Brought some hay today, and it cost me!!

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Gucci_b

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with all this bad weather No farmer can seem to get into their field to cut their hay so it is putting the price of hay up allready. I had to buy a few bales today at the cost of £4.75 a regular sized bale...b***** hell... was £2.75 a month ago. Who else is finding the hay at a cost!!!!!

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Mine's still £2 a bale and I buy it in quantities of 50 at a time. Not sure what will happen if the weather doesn't improve in August though.

We're considering making some more haylage incase I can't get any bales. We dry it an extra day when it's for the horses so it's pretty much hay. Lovely, lovely stuff.
 


We're still able to get it at 2.75 a bale, so unless you're in an area which has been affected by the flooding then you've been had.
 
Seems like some people are making the most of the predicted panic and artificially inflating their prices regardless of whether or not they have been affected by the weather...looks like you may have been dealing with one of these buggers.
 
I don't think it is a case of being had!!! but no ones seems to no when they can cut their fields, so making the most of it
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as with new hay your not ment to feed for 6 months.... and last year they started cutting for hay in June (in Surrey).
 
You do not have to wait 6 months to feed hay; sorry but that is a total myth; and one which keeps doing the rounds
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Hay can be fed the minute it is baled.....because once it is ready to be baled, it is no longer grass - it's hay. If you can leave the hay to have a let-down period of a couple of weeks then that is best, however you don't have to. If you feed new hay you do have to remember that nutritionally it is far higher than it would be during the winter therefore you have to adjust your hard feed pattern.
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I'm glad you said that about the new hay Tia, I was sure that you'd mentioned that fact before but I didn't want to jump in and get it wrong.

We are feeding our new hay now and have had no problems with it at all.
 
We pay £3.60 a bale and at the moment the farmer is promising not to put the price up because the livery yard are customers. We are however feeding fresh green hay, and I'm mixing it with some old I have left and others are soaking it as it's quite rich - but touch wood no problems with it. I have also been trying putting a trug of readigrass mixed with hi-fi in G's stable to eek my hay out.
 
Our farmer is going to still plan to cut hay, he reckons the 3rd week of August will be nice so we're hanging on for that. As we're good customers and he does a lot of work for us the price will be about the same!
 
We put in an order with my farmer yesterday and he will be keeping the prices the same for us, but he sent his DIL round a couple of the feed merchants to do a spot of 'nosing' and one place is already up to £5 and another £6 for a bale! This could get costly if there's a shortage!!!
 
It is not just the flooding it is the poor weather as I believe they can't cut it unless it has not rained for a while?

I am in Surrey and move has gone up from £3.50 a bale 2 weeks ago to £4 the week before last £4.50 last week so probably £5 this week!!!!
 
How does it work with Hayledge Tia? we couldnt find any of last years so have just bought two bales made in June and it seems ok, how long should you leave it?
 
Sorry I'm no help on haylage I'm afraid - we have a hay farm and don't make haylage. Patches does though, so she should be able to help you.
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Not only do you need 3 days in which to dry the hay, you also have to get it in before the rain comes.

Our problem over here is because the temperatures are a lot lower than normal, we are having to contend with heavy dews in the mornings - this is also delaying hay making it's way into the barn.
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You are definitely not alone though! This is happening all over the world from what I hear. Not all the same issues, but issues nevertheless.
 
if you aren't faring too well over in Canada either, Tia, the merchants over here who are assuring us that come winter they can source from canada, may well be not quite telling the truth??
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No they aren't RHT - I was surprised to read that on a post in here a few days ago. There is going to be a struggle for people this year; no second cut, rubbish first yields......it isn't looking good here either. So far, most of our fields have only produced half of what they normally produce in one cutting, so we are stock-piling for our own horses I'm afraid.
 
Thought you may like to read this, as i knew it was 6 months before you can feed hay, as i studied alot of this at college.



Hay, haylage, silage ?


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What are the differences between the three and what price do you pay for each ? I ask as I am considering changing from hay to something more quality assured as hay can vary so much between bales never mind deliveries !

Also I have seen on the Dengie site a hay replacer ? What is this and does anyone use it.

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Hay is grass that is cut and left to dry for at least three days to a high dry matter content (i.e. it isn't very wet!). It is then baled (using twine only) and stored - technically you should leave it for 6 months before feeding it to horses.

Silage is again grass but it is cut and either baled or put in a silage clamp (like a big bunker) immediately, or it is left to wilt a little (around 12 hours). Wilting is done so that there is less silage effluent (liquid stuff that is very polluting and corrosive) to come out of the stored silage. Once it is baled or clamped it has to be sealed from oxygen by wrapping in plastic - if continuous oxygen is present it degrades - gets hot - and goes very nasty and smelly due to the effect of nasty bacteria. If it is sealed then nice anaerobic bacteria use sugar from the grass and pickle it by producing lots of acid. Silage can be fed to horses but you have to know what you are doing and you have to be able to recognise the smell and appearance of silage that has gone off / or contains botulism.

Haylage is halfway between - i.e. it is cut and dried a bit before baling with plastic wrapping to pickle. As the dry matter content is higher before wrapping there is less likely to be any 'bad' bugs in it and it is safer.
Both silage and haylage need to be used up within a few days of opening the plastic wrapping - as they do go off. Hay just gets dustier!
Hay replacers tend to be either chaff / chaff and alfalfa either loose or in compressed blocks. I once used a nugget type thing but because it had sharp edges by horse blistered her tongue and had to be off work for a while - not very amused!
I feed hay - because it is grown on the farm where I keep my horses and is generally ok. I don't have to soak it which is lucky but I do use Horsehage for anything that coughs.


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How long should you leave haylage for after it has been cut?



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At least a couple of months to let the fermentation take place


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What is Horsehage - is that a form of haylage commercialised ?



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Horsehage is just a brand name that everyone says when they mean haylage - just like people call vacuum cleaners Hoovers when they might actually be another brand.
 
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