# Hay Prices?!?!?! What are you paying?



## BellLisaMo (Mar 31, 2011)

Right now, prices here are still going up.
I was paying 11.25 a bale for alfalfa 2 months ago...

now... 13.75 for a bale of alfalfa (bout 102#).

Bermuda... i dont remember what i paid for that last time...

what are you paying?

I know this is due to gas prices, but heck!!! This is horrible!


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## ohiogoatgirl (Mar 31, 2011)

i dont pay $ for my hay.
i work in the summer baling and throwing square bales and moving and organizeing square bales. 
so i pay sweat and sunburn and scratches on my legs and arms.


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## elevan (Mar 31, 2011)

Our supplier charges $2.50 a bale for orchard grass / alfalfa mix square bales and $40 for a round bale that weighs about 900#.  He only charges $8 for delivery

So I guess we're pretty lucky


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## phoenixmama (Mar 31, 2011)

Well, I'm in Gilbert...so I feel your pain.  It's expensive here too.  This October I'm planting my own darn alfalfa thankyouverymuch.  And ya know what's really irritating...in a town that was once known as the "Alfalfa Capital of the World"...you'd think I wouldn't have to shell out $10-12/bale for it!!!

Edited to add:  Brought home a bale of bermuda hay last weekend for $10.50/bale.  The goats only think it's "okay"...


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## phoenixmama (Mar 31, 2011)

And another thing...it's no wonder why people are giving horses away left and right on Craigslist.  I know of a local-ish goat dairy that has stray horses showing up at their place.  I guess stray horses are the new stray dogs with these hay prices.


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## greenfamilyfarms (Mar 31, 2011)

I get the large round bales of bermuda hay for $25.


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## patandchickens (Mar 31, 2011)

It's not just gas prices, this is the time of year when hay prices are *always* highest.

I'm getting another three large square bales (~650 lbs) this week from my hay guy, but he promised me last fall he'd give me the same price as he did then, which was $65 a bale -- BUT that's with him delivering it and putting it thru my barn doorway onto a dolly with his tractor (we are tractorless). So on the one hand we are somewhat overpaying by local standards but we get it *delivered* (and couldn't use his large squares at all if he didn't do this) and he gets a better price than he would otherwise, so I figure it is sorta win-win.

I don't know what regular small squares of horse-quality grass or mix hay would be around here this time of year, but I would guess in the vicinity of $4 for a 40-50 lb bale, not delivered.

Pat


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## chicks & ducks (Mar 31, 2011)

We are paying $2 US right now for square bales. We don't really have a place to store round ones and we only have a few critters so right now we're ok with that.  Send the stray horses my way! 

((fyi I'm in Wisconsin so I'm sure that affects the price))


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## RockyToggRanch (Mar 31, 2011)

I pay $3. a square bale and that's delivered and put up in the mow.
Good quality horse hay.


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## 20kidsonhill (Mar 31, 2011)

I paid $3 for my small square bales of straw for bedding

$5 for a 40lb bale of alfalfa hay
and $5 for a 45 to 50lb bale of 2nd grass mixed hay very good quality. 


We have paid these prices for the last 3 years. Needless to say it is worth our time to build good hay feeders that don't waste hay, It makes no sense to me to use hay as bedding. It is better for me to just put out some bedding when I need to.  

Another thing that has affected horses around here causing them to be given them away on craiglist is we no longer have a place to take dead animals. So no one wants to deal with a dead horse and no place to send it. So they try to give away their old aging horses as if it is a gift to unsuspecting people who don't know any better.


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## Melissa'sDreamFarm (Mar 31, 2011)

We pay and have been paying for a bale.....

$3.50 for orchard grass mix
$5.00 for Good bermuda horse hay (which I won't buy due to horse colic)
$10.75 for alfalfa/orchard mix
$12.00 for alfalfa

In the south, they do not grow alfalfa. It is too wet to cure, so people truck it in from other states. It took many years for me to figure this out. So this year we are going to find the closest person selling alfalfa (out of state) and get my truck driver friend to pick up some on one of his trips back home. I just cut out a middle man, this is much cheaper for us. Some people in Kentucky sell it for $8 a bale.


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## chandasue (Mar 31, 2011)

Wowser! I'm so lucky. The most I've ever seen nice alfalfa go for is $3.50 a small bale, works out to be even cheaper if you can store the big rounds.


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## Araylee (Mar 31, 2011)

$14/bale for a 60/70 lb bale of alfalfa last spring. (feed store prices=HWY robbery!) $120/ton for third cutting alfalfa last fall. This spring first cutting alfalfa is $100/ton. (ours IS locally grown.) I've seen it go as high as $200/ton for premium third cutting certified organic weed free...and I've seen weedy rained on half orchard grass for 45-60/ton.


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## RockyToggRanch (Mar 31, 2011)

Of course it has a lot to do with where you are... I'm in northern central NY


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## babsbag (Mar 31, 2011)

In No. CA I pay 11.00- 13.00 for alfalfa, 13.50 for alfalfa/grass and 9.00 for wheat. I only feed the wheat to my buck and wether. The ladies get straight alfalfa. The bales are square, about 100#. While we do have to pay a lot we never have trouble finding it, no matter what time of year it is. I can buy smaller bales of alfalfa from local growers for about 7.00, but the quality is not as good. 

Everything in CA is expensive, so why not the hay too?


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## redtailgal (Mar 31, 2011)

...............


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## julieq (Apr 1, 2011)

We paid 125.00 per ton for second and third cutting alfalfa last fall.  Unfortunately we didn't purchase enough and now we're having a hard time finding more to get us through until July when the second cutting is available.  Friends are telling us if you can find hay it'll run 200.00 per ton.  We're most likely going to have to raise the prices on our kids this year to cover the increase.  :/


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## Georgiamainers (Apr 1, 2011)

In Maine we're paying $4 a bail for a grass mix.  Alfalfa is hard to come by.


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## scrambledmess (Apr 1, 2011)

I just bought grass/alfalfa mix for $3.50 a bale.  It was originally $3, but he charged me an extra 50 cents a bale to deliver.  I thought that was a bit much, but now we have a truck so we can go get it ourself next time.


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## stano40 (Apr 1, 2011)

I'm in southern Maine and I'm seeing $4.00 to $6.50 for horse hay, 1st cutting mix.

I've bought a round bale close to 1,000 lbs for $40.00, but I had to go 2 hrs. away for it in Maine.

bob


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## Livinwright Farm (Apr 1, 2011)

In NH, depending upon where I get it, regular hay is 6.50-9.50/bale... the only way to get alfalfa hay around here now is either buying the alfalfa pellets, cubes, or shinkwrapped "bales" of Alfa Supreme by Lucerne Farms... and those are $12.50/"bale". None of the feed stores carry the alfalfa hay anymore because, "People were complaining that it is just too rich for the horses"... I really wanted to look the guy at the local grainery(who said the previous quote to me) that that is fine and dandy, but what about all the people who have dairy goats?!?! Oh well.  My little herd will just have to deal with the best cheap hay I can find.. for now anyways.


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## Ariel301 (Apr 3, 2011)

Arizona is not a good place to try to buy hay, especially in the winter! I'm up in Kingman, in the northwest part of the state. 

I paid $10.25 a bale for my last delivery of hay. It was cow hay, so not very good stuff, but their regular was $15 a bale, and I couldn't afford that. I feel a little cheated over it, the bales were advertised as 120 pounds, but they're only about 80, so I'm going through them fast. Not much I can do, since it's all there was that I could afford. :/ I'm supplementing with alfalfa pellets ($8/50 pound bag), brewery grain (free) and bucketloads of weeds from the wash behind our property. 

Why in the world are we trying to raise livestock on hay in the desert?!


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## Be Bop N Bubba (Apr 4, 2011)

Depends.  We have orchard grass. Timothy and timothy/alfalfa mix we do ourselves and sell for 2.75 - 3.50 a square and rounds are 50 so I talked to a local hay trader and we do some swappin when I need a few alfalfa bales.  I have a friend who gets the huge squares from canada for her show horses and shes only paying 50 a bale when she buys a full load.


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## GrowURown (Apr 6, 2011)

God Bless! We were LUCKY (I felt at least) - to come across DECENT quality - not great, just decent - at $8 a bale (50-60 lbs sq bales) for the coastal and $16/bale for alfalfa (HUGE 3 string bales though, easily close to double the grass hay in weight!)  The guy we buy from has been trucking that stuff in as his barn was empty of the stuff from his own field 2 months ago except what he had kept for himself....

SOON it will be cheaper I know, but right now it's a challenge for us to find anything good enough to give the horses AND the goats - the goats being the issue, as we had originally put up ALMOST enough for the winter FOR THE HORSES and high prices that come with winter time, but then got goats and had to get more hay as we were using more (and we blew threw a bit extra when it was really cold using it as emergency bedding for the hog - she looked chilly my wife said and threw her in a bale or 2 to bury down in)

But yeah soon enough it should go down - last year we paid $4 - $6 for the sq bales after the 2nd/3rd cutting and YES I KNOW it's cheaper in the long run to do round bales, but my wife HATES them and won't let me!  Says it is worth it to have something she can easily move around where she needs it....so we are stuck with the square bales....by order of the queen 

ETA:  we are north of Houston texas just by a bit...just realized that was missing...


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## Cuttlefishherder (Apr 7, 2011)

I know we payed something like 13$ for our bail of burmuda for our goats, but this is Arizona and only cacti grow here naturally! lol


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## miss_thenorth (Apr 7, 2011)

Just picked upanother 5 big round bales at $40 a pop.  Same price we paid for in the summer (same supplier)  What we got is grass hay  Normal prices areound here are $35-45 round bale, (small and large accordingly) and about $3.50 for a small square second cut grass alfalfa.  I haven't seen it vary from summer to winter in price and we always have to get a few more bales come this time of year--mainly cuz we are always adding new critters and underestimate our hay needs.


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## julieq (Apr 10, 2011)

Last year we paid about 4.00 for a 50 lb bale of pure alfalfa.  Unfortunately we increased our herd size and didn't buy enough last year to last until second cutting in July this year.  Now we're paying 10.00 for 100 lb bales, which are extremely hard to find for some reason.  We may have to finish out the season with one ton bales.  So the increase isn't bad, yet.  But with fuel prices and inflation we expect a solid increase in prices by July.


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## Ariel301 (Apr 10, 2011)

miss_thenorth said:
			
		

> Just picked upanother 5 big round bales at $40 a pop.  Same price we paid for in the summer (same supplier)  What we got is grass hay  Normal prices areound here are $35-45 round bale, (small and large accordingly) and about $3.50 for a small square second cut grass alfalfa.  I haven't seen it vary from summer to winter in price and we always have to get a few more bales come this time of year--mainly cuz we are always adding new critters and underestimate our hay needs.


I really miss those round bales, I used to buy them for my horse in Colorado at about that same price. Sure would be nice to get those for the goats!


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## his1911 (Jun 5, 2011)

For bermuda or bermuda/timothy  I can usually get sq bales ( 60 lbs or so) for $5. Same mix or some with a little to alot of fescue ( cow quality) round bales 5x5's I can get for $20 . In Northern GA,


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## RPC (Jun 5, 2011)

I don't pay anything for my hay or straw because we do custom hay baleing....Well my dad does and I just work for him when I can. We charge right now $2.50 for straw, $4.00 for grass, $5.00 for Alfalfa. These are the small 70 pound square bales. I don't know how in the world some of you can afford to keep animals at 13-15 dollars a bale.


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## willow_top_farm (Jun 5, 2011)

I just paid $3.50 a square bale for alfalfa/orchard grass (mostly alfalfa), certified organic, plus 10 cents a bale delivered. Alfalfa is pretty common here in MI.


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## RockyToggRanch (Jun 5, 2011)

Still $3. bale delivered and put up here. Great horse quality.


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## BriteChicken (Jun 6, 2011)

N Alabama and yesterday I had to pay 12.50 for a 60# square bale of Alfalfa for one rabbit! One darn Rabbit! Timothy doesn't grow within driving distance I was told and plus it's more expensive than Alfalfa.  I have chickens too but they don't eat hay.   Don't know how I'm gonna use it all before it goes bad... what's the life on a bale of hay? Sorry newbie when it comes to hay and can't believe I had to pay so much!


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## oxdrover14 (Jun 25, 2011)

BriteChicken said:
			
		

> N Alabama and yesterday I had to pay 12.50 for a 60# square bale of Alfalfa for one rabbit! One darn Rabbit! Timothy doesn't grow within driving distance I was told and plus it's more expensive than Alfalfa.  I have chickens too but they don't eat hay.   Don't know how I'm gonna use it all before it goes bad... what's the life on a bale of hay? Sorry newbie when it comes to hay and can't believe I had to pay so much!


Hay is good really forever as long as it stays dry it loses all the nutrients after 3-4 yrs but we had gotten out of animals for 3 years and then got some and they the hay we had made 3 yrs back ate it just needed some extra grain


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## MissDanni (Jun 25, 2011)

We get Timothy hay for $2 square bale or $30 round bale.

Everyone here eats Timothy; goats, horses, sometimes the dogs will take some and munch on it.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Jun 25, 2011)

Nuttin... 


 I just scored 4 round bales and 140 square bales that had light to heavy rain depending on where they were in the pile for FREE !!  Can we say mulch and goat food city


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## RPC (Jun 25, 2011)

Well I do not personally buy hay since my dad does his own costume hay baling and so I work for him. My pay for working is I get free hay. We sell grass hay for $4.00 a small square bale (70lbs), then Alfalfa is $5.00, and straw is $2.50. We have pretty much kept the same prices for about 5 years now but it could change any minute.


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## vegaburm (Jun 25, 2011)

Grass hay from a friend, $4 a square bale, but I have to drive 25 minutes to pick it up. Grass from feed store $7 a square bale. Alfalfa square bale from Tractor Supply, $12 a bale. No farmers around here selling alfalfa that I could buy straight from.


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## sheepboy1 (Jun 25, 2011)

I pay a $1 a bale of anything i want


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## Mossy Stone Farm (Jun 25, 2011)

Hay just went up here AGAIN...... 14.99 FOR Alfalfa 12.99 for mix  7.99 for straw

Local grass hay 5.00

Just heard from my hay guy 1st and 2 nd cut from eastern washingtom 310.00 a ton .

even the blocks Gem pine shaveings are now 7.50


I may have to reduce my herd and not bred a few does this fall till hay priece settle down again.

We have got to get fuel prices under control


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## RockyPhoenix (Jun 25, 2011)

If grass hay has _some_ mold on it can i just pull the mold off and give the clean hay to the goats? my neighbor has about 30 bales for me that have a little mold that she wont feed to her horses.....idk why though also how old is too old? we have about 120 bales of grass hay that has been sitting in our hay loft for about 3 or 4 years...its been dry so i think its good but i just wanna check! 

also hay around here is about 3 or 4 for any kind of square bales and 30 or 40 for round bales


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Jun 25, 2011)

The 3-4 year old hay isn't going to have a huge amount nutritionally but you can certainly start putting it out as roughage.  I wouldn't hold it over much longer though as you are going to have pretty much just bales of bedding. Nothing wrong with that but not sure if you need 100+ of them.   

Personally I would spend the money on fresh hay to put away for this winter and start feeding the old stuff as roughage for the summer and hang on to how ever many you think you'll need a bedding/junk hay for the coming kidding season. 

It's also great as dry matter when you make the poop compost piles. 


I have found that my guys will eat around the bad spots in a bale.  Also as I'm busting up some of what I have for mulch if I find an essential try section in a bad bale I'm tossing in into them for their approval. If it meets standards, they'll eat it, if not they step/pee/nap on it.



  ** Mold is a serious issue with horses as they can colic and die.  That is why I ended up with my hay for free as it came from high end horse farms and they wanted it GONE NOW so as to not risk contamination.     If you are feeding a $40,000 horse are you really going to worry about a $5 hay bale?


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## ChickenPotPie (Jul 4, 2011)

$20 for a square bale of alfalfa (@ 105 - 120lbs)  *whimpers*  
$15 orchard grass (same size)
$8 for straw (about the same size)

Shoot me, now.


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## Our7Wonders (Jul 4, 2011)

Mossy Stone Farm said:
			
		

> Hay just went up here AGAIN...... 14.99 FOR Alfalfa 12.99 for mix  7.99 for straw
> 
> Local grass hay 5.00
> 
> ...


Wow!  I've not seen ANY hay going for that high of a price over here.  I just bought two tons of organic alfalfa hay - it was first cut but we had a lot of rain this year so it's not as stemmy as it usually is.  I paid $180.00 per ton - that's more than I paid last year for second cutting - then again, I wasn't impressed with last years quality at all.

It may be worth renting a truck and coming over to get a few tons yourself.  I can't imagine $310.00 per ton!  Wenatchee and Moses Lake each have a craigslist page and it covers quite a large area all around them, including the Okanogan area on down to the Ellensburg area  - there's hay listed there regularly.  Might be worth checking into.


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## Goatmasta (Jul 4, 2011)

I feed a Alfalfa, orchard, and clover mix, $2.50/square bale.


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## elevan (Jul 4, 2011)

We just contracted for this winter's hay.
$3.00 / bale for alfalfa / orchard grass / clover - delivered.


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## goodhors (Jul 4, 2011)

Not sure what they are getting for new hay this summer.  Depending on the seller, could be first or second cutting.  Some folks missed the 7-day window at the first of June for getting in first cutting and are now just getting their first hay cut and baled.  Way past  prime, but there is ALWAYS someone willing to buy hay, or you can sell at the auctions.  Second cutting is iffy, lots of random showers wetting it after cutting.  Some folks trying to do small batches at a time, so they can only lose a small amount if it gets wet and moldy after cutting.  

Around here, the best price for hay is buying out of the field, that is the lowest it will ever be.  Price goes up after it is put in the barn or hauled to your house, all that extra handling costs money to the farmer.  

Prices of $3-$4 a bale delivered and unloaded are amazing!  Last year we bought hay for $4 a bale, had to go get it out of the field AND put it in the barn ourselves.  We pay $10 an hour for loading and unloading help when we buy, sometimes can't find any workers to help.  Got a new guy around the corner doing hay, so we may save in driving costs this year.  We bought some last years hay to clean his barn out.  Hay seems to be excellent stuff, some grass and alfalfa mixed, plus he cut the price to get it gone for this year's hay storage.  Bales were bigger and heavier than what we have gotten recently, so we were pretty beat putting them away.  Probably about 70 pounds or more.  Horses liked it at the show this weekend!

We still need about 450 bales to be ready for winter.  No machinery to handle big bales, nor the inside storage to keep them nice for the horses.


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## willowbreezefarm (Jul 4, 2011)

$5.25 for small bails of orchard mix. We used to pay $2 but hay went up in our area.


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## Goatherd (Jul 4, 2011)

x


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## goodhors (Jul 5, 2011)

Be careful with him keeping the hay.  Heard lots of stories about "he promised me xxx bales, then sold them later" from last year.  Then person had to go hunt for more hay.  Some paid ahead, farmer got the chance to sell hay for more money and did!  Some folks got refunds, some didn't.  No contracts on every case I heard, so they were hung out to dry with loss and no refund.  Your farmer could be a really nice guy, so you will have no problems.  Just relating what has happened to others.

I think if you need hay for animals, you NEED to get a method of keeping the hay in quantity at YOUR farm.  I could not deal with a few bales here or there, EVERY week or so.  What do you do if there is a storm and you run out?  Had a lot of that being snowbound last year.  We know folks who buy a load of "whatever they are selling" at the auction once a month, pay the going rate.  Sure appears to be a lot of extra work spent buying, handling, chance of animals getting sick because of feed changes so often and also running out at a bad time.


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## 20kidsonhill (Jul 6, 2011)

Hopefully with all this wonderful rain the east has been getting, hay will be a little cheaper this year,  My husband deals i corn and soybean pricing(can't remember exactly what it is called) He said there was 5% more corn planted this year in the USA and that should help some, but texas is pretty much a total loss.  But hopefully it will balance out by the end of the summer and not bring corn prices up worse than they are. Corn prices went down a little this week and expect them to hold pretty steady until new corn starts to come off.  Then it should go down some more. 

OUr hay is pretty much 4 to 5 a bale the past 3 years. (50lb bale) either alfalfa or 2nd cutting grass, We fed hay almost all year last year.

Bagged goat pellets 11 a 50lb bag, right now, Has been going up about 10 cents every couple weeks all summer. 

We have been able to keep the herd on pasture this year, since April, and we have still lots of wonderful pasture and just got some more rain. 

Bring on the rain!!!!  I know careful what you wish for.  But it is nice having everything so green, we have lots of fields of corn already above our heads.  bumper crops of hay.  

Rain is such a blessing. 

  to RAIN!!!!


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## larryj57 (Jul 6, 2011)

After reading all these prices I wish I was around one of those high dollar places,I bale square bales of orchard run, fungus free fescue and red clover, I sell out of the field for 2.50 and out of the barn for $3.00 a bale.I have a barn half full all the advertiseing by putting out fliers and cards at the feed stores TSC and everywhere else i can think of does no good. with the price of lime, chicken litter, weed control , fuel for the tractor I figure I"m getting about $0.003 a bale. The most I ever saw hay sell for was $4.00 a bale that was years ago. What I really can't figure out is with hay so cheap around here why does goat feed pellets in the 50lb bag go up every week?


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## ChickenPotPie (Jul 6, 2011)

20kidsonhill said:
			
		

> Hopefully with all this wonderful rain the east has been getting, hay will be a little cheaper this year,


Rain is exactly the reason I've been given for the $20 bales (they're only 100lbs, actually).  Orchard grass, when it's available will be $17 a bale.


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## 20kidsonhill (Jul 6, 2011)

ChickenPotPie said:
			
		

> 20kidsonhill said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It is a matter of perspective.. Sorry your prices are so high, that is terrible, I would have to downsize to just a few really high quality animals or just go out of business all together. As it is for our 20 does, we will be spending atleast 1,500 for our winter hay.


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## oxdrover14 (Jul 12, 2011)

RPC said:
			
		

> Well I do not personally buy hay since my dad does his own costume hay baling and so I work for him. My pay for working is I get free hay. We sell grass hay for $4.00 a small square bale (70lbs), then Alfalfa is $5.00, and straw is $2.50. We have pretty much kept the same prices for about 5 years now but it could change any minute.


Same herE exept for my grampa I do all the raking tedding and stack in the wagons and my pay is free hay for my 2 cows and 8 goats


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## lgdnevada (Jul 12, 2011)

$160 a ton for local grown, fine grass alfalfa mix, delivered by the stack.
We had a  shortage here before first cutting was down and baled.  Was going $18 plus a bale, alfalfa.
Terrible prices.  I overbought last year thank goodness and had plenty on hand.  Buying more than I need this year
too so I don't get caught short.


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## rascal (Jul 17, 2011)

ANYONE looking share a supplier this year? Sure you all know how dry its been in TX....  Well I'm working on making a few runs to help where I can. Not looking for top of the line as SOME is better then NONE.  That or ANYONE with a BIG flatbed willing to haul? I can line up buyers for ya!!


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## duffontap (Jul 18, 2011)

On the North Oregon Coast:

Western grass hay 3 tie bales:  $12 (my goats have to be starving to eat it and milk production will plummet).
Orchard/Timothy 3 tie bales:  $20
Alfalfa 2 tie good quality:  $15-17
10% off by the ton.

I've found the 2nd cutting Orchard grass is the best value here, even at $20 a bale because I have so little waste.  We can save a couple dollars on cheaper hay up front but the goats will just pull it all out of the feeder and walk on it.  Cheap hay makes expensive bedding.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Jul 18, 2011)

Have 50 bales being delivered today for 140.00 total.   About 2.75 a bale.  Once the pigs are gone I will do another order.


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## Susyr22 (Jul 19, 2011)

We live in Illinois and I am paying, 3.00-4.00 for grass hay.  And 4/4.50 sometimes 5.00 for alfalfa

Man I didn't realize hay was so high around the country. Hope it doesn't get that high here, Wish I had my own hay fields!


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## maggies.family (Jul 19, 2011)

We are in Northern CA.

We only have the two goats to buy for so we don't buy big quantities.  Plus, we are storing it in my greenhouse as we don't have a barn!  lol  

If we buy alfalfa from the feed store it's $18/bale.  But, my husband got a new job and his boss is selling it to us for $10/bale.  

I did find some good organic alfalfa and other hay combo's for $8-10/bale but it's in the next town over, which in theory isn't really far away, just takes time out of our day to drive there.


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## Mills1950 (Aug 23, 2011)

Live in Texas and currently it's very hard to find any hay of any quality...alfalfa when I can find it is over $20.   Coastal bales squares $9.50 and that is considered a real bargain----coastal round bales are available if you are willing to pay over $135.   Hopefully the drought will be over soon but even if we get rain now too late.


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## 20kidsonhill (Aug 24, 2011)

Mills1950 said:
			
		

> Live in Texas and currently it's very hard to find any hay of any quality...alfalfa when I can find it is over $20.   Coastal bales squares $9.50 and that is considered a real bargain----coastal round bales are available if you are willing to pay over $135.   Hopefully the drought will be over soon but even if we get rain now too late.


so sorry for the drought.  wishing you all that the drought ends soon.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Aug 24, 2011)

I am so excited because I think I just scored alfalfa for $2-$3 a bale.       I was paying $5 last year.


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## Ms. Research (Aug 24, 2011)

20kidsonhill said:
			
		

> Mills1950 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


2X.  Wish I could send you some of our rain.


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## manybirds (Aug 24, 2011)

BellLisaMo said:
			
		

> Right now, prices here are still going up.
> I was paying 11.25 a bale for alfalfa 2 months ago...
> 
> now... 13.75 for a bale of alfalfa (bout 102#).
> ...


we get medium square bales (between 50 and 80 ibs) for 50 cents a bale


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## cmjust0 (Aug 24, 2011)

phoenixmama said:
			
		

> And another thing...it's no wonder why people are giving horses away left and right on Craigslist.  I know of a local-ish goat dairy that has stray horses showing up at their place.  I guess stray horses are the new stray dogs with these hay prices.


That, and the slaughter ban..  A full-grown horse used to have a rock-bottom price of like $700-$800, and what people apparently didn't realize is that the rock-bottom price was being upheld by the meat value (for lack of a better phrase) of the horse..  If a horse couldn't be sold private treaty for a pasture pal, *someone* out there would still pay $750 for it at the sale barn...either the meat buyer, or the guy bidding against the meat buyer.  Nobody really ever talked about the slaughter of horses until it blew up on the news as sort of an _expos_, so it was kinda like an unseen, unmentioned force at play in horse values..  

When the slaughter ban went into effect, the bottom fell out because the meat buyer disappeared from the sale barn and the sale barn, ultimately, was setting horse prices..  Combine that with high hay prices and, yeah, you can't hardly *give* a run-of-the-mill horse away these days..  For a while there, it seemed like there were stories on the news about once a week of someone in the area being raked across the coals for cruelty to animals, basically on account of high hay prices, unsellable horses, and the proliferation of cell phones, "hotlines", and do-gooders who had *no clue* about the reality of the situation these horse owners found themselves in..  

Some folks needed to be fined/jailed/whatever, I'm sure, but there was also a story of a lady who was brought up on cruelty charges despite the fact that she'd only recently purchased the malnutritioned horses and was feeding and caring for them to try and nurse them back..  Got busted anyway..  

I'll tell ya this..  If I ended up caught in the middle of all this and wound up with a skinny horse because I couldn't sell or afford to feed, I'd be inclined to drop it off somewhere too..  Too risky to leave it in the pasture for busybodies to lament and make phone calls over..


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## Roll farms (Aug 28, 2011)

I'm getting 115 bales today for $3.50 a bale and feel like the luckiest person on earth....we didn't get much rain this summer so I was expecting to pay upwards of $5.00 per...


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## manybirds (Aug 28, 2011)

manybirds said:
			
		

> BellLisaMo said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow i never realized how good of a deal we are getting on our bales. i guess it depends where you live though


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## Goatherd (Aug 28, 2011)

Just called the hay man yesterday and he regretted to tell me that second cut hay would be going up from $3 to $3.25.  Still very reasonable to my way of thinking!


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## freemotion (Aug 28, 2011)

I just paid $7 and had to go get it and haul it myself. :/


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## Roll farms (Aug 28, 2011)

He charged us 20$ to help unload / stack it.  Well worth it!


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## Mossy Stone Farm (Aug 28, 2011)

Man i would pee my pants if i could find good/great hay for 3.50 a bale..im lucky to find all right hay for 15.00 bucks a bale........ shesh i need to move to a cheaper state!!!!


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## Roll farms (Aug 28, 2011)

And this is probably 90% nice alfalfa, since w/ the semi-draught we had in July / August, the grass didn't grow much...but the alfalfa did well / is testing high for protein levels around here.


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## KinderKorner (Aug 28, 2011)

I pay $3.5 for alfalfa/grass mix sq bales. Probably 30 or 40#. $4 for like 50 or 60# alfala. And I'm paying $20 for grass round bales that are probably 600#


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## Island Creek Farm (Aug 29, 2011)

Geez...in Alabama we are paying $40 for a 900# roll of horse quality bermuda (grass) hay, alfalfa can't be grown here...well, UGA alfalfa can, but it shatters pretty much when they cut it.  Good for horses, but terrible for goats and $9/bale.  I got perennial peanut hay for $8.50 a bale but have to drive 2 hours to get it.  Alfalfa cubes went from $10.50/50# bag to $14.50/50# bag though


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## ChksontheRun (Aug 29, 2011)

I just got my winters worth--50 40#square bales of orchard grass/alfalfa for $7.oo a bale.  And I felt very blessed to have found it for that price.  My BIL got grass hay for his horses for $4.oo but my goats would not touch it with a 10 foot pole.  Choosey little buggers.


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## RainySunday (Aug 30, 2011)

We just got a group deal with 4H and I got 2nd cut alfalfa (100lb bales) for $10.50/bale and 2nd cut orchard grass (103lb bales) for $13.75.  We got enough to get us through winter and spring... maybe into summer, we'll see.  

Before that, we were paying $14-18/bale for 60ish lb bales of crummy 1st cut alf, and grass was about the same price.  You can find local grass from some farms for more like $6/bale, but they are really light, and not such good quality.

So, we got a good deal, and it looks great.  But hay prices in WA, especially W. WA, are bad, really bad.  And we've had such a weird growing season this year, they are predicting big shortages and insane prices, hence the stocking up ahead of time.


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## Mossy Stone Farm (Aug 31, 2011)

I am in Westwrn Washington and am crying my eyes out over hay prices.... Just got 2 nd cut Alfalfa tonight 17.00 a bale 103 to 107 lb bales...... I may have to down size... Grain prices are up as well, i have really heavy milkers... they burn thur the feed....


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## Livinwright Farm (Sep 10, 2011)

Just scored 20 bales of goat hay(clover, alfalfa, canarygrass, and timothy mix) for only $60($3/good sized bale)!!!     This farm's mulch hay is even cheaper than that!!  Going to pack the barn loft as full as possible for winter feed & bedding!


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## that's*satyrical (Sep 10, 2011)

Paid $6.99 for a bale of coastal at the tractor supply store. Still looking for a place that's selling it for less, but if I don't find it I may go back for more of that. The price is not too bad.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Sep 11, 2011)

We might be getting about 1-200 bales of alfalfa at about 2.50 a bale. I am over the moon excited.  It's a "Buy out the wagon" price.


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## St0rmyM00n (Sep 11, 2011)

wow how are yall getting hay so cheap?

this is for Alfalfa and coastal hay its what most people carry out here. 
Here its 13.00 for a square bale 
75.00 for a round bale 

Is there any where in Texas that sells for less?


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Sep 12, 2011)

Location, location, location.  TX = drought this year   WV = right mix of rain and sun this year.    Next year we'll get the drought and you'll get the rain.


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## Livinwright Farm (Sep 12, 2011)

Anywhere that either has had a bad time with drought or any amount of flooding will be outrageously priced right now.  TX(drought) & VT(severe flooding) are mostly having to import their hay from other states. Almost all the towns in VT were told to till all of their crops under and wait until next year. The hay isn't even good for mulch(due to the various pathogens & evil bacterias that they absorbed)

Then of course, let us not forget that a massive amount of our nation's alfalfa was bought by some sheik over seas.... which depletes the amount available for ourselves, which raises cost even more... hhh... don't you just LOVE that whole supply vs demand thing...


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## BellLisaMo (Sep 27, 2011)

hay is $16 now a days here in AZ.... siiiggghhhh


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## manybirds (Sep 27, 2011)

we get our regular 70-80 ib bales for a little over a dollar a bale and alfalfa/clover mix for 3 dollars a bale


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## arabianequine (Sep 27, 2011)

I just got as much hay as my 20ft trailer and truck could hold, almost 3 ton. At $2 per bale.


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## Hobby Farm (Sep 28, 2011)

$145/ton for 2nd or 3rd cutting alfalfa here in my part of Ohio.  It is high quality hay, so I think I'm getting a pretty good price.  Of course there are hay fields all around me, so it's plentiful.


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## manybirds (Sep 28, 2011)

u guys need to move farther north, (wi, mi, oh, io, il) the years r less moody here


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## spanish goatee guy (Oct 12, 2011)

i raise alot of hay for myself and ithink a good price for my time  would be fair at 3.50 per sqaure bale


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## debi (Oct 13, 2011)

WOW!  I am in NY (hudson valley area) and pay $4.00 bale.  It is pricy.  I wonder if I am feeding them too much.  As long as there is hay there, they will eat it!  I never buy the alfalfa hay....WHEW!  That stuff is real pricy.  Maybe I would consider as a Christmas present.


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## Livinwright Farm (Oct 14, 2011)

Just found out...
My local hay supplier has alfalfa hay for $5/bale - standard "square" bales.


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## getchasome (Oct 15, 2011)

In Las Vegas, NV I was paying $17 a bale for alfalfa in May of this year.  Now in Eastern KY I'm paying $4 a bale, a regular square bale.

For Timothy/Orchard mixed bales, 2nd cut we are currently paying $2 a square bale and $15 for a round. 

We're working on finishing up fencing the perimeter off so they can graze and hay is for supplementation and winter feeding.


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## Moparkid (Oct 19, 2011)

I live in Southern Maine and bought out of the field in the spring for $3 a bail, but paid $6 a bail over the winter.


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## shawn MN (Oct 20, 2011)

I pay $1 a bales for alfalfa hay from my friend who is a dairy farmer. Since we dont milk cows anymore or have a haybaler anymore I buy from him. We have done the barter system from time to time so he sells me the bales for cheap! There is a lot of tradeing and swapping going on around here these days. Kinda nice that $$$ isn't passed back and forth much!


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## Queen Mum (Oct 20, 2011)

Texas - Kendal County   $12 square bale  for crappy hay.  Almost impossible to find right now.  Alfalfa  IF you can find it almost $20 a bale per square.


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