Current hay prices & location if left in the lurch?

tankgirl1

tankgirl1

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As above, what are the prices like at the moment for those of us who have been left in the lurch and having to find new suppliers at the most expensive time of the year, and where abouts are you in the UK as it differs a lot
 
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£4.50 For small bales which are lovely quality or £25 For large bales of mixed quality. The large bale supplier ran out last year so YM sensibly ensures we still get small bales in too, though the small bale supplier is a bit sporadic and difficult to get hold of sometimes! This is in Surrey.
 
Small bales haven’t gone up down here In the South and are still ok to get hold of. The local feed shop is selling them for £6 which it was last year, but Hestons have doubled to £70!
 
We make our own and our liveries get it delivered to their bays as and when needed for £4 per bale. Really nice clean June hay. Ours has been £4 forever, the reason being, we don’t always manage to make it as good as we would like due to the weather, so even though last years hay, I could have sold round here for half as much again a bale, I didn’t change the price for my clients because even when it’s not top quality, it’ll still be the same price! In the NW btw 😉
 
I get a "block". 10 individual small bales wrapped in one outer for £35 (Surrey). No idea why my usual suppler has started to do this - I usually get big bales. But a lot easier to move around! I buy 3 or 4 at a time; but others on yard use him too so I think we get 20 or so either blocks or big bales of haylage at the same time.

But a local feed suppleir who also bales his own hay is up to £9 a small bale - and folk do still buy it.
 
I have more very dry (almost hay) 150 kg bales of Timothy (low calorie) manage than I can shake a stick at if anyone needs some.

E Cheshire, NW Derbyshire, SW Yorksire, N Staffs all within an hour.
 
£4.50 per small bale, a 50p rise from last year from the same supplier. Only just have had to buy some as made our own last summer.
South Hams, Devon.
 
tankgirl1 said:
As above, what are the prices like at the moment for those of us who have been left in the lurch and having to find new suppliers at the most expensive time of the year, and where abouts are you in the UK as it differs a lot
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People can't supply what they haven't got. We make our own for our own horses and sheep and to sell on. We have run out of stocks so have been sourcing it from other suppliers to try and make it easier for our customers - we've had to pay out quite a lot of money for it as it is a lot more expensive that what we have been selling our own hay stock for. We haven't added anything on or charged delivery so selling it at cost but horse owners are complaining about how much the price has gone up and they're not going to pay it and go somewhere else and can't seem to understand the concept of we have run out of hay. Then a couple of days later they put an order in because nobody else has got any hay to spare or are charging even more money than what we are. Next year I think we should just save what we need and then put the rest on a lorry. Would seriously be less stressful than dealing with people.

But to answer your question; for our own hay it is:-

£4.50 small bale
£25 round bales
£30 mini heston
 
Indy said:
People can't supply what they haven't got. We make our own for our own horses and sheep and to sell on. We have run out of stocks so have been sourcing it from other suppliers to try and make it easier for our customers - we've had to pay out quite a lot of money for it as it is a lot more expensive that what we have been selling our own hay stock for. We haven't added anything on or charged delivery so selling it at cost but horse owners are complaining about how much the price has gone up and they're not going to pay it and go somewhere else and can't seem to understand the concept of we have run out of hay. Then a couple of days later they put an order in because nobody else has got any hay to spare or are charging even more money than what we are. Next year I think we should just save what we need and then put the rest on a lorry. Would seriously be less stressful than dealing with people.

But to answer your question; for our own hay it is:-

£4.50 small bale
£25 round bales
£30 mini heston
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I can’t see where anyone has said farmers are being unreasonable? There were complaints when our local feed shop doubled the price because they had to buy it in. I happen to know they are making a small profit on it. Somebody I know just can’t afford that increase so has had to shop around. It’s nothing to do with anyone being unreasonable but purely economics. My own supplier stopped taking on new customers some time ago so that they would have enough for regulars, for which I’m very grateful for.
 
We pay £3 for small bales from the neighbouring farm. Many owners locally were unable to source haylage this winter, so demand for hay has been high. Hoping for good weather soon because we only have 4/5 weeks supply left.
 
£5 per wee bale - including delivery and stacking. Our farmer has held his prices from last year, the hay is top quality and they deliver/stack it for me = worth their weight in gold!

Round bales in this area vary from £30-40 but I've not found any of great quality from the suppliers I've tried.

Winter 2017/summer 2018 when there was a massive hay shortage feed merchants were selling wee bales for £7+ and round bales for £55

East Central Scotland
 
meleeka said:
I can’t see where anyone has said farmers are being unreasonable? There were complaints when our local feed shop doubled the price because they had to buy it in. I happen to know they are making a small profit on it. Somebody I know just can’t afford that increase so has had to shop around. It’s nothing to do with anyone being unreasonable but purely economics. My own supplier stopped taking on new customers some time ago so that they would have enough for regulars, for which I’m very grateful for.[/QUOTE

If you read the OP she states 'left in the lurch' which sugegst she has been 'let down'. You have hardly let someone down or left them in the lurch if you have run out of stock. The way out of this is to buy a year's supply in advance. Yes it is expensive - you have to build a barn and pay upfront for the supply but you should then never be 'left in the lurch'. Before we had a barn we did purchase and pay for our supply from the local farmer and he kept it for us. If you buy week to week you are always at risk that hay will run out - it cannot be manufactured it grows!!
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Just under £4 a bale if I order at least £55 worth. They are heavy densely packed bales as well, and for that they deliver and stack it for me. Local feed shop is charging £6.50 for the same stuff!
 
North warwickshire :- 4 string large oblong bales &40 delivered, they've risen by £5 since beginning of the winter but it is good quality if a little short. Our supplier normally gets 2-3 cuts for hay each summer but only got one last summer so far less hay available. He only supplies to his regulars now.
 
£40-50 per round bale hay or haylaged delivered here. £6-7 for small bale hay and small bale haylage £7-8. A month ago a large sqaure hay was £43 delivered from another county
 
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