Hay prices?

[woodland]

Just curious if anyone has heard what hay is selling for this year? Last year we got $140 /ton for really pretty first cut picked up and there wasn’t much around due to drought. This year there’s lots standing yet and most of what’s been baled is well washed. Saw one guy raking yesterday and it was a black cloud behind the rakes visible a half mile away. Hope he got it baled as another 5/8” came overnight. Only 20% of ours came off nice this year and I’m fortunate for that. Still have a quarter of grass hay that’ll be waiting at least a week or two with the cold wet weather.



I’m thinking good stuff should be worth the same as last year. Poor stuff .............. who knows?

[grassfarmer]

Asking prices here seem to be 7-10c/lb. Lots of demand from SK and further north in MB driving prices as the supply just isn't here even in our area as the rain came too late. Won't be much rained on stuff here as very little was done before or during our wet month but since mid July most has been harvested and there has been no measurable rain here.

[Taiga]

I am in the $100/ton zone, but if I lived where you did I would charge more. Certainly don’t get rich selling hay at that price, hay buyers have no idea the cost of making good hay in this day and age. Let alone costs of field prep/seeding just to grow good hay. I make a few pennies on the transport of my own hay as well.

[bucket]

To keep a hay field in good condition its getting as bad as farming....

Levelling, rolling, fertilizing etc....all cost money that the buyers don't appreciate....


Throw in gophers badgers and moles and profits can disappear...

The fact in this area there is anything to cut is nothing short of incredible...Middle of june it looked like we would be building fence and letting the cows graze it...

[Sheepwheat]

In a hay surplus zone here but prices have started to respond. Last year bought some for 4 cents a lb. this year looking more like 6 or 7 cents maybe.

Grass hay here sucks. Alfalfa is pretty good.

Now to get sun and heat already.

Rained this morning. 0% chance. Nice

[bigzee]

What’s a barley bale worth? Have a guy approached me about wanting 480 ac. Not really enthusiastic about taking straw off the land. Barley straw contains large amounts of potash, and of course carbon.

[grassfarmer]

What’s a barley bale worth? Have a guy approached me about wanting 480 ac. Not really enthusiastic about taking straw off the land. Barley straw contains large amounts of potash, and of course carbon.

What's it worth or what might it sell for?
I read years ago that the nutrient value was worth about $15 to the farmer so if they baled it up unless they're getting $25+ for it they would be mining their land to sell straw. As a rancher I buy straw and can usually do so for @$20 as lots of guys want the cashflow now versus the long term damage exporting the nutrients/OM does. Depending on the area some people might pay up to $50 a bale - if you can't get hay you don't have many alternatives for long forage. If it was my barley crop I wouldn't drop it for less than $15/bale but a rancher I want it as cheap as I can get it. Competing interests.

[woodland]

What’s a barley bale worth? Have a guy approached me about wanting 480 ac. Not really enthusiastic about taking straw off the land. Barley straw contains large amounts of potash, and of course carbon.

Are we talking straw or greenfeed? We paid around $15 for 1,000 lb straw bale in the swath a few years ago and I think it was reasonable for both parties. Now we just bale our own but if we have extra we chop the owned ground and bale the rented since the landlord doesn’t care........ but I do. 😉

[malleefarmer]

peaked out at 420 per tonne here early 2019

[woodland]

peaked out at 420 per tonne here early 2019

That’s mind boggling. A cow would eat herself up in mere months. I would have to think long and hard about buying feed at the price I’m thinking of selling it at. Luckily there’s mountains of silage buried in the hills here.

[malleefarmer]

currently around the the 275 to 300 per tonne depending on quality talking oaten hay

[bigzee]

Are we talking straw or greenfeed? We paid around $15 for 1,000 lb straw bale in the swath a few years ago and I think it was reasonable for both parties. Now we just bale our own but if we have extra we chop the owned ground and bale the rented since the landlord doesn’t care........ but I do. 😉

Straw bales. He offered $10, I was quite offended by that. Lol
Not sure how many bales/ac it will produce.
But $10 a bales there won’t be any straw rows in my fields.