A Reason Why Hay Prices Have Shot Up

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ChesnutsRoasting

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I know a chap who currently has over 400 bales of hay stored at his property. According to him, hay prices have shot up, not due to weather conditions, but because tonnes & tonnes of hay are being transported to major power stations for fuel as some sort of Eco scheme initiated by the Government. He's expecting a fleet of artics tomorrow to collect.

Does anyone else know of this scheme?
 
ive never heard of that before! my local farmer has told me it is because of the dry weather weve been having and we wont have a very good september cut. im currently paying £4 for a small bale and £40 for a big round bale
 
Straw yes Hay no! to burn hay makes worse co2 than straw.
Hay has shot up price because of bad winter when most of us used up hay which would have seen us through and cold spring and no rain when we needed it, so low yeilds of hay, so most of us are going to hunker down and use our hay to the best advantage for our animals. hopefully we will have an Indian summer next couple of months which will make the grass grow and means we don't have to feed hay just yet:):)
 
blazingsaddles said:
I know a chap who currently has over 400 bales of hay stored at his property. According to him, hay prices have shot up, not due to weather conditions, but because tonnes & tonnes of hay are being transported to major power stations for fuel as some sort of Eco scheme initiated by the Government. QUOTE]

Crikey, what's he being paid for them? Must be worth it.

I know that surplus straw is burned here, usuallly to heat stock barns over winter, nobody would burn hay around here...far too many daft horse owners willing to pay over the odds in February;)

If I were him I'd be hanging on to them until Springtime when horse people are selling their souls for hay;)
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He has hay. According to him, this 'due to weather conditions' is a smokescreen. Also the amount he's storing will go up & extinguish within minutes. Not very eco:(
 
farmer arnt gettting a very good cut this year, they are getting half the amount of their fields they normally get. were paying £5 a bale of hay and £25 a round bale of haylage.
 
blazingsaddles said:
I know a chap who currently has over 400 bales of hay stored at his property. According to him, hay prices have shot up, not due to weather conditions, but because tonnes & tonnes of hay are being transported to major power stations for fuel as some sort of Eco scheme initiated by the Government. He's expecting a fleet of artics tomorrow to collect.

Does anyone else know of this scheme?
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A fleet of artics for just 400 bales???? I don't think so!!!
 
I've been out and about locally and seen quite a few fields second cut rowed up drying nicely in the sun today.

I am not convinced there will be as much shortage as predicted. I also think there will be a mild winter, particularly in the South East..... reason being we've just got around to sorting out for replacing our boiler (which broke in the spring. As we managed thus far without, I'm quite sure once it's in we won't *need* to use it!)
 
Drax power station has bought all the straw from several large estates round here. They paid £30/acre before the crops were cut. They have not purchased any hay that I know of.

Hay yields have only been a third of what we would usually get, thin crops and not the best growing weather.

There have been cases of farmers taking other farmers straw on the sly due to lack of cattle bedding/feed. We have even got some rape straw for the cattle to try as bedding this year.
 
Our yeild has been approx half what we normally get (250 big round bales) and we have bought in at £28 a bale, but at the same sale haylage went for £34 a bale, and a local farmer is boasting daft horse people are paying him £50 a bale..
This is due to insufficient rain earlier in the year, which meant the fertiliser never really got the chance to work.
I have ordered straw to go alongside my haylage some of which was quite wet compared to normal, and will feed that as well. Better they have full tummies even if straw.
I normally supply haylage as part of the livery deal but have had to warn everyone this year it can't be done..
Hay would burn just the same as straw and although that can't be the cause of the crisi it can't be helping either !
 
Definitely a wind-up. We are hay producing farmers & often sell a thousand or so smallbales to the trade. None of our buyers have approached us this year with any thing about an 'eco' scheme. I'm afraid its all down to the dry spring, we had & no grass growing during May. We are just finishing off our hay harvest now - fields that have been ready since July but we couldn't cut due to the wet weather in July/August.
 
The farmer that our yard uses for haylage and straw called me yesterday to say that he has reserved enough (hopefully) straw for me, and haylage for all of us - the rest ( an vast amount) has already been snaffled up elsewhere. Tons and tons of it.

The farmer in the next field was baling straw last week, and I thought I'd ask him just in case - nope, the whole lot, acres and acres had already been bought and he didn't have three round ones I could have. :rolleyes:

I'm so glad the YO has been using this farmer for years, as because she is an "old customer", he is saving stuff for her.

This is in Co Durham btw. Anyone who thinks there isn't a shortage should make enquiries now, before it's too late. sm x
 
Ive not heard this, and also cant understand why hay is in short supply - I've seen plenty in fields which looks pretty darn good. Saying that, because of the hay shortage "hype" I've just had to pay £3.50 per square bale (highest ever!) - that's £700 to see my one horse and two little ponies through the winter... AGH.
 
I think someone is winding you up. Hay prices have gone up because of the weather (fields looks nice and green yet the grass is fairly thin in lots of fieldss), not beacuse the government are going all eco friendly on us.
If they're going to use crops to make energy surely they'd use something other than hay which is fairly low in "energy" (can't think of a better word to use) :rolleyes:


On a positive note lots of farmers around here (South Glos) are in the process of making a second lot of hay. They've said it won't be as good in quality but at least there will be some more. :)
 
MagicMelon said:
Ive not heard this, and also cant understand why hay is in short supply - I've seen plenty in fields which looks pretty darn good. Saying that, because of the hay shortage "hype" I've just had to pay £3.50 per square bale (highest ever!) - that's £700 to see my one horse and two little ponies through the winter... AGH.
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We do have loads up here, cos its rain on and off through the summer and so for us there are good crops. In the South there was drought most of the summer and the hay grass never got going. My old livery yard was on for 10 years is using haylage now as cant get any hay, not even from regular sources, that never happened in the 10 years I was there. Its no myth even if we are lucky up here.
 
Frederick1 said:
I really think this farmer is winding you up !!
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;) Does he see little green men too?

I know it's only one example but the yard my horse is at cuts its own hay, and has had about 1/2 the normal yield this year. I saw the hay being cut, baled and stacked, and sure enough there is much less than normal. Unless they came in the dead of night to spirit some away this was down to the weather not a government conspiracy.
 
Sounds a bit odd to me lol

This years hay is deffinately lighter theres not as much in a bale as last year, Im getting through 4 bales a week for two and thats on semi decent grass. My farmer isnt selling bulk so hes said regulars should all have enough for the winter, hoping thats the case.
 
We have fed a mix of hay and staw for years to the good doers, keeps the guts working, while not piling on the weight. If we give forage in the field we put straw out and then 'top up' with grass nuts, the ones who could do with the calories :)
 
Our YO's first cut was well down on usual BUT he has just taken a fantastic 2nd cut off, it didn't look very long to me but when cut it was really thick and has baled really well, he got nearly 100 bales more than expected from a normal crop. Loads of places around here are taking their 2nd cuts off and if they are all the same then hopefully the expected shortage won't happen. I know we will be ok because I checked with our supplier of big bales who was selling us 5 a week last year, we wont need anywhere near as much this year but if we did it would be ok and our YO has enough small bales for those living in. I really hope everyone manages to get sorted out because I know how much I have worried over this up to a few weeks ago. Lets hope we get that indian summer we have been promised, and a short mild winter where the grass keeps growing, to take the pressure (and cost) off
 
Biofuels are more or less carbon neutral in as much as they take up CO2 and when burnt give off the CO2 they have taken up given a net 0 contribution to Carbon. Of course the energy used to plant , maintain and harvest and transport it to a combustion plant is not carbon neutral but still lower than drilling for oil and gas or mining coal.

More crops are being grown specifically for biofuels. I don't really know the economics of this but I imagine they won't be paying £6 a bale of hay like we would to feed our horses as it would be economically unviable - but they might be opportunistic and look for say hay that is no longer suitable for animal feed and therefore is a lot cheaper or free.

I think one of the reasons for high prices aside from the dry spring is that people are now panic buying and stockpiling more than they need now creating a shortage just like snow induces a bread shortage.
 
Wait till this building of houses with it it kicks in as seen on Grand Designs type programs, all it does is push up the price, can't blame farmers making hay while the suns shines, (Basil Brush boom boom )Groooooooooaaaaaaaaaaannn :(
 
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