Comments | altivo: Hay tomorrow

altivo

Hay tomorrow

Sep 21, 2009 19:34

Only a hundred bales, but hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. The cost is astronomical compared with what we have been paying for ten years, and if this is the new solid price level, the sheep will have to go. I can't afford to feed them at this rate ( Read more... )

writing, horses, sheep, work

Comments 4

aureth September 22 2009, 02:07:33 UTC

If you're paying around $4 per small square bale, that's the current going rate in the area. I know one of my customers has contracts into next year to provide hay at $4.75. I don't think the price will be significantly reduced in the next year or two. Cost of hay production was up very significantly this year, mainly due to fertilizer. Fertilizer prices for next year have come down, but I doubt hay will come down as much as demand is great in the area, and supply is restricted.

altivo September 22 2009, 10:31:56 UTC

$5.50 plus delivery charges of unknown percentage. We've paid $2.75 for years.

I expected to have to pay around $4. The guy who bought out our old supplier has quoted us $2.75 but doesn't have any available. He said he would have it at the end of the month, but at this point I can't count on him.

captpackrat September 22 2009, 03:09:43 UTC

I'm hoping that we will even be able to buy baled hay this year. It's incredibly hard to find the square bales around here; most of the farmers do the giant round bales.

The round bales would have to go into the loft, but the hoist hasn't worked in decades and there's only a single spindly ladder up there. The square bales can be stored in one of the rooms in the barn on the ground floor.

If we can't get bales, then it'll be bagged alfalfa for the entire winter, at about $15 a bag. Yikes.

altivo September 22 2009, 10:37:31 UTC

Horse owners seem to be the primary market for the small bales now. If there aren't a lot of horses around you, large squares or rounds are going to dominate your market. I could use those here but I don't have the equipment to handle them. We can toss small bales around by hand, where the larger formats require a Bobcat or Skidster or something to move them. I'm really resistant to spending money on more mechanical stuff that always breaks down.