Hay/straw in Suffolk

[michellev123]

Hey
Anyone know where I can get hay and straw from around Felixstowe/Ipswich/Suffolk area?
And How much is a bale there now?

Am moving home from uni in sept and will need around 210 bales for the year; however I dont have stoage so will only be able to store 50-60 at a time.

Thanks!!

 

[zoeshiloh]

Not sure around Felixstowe area, but we are near Bury St Edmunds, and it is pretty scarce to source. My OH sells hay/straw/haylage, and is currently getting £5/bale for small bale hay, and he could sell every bale about five times over! Whether people are panicking, whether there is a shortage, or whether other traders are holding onto it, I don't know, but I am so glad I do not have to buy any this year! Straw is also going through the roof, as the agricultural price has gone up tremendously - £45/tonne for East Anglia - A lot of the farmers are cutting straw and sending it down the south west where it is worth £75/t (big bales) and £100/t (small bales). At the moment the price for small bale straw is holding around the £1.50 - £2/bale mark, but I think that is going to shoot up also.

 

[michellev123]

Ouch!! LOL would he be able to store any? I think there is a degree of panic. But that doesnt change the prices cant believe its gone up so much before i left for uni 3 years ago it was £2.50 a bale!!

 

[zoeshiloh]

I think TBH it's about time it did go up anyway - I have been paying around the £2 - £2.50 mark since 2000, and the price of diesel, labour, fertiliser, herbicide etc has all shot through the roof, so the cost of production must have risen for the farmers.

I think this year has been so bad as we had a harsh winter, late frosts, drought, and hungry horses stripping what grass there was. A lot of horses haven't gained weight (mine have been on haylage and hard feed all summer) and now we are heading towards winter with horses thinner than normal, and faced with a hay shortage. Farmers know they can up the price and people will have to pay it.

My OH can store it for people/deliver etc, but it is selling so fast, and people are so worried about not having it, no one seems to be picking up just a bale at a time any more (or ten bales a week as we've had in the past).