Hay prices 2021

[Sussexbythesea]

What are hay prices likely to be this year?

I’ve been looking at £4.50 small bay delivered straight from the field. This seems like a good price as it was up to £7 a small bale end of last winter.

 

[Antw23uk]

I've just sold fifty surplus bales for £3.00 each. I had a dozen people messaging me and lined up to take them (thankfully a lovely RC lady took all fifty last night) I had bought them in off the field though otherwise they would have been £2.50 off the field.

£4.50 off the field sounds a lot but then you aren't technically getting it off the field (the term means you go get it yourself, literally off the field) if your getting it delivered! I'm in Bucks.

 

[asmp]

On a local site here it seems to be between £3 - £4 a bale.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

I've just sold fifty surplus bales for £3.00 each. I had a dozen people messaging me and lined up to take them (thankfully a lovely RC lady took all fifty last night) I had bought them in off the field though otherwise they would have been £2.50 off the field.

£4.50 off the field sounds a lot but then you aren't technically getting it off the field (the term means you go get it yourself, literally off the field) if your getting it delivered! I'm in Bucks.

I expect I could get it cheaper if collected myself but I’m not sure I could face it ?. Plus I’d be crippled for months afterwards and any savings spent on a Chiropracter ?. I’ve got a small box so could fit 20-30 in there probably.

It’s always expensive around here normal price is £4.50 a bale prior to last winters price hike but it seems like a good year and I was wondering if it might be cheaper.

 

[rabatsa]

I am waiting for the contractors bill for baling and wrapping my hay before I can even think of the price to charge. I do know that the contracor said that the cost of wrap had gone up to £66 a roll.

 

[Antw23uk]

I expect I could get it cheaper if collected myself but I’m not sure I could face it ?. Plus I’d be crippled for months afterwards and any savings spent on a Chiropracter ?. I’ve got a small box so could fit 20-30 in there probably.

It’s always expensive around here normal price is £4.50 a bale prior to last winters price hike but it seems like a good year and I was wondering if it might be cheaper.

I feel your pain. If i was selling any more of my stock and they wanted a hand loading it, i would charge twenty quid a bale ... hateful job, im broken from bringing mine in, lol! My lady did get fifty in an iFor 511 ... oh two went in the back of the truck, so 48 in the trailer which was impressive.

 

[southerncomfort]

£3.50 a bale here on the west Yorkshire/Derbyshire border. Beautiful quality!

 

[milliepops]

seeing lots at about £3 a bale off the field at the moment round here (W Gloucestershire)

 

[exracehorse]

Suffolk. 2 pounds off the field. 30 pounds big round bale. Delivered .. 4 pounds. And 35 pounds. My hay man said he had double from last year with a second cut planned. So not a shortage.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Farmer friend is charging £4 delivered from the field and stacked in accessible storage. He wont let anyone pick up from field due to idiots in the past.

Local feed merchants are £5.50 delivered for new. Old is much more at present.

 

[Polos Mum]

There was a fair bit that got caught in the rain / thunder yesterday so the quality will be variable if they have to wait for it to dry again then bale.

If you are prepared to go and load yourself £3 ish seems common for here (Yorkshire)

I'm yet to see people selling rounds for less than £35

 

[Indy]

Wer're selling our little bales at £3 off the field/£3.50 delivered and £25 round bales/£30 delivered.

 

[exracehorse]

Lots for sale.

 

[Keith_Beef]

If you are prepared to go and load yourself £3 ish seems common for here (Yorkshire)

Yorkshire is big. I would expect there to be a bit of difference in price between, say, Sheffield and Knaresborough.

 

[Polos Mum]

Yorkshire is big. I would expect there to be a bit of difference in price between, say, Sheffield and Knaresborough.

Sorry West Yorkshire

All over the weather has been exceptional for once !! So good crop and lots of it well made, that seems to be a national theme which will keep prices down.

We've just bought some from someone who normally only makes enough for themselves but they have made twice what they have made in each of the last 4 years from the same land treated in the same way. So they are selling the excess.

 

[daydreamer]

Does anyone actually work out how much it should cost to make a profit? I know it is hard to quantify but it seems just to be priced on what everyone else is charging and what it was last year. I swear when I was a kid ages ago it was about £2.50 a bale so doesn’t seem to have gone up much.

 

[RHM]

Does anyone actually work out how much it should cost to make a profit? I know it is hard to quantify but it seems just to be priced on what everyone else is charging and what it was last year. I swear when I was a kid ages ago it was about £2.50 a bale so doesn’t seem to have gone up much.

I think it all depends on if you have contractors or the equipment yourself. My ponies breeder used to sell me bales if I take my pony on holiday to his farm. He used to say it costs him 50p-£1 to make a small bale. This was some years ago now though and although he paid for labour he had his own equipment.

 

[Polos Mum]

If you counted the time, cost of leaving the land and blood sweat and tears getting it done and risk adjust for the years when the weather ruins it all - it would be cheaper to feed them gold flakes

 

[sport horse]

I am waiting for the contractors bill for baling and wrapping my hay before I can even think of the price to charge. I do know that the contracor said that the cost of wrap had gone up to £66 a roll.

Wrapping hay? Do you mean haylage?

 

[windand rain]

would love to be able to buy wrapped hay if it wasn't so expensive to wrap it

 

[Tiddlypom]

Does anyone actually work out how much it should cost to make a profit? I know it is hard to quantify but it seems just to be priced on what everyone else is charging and what it was last year. I swear when I was a kid ages ago it was about £2.50 a bale so doesn’t seem to have gone up much.

Not got our bill yet in for 2021, but in 2020 we paid £275 for 155 small bales to be mowed and made off our own field, which worked out at £1.78 per bale. That's very favourable mate's rates prices from our lovely next door neighbours.

We didnt sell any on, and I needed to buy in 50 more bales in late winter which cost £7 per bale as usual from the feed merchants.

I don't understand all the modern trend for the wrapping of hay. Aren't we trying to cut down on plastics use? Well made hay keeps as long as it is undercover, surely?

 

[teddypops]

Around £3 per bale off the field. Gloucestershire/ herefordshire.

 

[milliepops]

i have wrapped hay, it's mainly what OH makes. it's dry like nice hay, smells either hay like or slightly haylagey. Keeps like hay when you unwrap it, no rush to use up. and because it's wrapped it can be stored outside. we have very little undercover storage which is used up for small bales, OH brings me a big round one at a time from the stack in the field.

 

[teddypops]

Not got our bill yet in for 2021, but in 2020 we paid £275 for 155 small bales to be mowed and made off our own field, which worked out at £1.78 per bale. That's very favourable mate's rates prices from our lovely next door neighbours.

We didnt sell any on, and I needed to buy in 50 more bales in late winter which cost £7 per bale as usual from the feed merchants.

I don't understand all the modern trend for the wrapping of hay. Aren't we trying to cut down on plastics use? Well made hay keeps as long as it is undercover, surely?

I have wrapped hay because I have no storage and have to keep it outside. One year I attempted to store hay on pallets covered with tarpaulins but the squirrels chewed through it, made nests and stored nuts. A lot of the hay rotted. In an ideal world I would have a big hay barn.

 

[rabatsa]

Wrapping hay? Do you mean haylage?

No hay. I would have put it into small bales if we were not so old and crocked. The wrapping means that none gets weathered and wasted, plus I can sell to people with nowhere under cover to store the hay.

 

[holeymoley]

£5 a square up here but not a lot of locals have a square baler. Still a bit steep given we’ve had a good crop this year. Large rounds £20 or £30 depending who you are…! I know rounds going for £45+ so will be interesting to see what they drop to this year as no excuse not to.

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

£2.50-£3.50 small bales off the field around here & £21 for a round delivered

 

[Nicnac]

£3.50-4 off the field and I buy it at just over £5 a small bale for 150 bales delivered and stacked. Can't be arsed to get it off the field as there's nowhere near me that does it so would cost more in fuel and lost work time driving truck there and back a couple of times plus osteo costs to sort my back out!

I can get it for £5 a bale but can't get a 26t up my driveway unfortunately so that's a non-starter.

 

[minesadouble]

I think maybe what a lot of people overlook when it comes to pricing of Hay/haylage are the less visible costs.
Depreciation on tractors, balers and other hay making gear, wagons and trailers. At our place just one tractor and baler costs more than some houses.
Then the man hours (small bales being more labour intensive ) and fuel for the tractors and wagons that haul them back to the yard. Also the costs of storage should be taken into account.

We only put prices up when we have to buy in, so our own bales will cost the same as they have for the last few years.

 

[Rusky]

Last winter and 2020 I was paying £7.00 for small bales.... But good heavy bales and good hay. £35 for rounds.