and actually lucked out there as the next year BSE hit and cows became worthless! Ended up with a young cow herd which was helpful as no cows sold for three years now.

[Shonravin]

Emrald1! I find it hard to beleive anyone would buy hay from a stanger without looking at it.

[wmoebis]

Aren't we talking the simple basics of supply and demand? Short supply the price goes up over supply the price goes down.
I have never heard of anyone taking there product home from the market place because they were getting too much whether it be hay, grain or cattle. The highes help to off set the lows. Buying and selling.
I once had smutty barley the local colony looked at it and said it was over priced. I told them I had cheaper barley but, it had been through the cow once. I sold it 200 miles away for my price buyer paid trucking. Supply and demand.

[grassfarmer]

wmoebis, I'm agreeing with you on this one. My policy is to buy feed and I accept that in years of short supply I will pay more, it's all supply and demand. I don't get bent out of shape over what happened in the drought years, I couldn't buy locally so I hauled feed in from as far apart as Lethbridge and Manning. I don't bear any resentment of the locals who wanted more for their hay - I buy from them at the lower prices now. It's no different to any other inputs - do you always get a guarantee when you buy a used truck or tractor or bull or bred cows? I'd call it business risk - buyer beware. I think many of the outraged stories of poor feed buys during the drought stem from first time or naive forage buyers - that's their problem I'd say, business risk in a free market. Feed sellers are no different to us when we sell our calves - we want as much as we can get for them.