Hay shortages this winter?

My hay supplier contacted me a couple of weeks ago to say that they had got plenty of hay in and would be keeping to the same prices as last year (£25 for a large round bald delivered). I've had 60 put aside which they were more than happy to do.

Like a previous poster said, the fields might look like dry, brown dust bowls but the horses are all looking well and poo production is certainly not down!
 
Been raining every other day here all month, pony is muzzled and even then still had to bring in off the grass lol!

June was much drier than usual, seems ok now though.
 
Quadro said:
Every man and his dog made hay round by me. Plenty of it already. Have no worries. farmers are excellent at their own PR.
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I would be worried. The problem, as I see it, is not the quantities of hay made nor the quality. It is partly that stocks at the beginning of the season were very low as many areas had to feed hay for an extra month due to the prolonged wet winter. In our area you could not buy extra hay in April. I was 200 old bales down that I would have used next Oct & Nov. I therefore had to replace those from this seasons crop but I will still want my normal quantity of new hay as well. I am sure there were many like me who had to get their stocks up from the new season hay.

Then there is the question of silage. In our area there was little grass regrowth after the first cut was taken or indeed after hay was taken. That means that there was little left in those fields for grazing animals nor has their been the growth so far for many further cuts of silage. So, the farm animals still have to be fed, now for some. Plus the silage yields could well be down which means that farmers with hay will have to use it in place of silage.

I have 5 hay suppliers. Many are farmers. I can see they will be restricted in what they sell as their own animals will have to come first. Many hay dealers buy in hay as well as make it themselves. They buy in from farmers.

Chocolategirl, I would be explaining the facts of life very clearly to your "virtually inhaling" clients. I have a lot of horses and am having to feed hay now (when normally I would be panicking they were going to get laminitis from too much grass). I count every strand of hay mine get ATM. Better they suffer now than next Feb.
 
Keith_Beef said:
Just browsing hay prices here, out of curiosity.


Example prices:
Lucerne (alfalfa) hay at between €140 and €165 per tonne.
Small bails of grass hay, around 15kg each, between €2 and €2.50
Big rounds of grass hay, around €100 per tonne.

I assume that this is without transport costs.
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Small bales of hay from last year, £4, this year £5.
Large round bales £35 + delivery
No second cut likely here in SW. Many farmers are already using this year's hay for cattle.
 
We have light showers forecasted for Friday and a thoroughly wet day on Sunday, I blooming hope so anyway. When they forecasted this 10 days ago we had precisely 20 minutes of decent rain :(
 
It's not rocket science - look at the animal in front of you...if it is a good doer, is round and glossy and poo output is normal, DO NOT chuck winter hay rations down it's throat!! Native ponies will forage around and be eating far more than we give them credit for.

Poor doers on the other hand, by all means feed them more to maintain condition, but tbh they shouldn't be needing as much as they do in winter as they are not using energy to keep warm.

I see horse owners locally putting hay out and horses wasting it and they sling it on the muck heap - well, in that case if there is a shortage they will only have themselves to blame.
 
maisie06 said:
It's not rocket science - look at the animal in front of you...if it is a good doer, is round and glossy and poo output is normal, DO NOT chuck winter hay rations down it's throat!! Native ponies will forage around and be eating far more than we give them credit for.

Poor doers on the other hand, by all means feed them more to maintain condition, but tbh they shouldn't be needing as much as they do in winter as they are not using energy to keep warm.

I see horse owners locally putting hay out and horses wasting it and they sling it on the muck heap - well, in that case if there is a shortage they will only have themselves to blame.
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Couldn’t have put it better myself!��
 
Our grazing fields are totally burnt off, they look totally bare and yellow, however even the TBs living out on it 24/7 are looking very round, so no extra forage feeding co us yet!
 
paddy555 said:
I would be worried. The problem, as I see it, is not the quantities of hay made nor the quality. It is partly that stocks at the beginning of the season were very low as many areas had to feed hay for an extra month due to the prolonged wet winter. In our area you could not buy extra hay in April. I was 200 old bales down that I would have used next Oct & Nov. I therefore had to replace those from this seasons crop but I will still want my normal quantity of new hay as well. I am sure there were many like me who had to get their stocks up from the new season hay.

Then there is the question of silage. In our area there was little grass regrowth after the first cut was taken or indeed after hay was taken. That means that there was little left in those fields for grazing animals nor has their been the growth so far for many further cuts of silage. So, the farm animals still have to be fed, now for some. Plus the silage yields could well be down which means that farmers with hay will have to use it in place of silage.

I have 5 hay suppliers. Many are farmers. I can see they will be restricted in what they sell as their own animals will have to come first. Many hay dealers buy in hay as well as make it themselves. They buy in from farmers.

Chocolategirl, I would be explaining the facts of life very clearly to your "virtually inhaling" clients. I have a lot of horses and am having to feed hay now (when normally I would be panicking they were going to get laminitis from too much grass). I count every strand of hay mine get ATM. Better they suffer now than next Feb.
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I have sent a message just asking them to ‘think ahead’. It would be helpful if we knew what kind of winter we were going to have, our horses normally come off 24hr at the end of October, last year they were in on 8th September! Never been known. So following a very long winter, having to buy extra hay in, we had none of last years left going into spring.It’s very frustrating for me though to see horse/ponies that are IMHO, very overweight, being fed this years hay when they really, really don’t need it. ☹️
 
chocolategirl said:
I have sent a message just asking them to ‘think ahead’. It would be helpful if we knew what kind of winter we were going to have, our horses normally come off 24hr at the end of October, last year they were in on 8th September! Never been known. So following a very long winter, having to buy extra hay in, we had none of last years left going into spring.It’s very frustrating for me though to see horse/ponies that are IMHO, very overweight, being fed this years hay when they really, really don’t need it. ☹️
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Do you have a role in yard management? Would it be feasible to ration the supply of hay?

One yard where I hang out sometimes keeps bales in a hayloft above the stables. Each morning, someone goes up there and throws down a number of bales for the day.
 
Around here (central Scotland) the yields of hay were down about 20% but lots of beautiful, green hay has been made. The issue is, as someone else said, that due to the very long hard winter, stocks were basically gone by March. So now people are all having to use new hay right away. Couple this with the impact the dry weather has had on silage/haylage production, and you have a highly likely shortage of fodder over the coming winter.

Don't be fooled into thinking that sheds full of lovely hay now equates to plenty for all indefinitely. We are already telling our hay customers they will need to go easy on it if they want it to last til next spring.
 
Reading this thread I am so, increasingly mad at the farmers that have left bales on the field to go black up here now. Actually criminal. I was walking in a field with bales left out yesterday and had a look at one. Horrible. And not just the outer layer. It was beautiful green hay a few weeks ago.
 
Two of mine had gone very ribby this week so I've had to chuck them out in one of the paddocks I was saving for winter overnight.

It's a tough call - do you use up winter grass rations? Do you use up winter hay rations? Or do you up hard feed with all the potential problems that might bring?

Having said all that...having walked round the local area, all the hay fields are very lush and green. If we get the predicted thunderstorms and downpours tomorrow it might give the fields the boost they need.

I've noticed some farmers cutting the fields now though to make extra silage for their cattle rather than hay.
 
southerncomfort said:
It's a tough call - do you use up winter grass rations? Do you use up winter hay rations? Or do you up hard feed with all the potential problems that might bring?

.
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that is a very interesting question. Mine are in in the daytime. Our fly situation is ridiculous and they are chased continually by bot flies. Leaving them out is not an option if I want calm and happy horses. Some are fat. It is not a question of keeping weight on some but leaving them for long periods of time without forage. A bit like leaving them overnight in winter with just one small haynet that is gone by 7pm. I am giving a few branches and a few bits of long grass I have cut from non horse areas. . I cannot think of anything to give but hay but if anyone has any ideas I would be very grateful.
 
I am in this situation .
I am feeding as normal when they come in dried grass with salt sprinkle of oats kilo of coarse mix for the one who needs it .
Three hours after that they get a small amount of haylege and I mean small .three hours after that they get chopped straw with a few fibre nuggets and three hours after a little more haylege .
They are all calm and happy standing in .

I am moving them onto the winter field today and topping the others .
I am hoping that the rain tomorrow will bring the summer fields away again .
I will give them three weeks in the winter field then top it and cross my fingers .
 
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I have about 3 inches of grass on my winter fields, it is usually 1.5 foot at least by now.

I fear that if I let them graze that when the rain does come the grass will be too short to really get going quickly. They are eating it down to the roots in the summer fields.

I use standing hay (long grass) for mine through to at least xmas usually so really need some in the fields.

I am muck spreading on the winter fields this week - so they have extra food when the rain happens and I am feeding hay in the summer fields.

For me it is easier to put hay out now (less waste as no mud, less hassle in shorts on a sunny day than in snow!) than it is to start putting hay in the winter fields sooner.
It's a tough game of poker for all of us.
The rules will have to change as this weather is caused by the same lack of jet stream that caused all the snow. If the jet stream doesn't return this (and last winter) are the new normal
 
AnShanDan said:
Around here (central Scotland) the yields of hay were down about 20% but lots of beautiful, green hay has been made. The issue is, as someone else said, that due to the very long hard winter, stocks were basically gone by March. So now people are all having to use new hay right away. Couple this with the impact the dry weather has had on silage/haylage production, and you have a highly likely shortage of fodder over the coming winter.

Don't be fooled into thinking that sheds full of lovely hay now equates to plenty for all indefinitely. We are already telling our hay customers they will need to go easy on it if they want it to last til next spring.
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You’ve hit the nail on the head! Hay is beautiful this year, but regardless of what some people think, there is likely to be a shortgage in SOME areas, not all. I just think there’s a definite case of burying heads in sand at the moment. I wish I could bury mine!�� making good hay in this country is very very difficult, it’s either too blooming wet, or as we’re experiencing this year, too darn dry! ��
 
CG, do your liveries pay for their hay individually, or is it included in their livery package? I've found liveries tend to be a bit more frivolous with the hay when it's included in the package, as opposed to them having to actually fork over cash every time they need some. I wouldn't blame you for imposing a (sensible) daily limit, I've noticed that seems to remind them that uneaten hay in a net is still edible, and hay on the ground that hasn't been peed all over is also still fine.
Of course, it's a little more difficult is hay is having to be fed in the field currently due to lack of grass, but could be worth having them net the hay as opposed to leaving it loose on the ground. Less waste, less trampled, pooped on, blown away hay. I'd say you could put some strong posts in the ground, dot them around and attach tie rings to them if you haven't got a solid fence/wall to hang them on, but you'd need some sort of industrial drill to get the posts in right now!

Alternative option, allow them to continue being excessive with the hay, and hike the livery price up to accommodate what you'll need to be buying in.

Haha that sounds a bit ranty, but it irritates me to see people being wasteful with hay they didn't buy themselves (you bought it yourself, you do what you like with it haha)
 
paddy555 said:
that is a very interesting question. Mine are in in the daytime. Our fly situation is ridiculous and they are chased continually by bot flies. Leaving them out is not an option if I want calm and happy horses. Some are fat. It is not a question of keeping weight on some but leaving them for long periods of time without forage. A bit like leaving them overnight in winter with just one small haynet that is gone by 7pm. I am giving a few branches and a few bits of long grass I have cut from non horse areas. . I cannot think of anything to give but hay but if anyone has any ideas I would be very grateful.
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I remember being in this situtation years ago - same hot weather following a very wet winter - god, I hate the UK!!! I fed oat straw, good clean stuff, as long as the horses have good teeth it's a very useful forage and much cheaper than things like hifi. Alongside that i fed a mix of soaked cheapo pony nuts and very sloppy beet to keep the gut moving - no problems at all and they looked great.

I think with our volatile climate hay will become an expensive option, we should look beyond hay as the main fibre source, but of course the other problem is the housing that is eating up farmland - the UK is fast becoming a place where horse keeping will become more and more difficult and expensive.
 
My area's farmers are already putting their prices up on hay :( My supplier is charging £5 extra per bale this winter. Apparently its been too dry so the grass hasnt grown as well as usual so definatey going to be a shortage round me :( Im just hoping for a kind winter...
 
We are beds, bucks, herts borders and most round here baled begining of june and nothing has grown since and we normally get a second cut.
 
We have loads of grass on our yard resting and ready for winter. A lot of horses on diets so on weighed soaked hay in at night and still muzzled during the day. Hopefully as there is so much grass in the rested fields and most of liveries are good doers we won't need to feed extra hay rations in the winter.
 
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