Hay Shortage This Winter

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DougalJ

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There seems to be a simmering panic about the possibility of no hay this winter :0( I was speaking to a friend who had come back from Pony Club Camp yesterday and she knows of two ponies that are being put up for loan as the owners do not think they will be able to feed hay to them this winter due to the shortage or the incredibley high rise in costs. We have been very lucky at our yard to have a large round bale delivered for £20 and this has now gone up to £30 which I think is quite reasonable. Ive heard rumours of £7.50 to £8.00 for a small bale and £75 for the large ones!! How are we going to afford to feed our horses at these costs but understand this summer has been extremely dry with np grass to cut. Has anyone come across rising costs or been told that hay will run out by January. Our farmer has assured us that he will be able to supply us but to use sparingly this year.
 
Hi - I've had to resort to buying hay off the field and stacking it at home under tarps - everyone seems to be panicking and articles in h&h and the farmers weekly about shortages havent helped. I heard of someone going to the slaughter house recently with a cow and there were 5 horses that people couldnt afford to feed through the winter - awful. Some farmers were charging £5/bale off the field and running out. All my local farmers have barely got enough for their own animals so are not willing to sell any. I dont think its looking good :( one of my horses is at livery and the yard owner is worried that she will have to increase her prices to take into account the hike in hay prices......I can see a lot more horses being available/abandoned before winter is out.
 
I too have heard this- I know our local feed place are hiking their prices up this year considerably due to shortage and the fact that they ran out this year anyway which apparently shows they didnt charge enough!

I am quite concerned myself but my o/h is a farmer and although they dont bale hay themselves he knows so many farming people that i should be ok (fingers crossed)

Although only a few weeks ago i was unable to find any at all and with a horse on box rest that was no fun!
 
The summer is far from over as yet and rain and a mild Autumn could turn things around, so there is really no need to Panic buy Just yet.

Feeding straw as bulk is an option and you can research the best way to introduce it on the internet. Good quality clean straw can be used to bulk out the feed and is probably preferable to bad quality hay. There is plenty of straw around at the moment as everyone is bailing it hoping to cash in on the panic!!!

As long as you counterbalance the phosphorus content in straw and make sure that the short ration is providing all the nutrients the horse needs straw as a bulk fodder is viable. The real problem is that the short ration price is set to rise considerably with the shortage of cereals predicted this year!
 
Very interesting about feeding straw - Im not too familiar with this but if this hay shortage does become an issue it would be something to look into. You are absolutely right about the autumn weather - our farmer is hoping to get a second cut which should then reduce the panic that it being promoted by H&H and Farmers Weekly!
 
Here in bedford, we are already feeding hay and ao concentrate to most of our animals and even some nice rain isnt going to make it better, other countries either have drought or floods which wil make cereals dearer so all round expensive winter and we are only supplying regular customers and limiting them to what they have already ordered.
 
wont run out cos yard has enough for us but i dread to think as we have been told the price is rising but not told by how much :confused:
im going to be feeding suger-beet (well prob spedi-beet) in large
quantitys (sp?) to bulk mine out a bit
 
this is not a shortage ,trust me. I have been in the hay business for long enough. In 1974 hay hit £3 a bale . That is equivalent to £20 now. We all survived. We learned to use Oat straw or spring barley straw to mix with hay.Stop panicking. More straw will have been baled this year than in the last five put together!.A lot of farmers will have grabbed a cash crop of hay rather than making silage ,on the principle that it will be worth more than feeding treated straw and concentrates.Come November, there will be increased entries in the hay and straw auctions , the price will level out. But please dont expect the price of horse hay in bulk delivered to be below £4.00 per bale again.
 
areas vary, heard near malvern 60 quid plus has been paid, but then that is only the price of a set of shoes, us personally already feeding 3 round bales hay to farm stock this will lesson when have straw but what we have hasnt been harvested yet.
 
£17 per round bale. Thought that was pretty good! Got it all stacked nicely now...and the farmer friend we got it from says people are panicking for no reason...he's got stacks, and the usual people have bought it....no-one has gone crazy buying his....
 
it seems to be different in different areas, a girl I work with came in yesterday and asked if I knew where she could buy hay as her 3 usual suppliers had run out?! Already! We have too much grass in our fields at the mo and have 6 ponies on about 0.25 of an acre cause there is too much grass! The grass in the other fields is up to my knees.

Our normal supplier was 3 bales an acre less than last year but another guy was up on last year and my uncle got over 1000 bales where he normally gets 800ish!

To the people who are feeding hay now...do you actually need to? (not a cheeky question, genuinely want to know) or is there just less grass than you are used to seeing and you might be better letting the horse graze and save hay for when you might really really need it?!
 
My usual supplier has sold me 60 bales as a favour, instead of the 200 I normally buy. This is all he has spare and I am feeding these now as our grass is non existant in Essex. I have managed to find another supplier and bought another 150 which they are storing for me at £4 a bale. Most suppliers near me are charging £6 a bale.

My usual supplier said that his hay yield is the worst for twenty years, less than half and he only has enough left for his sheep and the few liveries so won't be selling any more. I have bought from him for five years and believe what he says.

Essex is going to be expensive this year. If I get low on hay, I will add oat straw to it to bulk out the ad lib rations they get. Farra can eat 3/4 of a bale a day when kept in, and Stinky 1/2 a bale so I do get through a fair amount.
 
I started last year paying £15 a bale and was getting through four a week from October! By Christmas it was £25 a bale and by February it was £38.50! This year same farmer has told me he will be starting at £50 a bale!

He said he has hay for his cows so has to be worth while to sell it incase he has to buy extra in for his cows!

Needless to say i have stocked up on Haylage for the field horses at £35 a bale!!
 
These prices are not for the small bales surely?? Is this for the longer bales? We have absolutely no grass at all where we are and the horses are starving when they come in after being turned out for the night so we have had to feed hay. We have been using it sparingly and bought some haylege but this is a first to be doing this in August which is why Im concerned for supply in the coming winter.
 
Well I am witholding judgement for now and will wait to see how things go. I only have storage for 100 bales and that is what I have in stock. The other 100 bales that I need to see me through until next year I can only worry about as and when I need it. My usual supplier has upped the price of his hay by 1.50 per bale overnight - even for last years stuff. But there are others out there and I will just fill my trailer with hay where I can get it as and when the space appears in my barn.
My field is fine grass wise and the only reason he needs hay all winter is because he is laminitic and needs to be in off the grass at night to ensure he does not get it again...otherwise I have enough grass to feed him all year on nothing else but sadly cannot do this!
People are panic buying and this does not help...but it is chicken and egg as you need the forage but it is not helped as ever by all the press activity and hype...just makes people think they can make a few more bob out of us desparate horse owners that have more money than sense....NOT!!!!!!!!!!
 
I'm still fuming over a delivery of hay I got yesterday. Spoke to the farmer (about 4 miles away) weeks ago (friend has already bought some and had delivered from him). Went over - told me he had no more of the good quality stuff but could let me have 100 bales of the less quality stuff (small conventional bales). I agreed price with him and arranged delivery. It came yesterday and I spent the afternoon stacking it. Opened a bale up - not great quality - but will be okay for the older "pet" horses (bought in already and buying in very good quality for mares/foals/youngstock). Anyway, having paid him the cash, I got a phone call last night from his wife to say I had shortchanged them. I said I hadn't - it was the price we had stated but said I did ask the driver how much I owed him for delivery (as this was never mentioned and to be honest, didn't think to ask as was sure it would only be about £20). Anyway, during the time the hay left the farmer to me stacking it, the farmer decided he had had "hundreds of people willing to pay £6 a bale for it" so was charging me an extra £1 per bale. I argued that this was not the agreement and was told if I didn't want them, he would come and collect it all and could sell it immediately for more money. So what could I do - after having spent hours stacking it on my own, I certainly wasn't going to let them come collect it - especially with all the rumours of no hay about, so I had to agree, albeit with me saying in no uncertain terms that I wasn't happy! I said I'd put a cheque in the post for the balance if they gave me his address, but was told it had to be cash and will come over in a couple of days for it. Well I will pay him, although not happy about it, but I will be demanding a receipt and certainly never doing any business with him again. We had already agreed between us that I would take 2,000 good quality bales from him next year and he was delighted with this. I rang my friend up immediately who had bought hay from him and she stated that the price she paid was the same price we had negotiated originally on and she had not been charged any delivery whereas he wants £50 delivery too! Fuming is not the word at the moment!

Maybe I was an idiot saying to the driver just how much the hay is going for at the moment, but even he agreed that some farmers were ripping customers off, as he said - it's the same price making the hay and baling as its been for a long time. We got a contractor in to cut, turn and bale for us at home here and a bale worked out at 70p each.

So anyone know of any hay going around the Ely/Newmarket area which isn't at a ripped off price. I've got a few hundred here, and will be getting haylage in later on as well (hope my usual supplier is okay for it) , but still need about 1,200-1,500 more conventional sized bales (or the square bales equivalent). And as for horses being put down etc, I've had two calls this week asking me to take two of my horses back that have been out on loan (been out for nearly 2 years) because owners can't afford to keep them on over winter.
 
Mike007 said:
this is not a shortage ,trust me. I have been in the hay business for long enough. In 1974 hay hit £3 a bale . That is equivalent to £20 now. We all survived. We learned to use Oat straw or spring barley straw to mix with hay.Stop panicking. More straw will have been baled this year than in the last five put together!.A lot of farmers will have grabbed a cash crop of hay rather than making silage ,on the principle that it will be worth more than feeding treated straw and concentrates.Come November, there will be increased entries in the hay and straw auctions , the price will level out. But please dont expect the price of horse hay in bulk delivered to be below £4.00 per bale again.
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i think that you'll find that the farmers are struggling to get enough silage to feed their stock through the winter and some are having to feed this winter's food already, without thinking about selling off valuable grass however worthwhile it may appear!
 
panic buying has done this !! my farmer admitted to me he had cut more than last year already with a second cut (fingers crossed) to come but he still is putting the price up ! farmers are doing it not because they need to because they no they can do :confused:
 
we are definately not bluffing, first time we bought £2k of fertilizer, got 700 round bales and already feednetsig between 3 and 5 bales to farmstock, will use straw when we have some, but horse owners should stop to relise the costs of making and storing hay, start with an acre of land £6k plus barn 20k tractors balers mowers turners fert,trailers,loaders or try and grow your own.
 
If all horse owners 'grew' their own, where would farmers be? This country is going to the dogs as it is, without people fleecing honest customers?
I hope my supplier has plenty, as we have no grass now, I am feeding more hay than I do in the winter at the mo. If there is a shortage, which there isn't at the moment as far as I know round here, I will feed something else too.
 
We're on sand and have no grass at all. Feeding the same hay as we would do in winter. I've got 100 bales in at £5 a bale from our regular supplier - he's got approx 60% less baled than last year, and is not overly optimistic about the second cut. Prices in the area range now from £6 to £8 per bale.

Whether or not it is panic buying doesn't really matter. The net effect is the same.
 
shortage around here,as you said you are already feeding more, just think some horse owners need to think before they complain about hay prices, livery yard owners etc we dont force them to have horses spme with more than they can do justice to, and they can always take there trade elsewhere we have to earn a living but we are not going to fleece our regulars

.
 
rupertsmum said:
i think that you'll find that the farmers are struggling to get enough silage to feed their stock through the winter and some are having to feed this winter's food already, without thinking about selling off valuable grass however worthwhile it may appear!
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But silage can be bulked out with treated straw and concentrates. Its just a question of the finnancial calculation. But there is sufficient fodder to feed the stock and horses in this country,just dont expect the cheap prices of previous years.
 
A lot of problems start by having too many horses per acrerage of land and not maintaining it well or and managing it.

I have 6 acres; I only use half an acre over spring and summer for my two natives. The rest is cut for hay and stored in a farmers barn up the road. End of October or when it becomes too wet, the ponies go out onto the big field. They live out most of the time, so I only use about 1 bale of hay a week.

Last year they ate almost all of the 5 acres as it was so cold!!

I will probably rent out half of the field this winter to someone who is struggling, depending on whether or not we have some rain; btw we have only had about 5 hours of rain in two months!

My local hay supplier has only cut half of what he normally gets and its £4 a bale, gone up by 50p, but hoping to get a second cut in September.
 
im in kent and here its been very dry , alot of farmers ive spoken to have only manged to get half a field off .
so very short of hay here , even the stuff people can get its going to cost them from £5.00 upwards come winter it going to be double . luckly for me
i see a farmer that has reciently cut his and was selling at £25 a reel . ive just brought 50 of him enought to last me throw winter and extra to sell if anyone needs it .
costing me in total well my other half total £1150
 
I'm sorry Mike007 but you're wrong.
I have rung over 15 suppliers including local farmers and been quoted a huge variety of prices.
These range from £45 to £75 for a large square bale haylage, £4 to £6 for normal small hay bales and the biggest problem is not price, it's that there just isn't any about. No-one could offer me large round bales.
We make around 30 acres every year, fertilising with calcified seaweed and nitrogen, and our yeild has been down 40%. Every single farmer I have talked with is in the samer position, and all are trying (like us) for a second cut. If we get one it will be mid September weather permitting, and even then it's not going to be enough looking at the density of the fields.
Many people are planning on grazing their fields longer into winter, and we will likely do that too on the remaining 80 acres.
I have just bought 100 small bales of haylage as emergency supplies but this year won't be able to include free haylage in my DIY livery package.
My advice if you have horses is buy what you can now, as farmers aren't daft, those prices will stay inflated shortage or not and if they don't get a second crop, they realy will go through the roof!
 
I think there is only one problem with the hay so called shortage....

Human reaction... look at when we had a petrol dilemma? If everyone had bought their normal amount there would have not been a problem....

But what do people do, press the panic button flood the hay merchents with panic buying and bump up the prices!!!

Don't you remember a couple of years ago when it was so wet and loads of awful hay was made, small bales were going for extortionate prices.

Funny come the new year, hay was back to normal price and there was loads of it to buy too! ;-)

Everyone, stop panicking and there will be plenty to go around!!!
 
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