Hay and haylage shortage

[nel509]

Is anyone else struggling with hay supply drying up, and new merchants popping up charging and arm and leg...£60 for 4ft bales. £70 for 6 string rectangles. Just wondering if any areas of UK have plenty and it's worth arranging some transport instead of paying merchants mark up

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Both my local feed merchants have made noises about hay being in short supply, and 1 has delivered out some not v nice stuff (to friend, they had to take away again).
My farmer supplier has a goodly amount and so does another local supplier - all small bale tho. My farmer friend was groaning the other day as the Heston straw bales have whooped up and he needed a huge delivery - as he couldn't take it end last year as the 3rd barn was still rammed with hay......

 

[Pearlsasinger]

It's too late for this year, obviously but what you need to do, imo, is cultivate a relationship with a reliable hay/haylage supplier who will prioritise your needs over those of new customers.
We don't have room to store a lot of big bales but we do have a local farmer who delivers one or two big bales weekly/bi-weekly to us and has done so for several years, he makes sure that we never run out and states his price at the beginning of the autumn each year. He hasn't mentioned any shortage.

 

[hobo]

Blimey nel where are you. I did not think forage was short I know straw is but not forage.

 

[nel509]

Northwest. Our yard makes own Haylage but we didn't get enough. Yo is now buying in. However all local farmers have run out and those that have any left are keeping for themselves or increasing price s tenfold

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Northwest. Our yard makes own Haylage but we didn't get enough. Yo is now buying in. However all local farmers have run out and those that have any left are keeping for themselves or increasing price s tenfold

YO should have recognised that there wasn't enough forage to last the winter from their own land and bought in last summer/autumn, assuming that there is enough storage space. This is bad planning.

 

[Shay]

Happens every year. It isn't anything new I'm afraid. As the hay year comes to its end stocks always run low and suppliers charge accordingly - especially those who are not regular customers for them. The best thing to do is cultivate a reputable supplier and stick with them. It isn't a gaurentee supplies will last - grass growth has been late this year and people feeding more hay as horses have been kept in because of weather etc. But it gives you a reasonable chance of at least not getting too over priced hay.

 

[milliepops]

yup my YO has run out (west mids) and the local supplier I used to get hay from can't take any new orders as she's promised it all to existing customers so not sure quite what the other girls on the yard are going to do

Fortunately for me OH made my hay and kept back enough to keep my lot going before this year's cut but the surplus was sold long ago.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I've not seen any reports of a hay shortage over here in France. Maybe you could drive over to Normandy and pick some up?

Here, the hay shortage seems to happen not at the end of winter, but during the summer when there's been a drought and farmers in the south want it to replace the grass that is not growing quickly enough. It happened last year (2017), from August onwards (supposedly the worst drought in 60 years), and before that in 2011.

 

[Pinkvboots]

seems ok round here my supplier has not said his short and not heard anyone else mention hay shortage.

 

[Auslander]

My supplier is buying hay in now - and has put the price up a bit (£5 per 8ft bale) which is fine by me. I've heard several reports of people charging silly money, and have seen lots of people asking for supplier contacts, as their supplier has put prices up.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

the cattle farmers round my way have no decent hay to sell (and no straw). I managed to buy 60 small bales last summer (that was shipped in from down South) and then top up from another guy and thankfully its all been fine and not too pricey (£4.50)-dont use much anyway. Just west of us in Ayrshire large bales hay are going for about £50. My regular hay guy is fab and looks after his regular clients. It will be tough next winter if we have another crap harvest this year after the winter we've just had.

 

[JFTDWS]

I've felt it this year as in previous years I've had an ongoing relationship with a supplier who was very reliable and was able to make sure demand was met. Having moved areas, I've found some of the local suppliers a bit more hit and miss, and I've just bought a load - hopefully the last of the year - from my old area, and for a decent price. It's actually cheaper to buy it down there and drive it back too. It's certainly been a crap year for it.

 

[Kat]

Yep our YO only did haylage this year as did another farm we buy from. Hay had to be bought in more expensively and he struggled to source enough. The supplier we were using has run out of large bales now so I have had to change to haylage.

 

[Hack4fun]

There is quite a bit of haylage on ebay at the moment - prices and quality variable.

 

[Deltaflyer]

We've been struggling. The yard I'm at has a regular supplier but he started sending the most horrible hay which was so awful the horses wouldn't eat it. Some of the liveries started sourcing their own hay and that was very hit and miss. Even the haylage that a couple of the liveries bought in is not nice at all. FB is deluged with people desperate for hay that's actually edible. I'm actually thinking of buying a ton of small bales next season and storing them in my garden as a back up as we only have limited storage at the yard.

 

[xTrooperx]

I believe ppl didn’t under estimated the needs of Hay over winter, it’s this awful wet spring that has caught everyone out, water log fields and horses being kept in, where they are normally outside by now, means a huge increase of Hay at a time it’s not normally expected.
I brought 50 bales for mine, which normally lasts with few left for travelling, stables few hours here and there, yet I completely ran out first time ever.