Curious, what does a bale of good hay cost you?

[savingdogs]

I see so many hay prices on here, it amazes me that something can vary so much by area as to price.

I live in Washington state where you see hay growing everywhere. But good hay comes from the east side of the state and I'm on the west side. But hay varies anywhere from five a bale to fifteen a bale for good hay....I'm sure I could get some crappy stuff cheaper, but I was just wondering what people pay.

 

[Dreaming Of Goats]

I pay $5 a bale, and it has a lot of thorns in it......not good for my chickens

 

[ksalvagno]

My hay cost me $4.50 per bale this year and I do get wonderful hay.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

i got a line on a guy who has really alfalfa-y hay for $4.... i'm fixin' to call him tomorrow for more

 

[dianneS]

Are we talking about small square bales? Like 40-50 pounds? I paid $2.80 a bale last year for horse quality, really nice timothy hay. This year the same guy wants $3.10 a bale. Usually around $3-$3.50 for horse quality hay. Alfalfa hay is around $5 a bale. Large 4x4 round bales about 600 pounds are $30 for horse quality, stored inside, no rain.

I'm in south central PA and we have hay farmers everywhere.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Last year I got a good bit of Max-Q (novel endophyte) fescue for $3 from a farm where I worked for a while. I am still feeding that, and hope it lasts me through this winter as well. Grass hay around here goes for around $4ish a bale. I found some really nice alfalfa hay (second cutting) for $5 a bale, and it's gorgeous...nice and green and leafy.

 

[ThornyRidge]

I have paid 2- 3 bucks for small crappy hay that I took back. I paid 4 for pure alfalfa (however very stemmy) and have found 2 new sources that are 4 bucks for mixed alfalfa grass with lots of alfalfa and very few weeds/thorns and big heavy bales- at least 45-50lbs! seems if people around here started out good they have more hay than they know what to do with.. he is already on 4th cut and has made over 16,000 square bales... asked me how many thousand I wanted.. uhhhmmm I only feed 16 miniature goats so we were actually talking hundreds.. at least in my part of NE OH it is a good hay year.

 

[nmred]

I'm in NW New Mexico and we have horrible soil where nothing grows! We have absolutely no pasture, so everything we feed our goats has to be trucked in. Hay comes from either Arizona or Colorado. Good alfalfa goes for $8.50 a bale right now (it goes up to close to $15.00 in the winter). We hope to stock up very soon to get us through until next summer. I am sooooo jealous of all you guys. You don't know how lucky you are.

 

[mossyStone]

I am in Washington state too west side of the mountains.... Hay for me is any where from 10.50 to 14.50 a bale... You can get local hay any where from 5.00 to 10.00 a bale but my prima donna's wont touch that..spolied rotten girls...... But of course i milk and i want sweet milk so i wont feed them crapolla and they know it


You folks who can get Alfalfa 3 or 4 cut for 4 to 8 bucks a bale are so lucky!!!!!



Mossy Stone Farm

 

[Ariel301]

I'm in NW New Mexico and we have horrible soil where nothing grows! We have absolutely no pasture, so everything we feed our goats has to be trucked in. Hay comes from either Arizona or Colorado. Good alfalfa goes for $8.50 a bale right now (it goes up to close to $15.00 in the winter). We hope to stock up very soon to get us through until next summer. I am sooooo jealous of all you guys. You don't know how lucky you are.

Are your bales the bigger ones like ours are over here in Arizona? (3-string)

My bales are around 100-120 pounds. Grass hay can go for anywhere from $5-13, Alfalfa is $6-15 depending on the time of year and the quality, and the quantity purchased. And it can be an all-day drive to get it, because very few people will deliver, and when they do, the delivery fee is something like a dollar a bale. In mid-winter here, hay will be either non-existent or not even edible, I learned that the hard way last winter, bought two tons in fall and had to throw it away because it was nasty moldy and the dealer would not admit it was that way when he delivered it (after dark and when I wasn't home...that seemed to be his delivery style, and now I think I know why lol)

The last stuff I got is 1500 pound bales of alfalfa that a neigboring ranch picks up, and when they go, they can get me a bale or two as well and drop it at my house on their way home. Those run around $100 and are good stuff, just a pain to break apart into goat-sized servings.