Scarcity of Hay----Kind of Scary

[20kidsonhill]

We went and got feed yesterday. We get it every week or two and the prices were actually down for 16% goat pellets and show goat feed. What is up with that. It was down from 11.80 a bag for the 16% developer to 11.40.

and on a side note, inorder to save money and get a better feed with better ingredients we are getting our own feed made, and delivered in bulk. We are very excited about this.

 

[Alice Acres]

All our crops are taking a beating - hay included - in So. MN.
Our small ditch grass bales are usually 2.50 - 3.00...and now getting them for $3.50 is about as good as you get. Even more for anything nicer.
We got 0.4 inches last night - 1st measurable rain in 2 months. :/
We normally pasture our sheep and llamas, and start feeding hay after the killing frosts in the fall. This year we had pasture for about 6 weeks in the spring; and have been feeding hay ever since.
We had to send 25 sheep to auction (some were feeders and would have been sold anyway), as we just had no pasture..and with the rate we are using hay, would have been in crisis mode by winter.

My husband harvests for a commercial veggie grower - they are doing peas and sweet corn. Both are horrible this year - poor quality and very little to harvest.

I have a friend in mid-state Ohio who grows hay. Their field had over 500 bales 1st cutting...and 27 bales 2nd cutting...very sad

 

[heatherlynnky]

Ok question, I have read that goats can have the corn stalks and such. Not the actual corn itself but the husks. Is this true? We were considering tying up "bales" of our dried out stunted corn and letting the goats have some now and then. I figure its the same roughage as the leaves? So is it possible to use this ? Will they eat it? Any nutritional value to it at all? Last year we had a farmer offer to let me and the kids walk his corn field and pick up left over corn for my chickens and geese. If there is nutritional value and they will eat it the husks and such safely then maybe I will gather what I can of the stalks and bundle them up too. We are welcome to load up whatever leftover we can use for the animals.

 

[Chris]

We went and got feed yesterday. We get it every week or two and the prices were actually down for 16% goat pellets and show goat feed. What is up with that. It was down from 11.80 a bag for the 16% developer to 11.40

You shouldn't see a price increase [do to the drought] until next year. The grain that is harvested this year has to have time to dry to proper moister content. For some mills it will cheaper for them to import grain from Canada than it will be to get grain form the U.S..
I know the mill I use gets a lot of grain from Canada when there is a bad season and I never see a big price increase.


Chris