How much are you paying for your Hay and Straw

[Shabby_Chic]

Having nightmares about this situation atm. Friend of mine is a contract farm manager in East Norfolk and they've just taken the first cut of hay from a field which normally yields 150 big round bales and ...prepare yourselves..... it only yielded 20 this year!!!!!
Am thanking my lucky stars as lovely chappy i rent field space from has offered me the hay from the rest of his fields (probs about max 8 acres), he's only asking for the cost of the farmer cutting it (£2 per bale) then *whatever you want to pay me for the land use* Does mean I've spent time out there spraying all ragwort (not very much tbh), digging up every dead stem etc etc but it WILL be worth it when i have a barn with some hay in it rather than none! Crossing my tootsies that it will be enough (if I am mean with her) to last me the winter, otherwise I shall have to have a rethink then! Thankfully I've turned her from an 'in the box for 16hrs a day horse' to a 'turned out with free access to stable chocablock with bedmax 24hrs a day' horse. She seems happier for it and the paddock is holding out so all is working well atm.
We have goats & ponies at home and have resorted to chaff for them, actually works out cheaper to fill half plastic barrels with a bag a night than buy hay as we stand atm!
Not a scooby doo about straw, we've been buying the big (think they may be heston) bales of straw off local farmer for the goats @ £25 a pop, although he has now run out but let us clear out all the little bales & loose straw he had left in the shed for freebies - 2 trips later, it turned out to be quite a lot!

 

[allthatjazz]

We're paying £25 for a large round bale of hay and £20 for the same of straw. Farmer has now almost run out and even though he'll be cutting hay soon the yields will be terribly low our other local farm supplies store is currently charging £45 for a round bale and £6 for the square bales of hay and his prices have already gone up twice in the 4 months I have been at my new yard I am really concerned about having enough hay at a reasonable cost to see us through the winter, its a huge worry.

 

[joy]

£7 for a bale of hay in West Wales, but my yard makes its own haylege and buys in straw for the entire yard. But if the latter is rationed next winter I'm on rubber matting anyway.

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

£2 a bale of hay. Straw probably about the same. This is in Dorset but OH is an agricultural contractor and good friends with the farmers so we do pretty well.

 

[maisey belle]

my local farmer has just put his new crop hay up to £5 a bale (from £3.50 last year) I have seen it and i must admit it is lovely stuff, but i did a ring around the area and got prices ranging from £4-£7. But i know the quality of the £4 stuff is not that great. Oh well looks like plenty of over time for me as i am having to put hay in the field due to East Anglia being a drought area!

 

[TarantuLove]

£6 for a bay of hale, £1.50 for straw

 

[purple pony]

Has anyone noticed its only farmers who are charging stupid prices??? Proper haylage companies aren't running out and prices are the same despite being in areas which have had a so called drought. Areas such as Nottinghamshire have currently got loads of hay/haylage/straw being grown and cut due to the amount of fertiliser farmers use and since they get subsidised for growing all of this stuff don't they think they ought to leave the prices low. How can they justify doubling the price of haylage within a week making the lower grade bales £40??

 

[giveitago]

Purple pony,

I dont understand. The hay companies buy the hay from the farmers. Some dealers travel miles to get hay/hayledge from the places where they have loads, they buy huge quantities and that is why they can secure a good price.

The farmer has an amount of money that he needs that field to generate. If thebfarmer has spent the same amount of money on preparing the ground, the same amount of money on the fertiliser and the same amount of time to make the hay and bale it -then thatbis all added up and divided by the amount of bales he makes on that field. So if he usually gets 1000 bales but this year he only gets 500 then the cost of hay will be double. If he doesnt do that he will lose money. Farmers do not receive a subsidy for growing crops or set aside anymore. They have a subsidy atm which is for leaving perimeters of fields for wildlife to flourish.

Now whilst back in the 70's farmers werent too badly off, nowadays this is not the case and i think you'll find Mr Supermarket takes the largest chunk.

If you have found a dealer that seems to be under charging the market rate then younare either very lucky or he is selling you last years cut.


So the farmer charges the money so he has ahouse, replace his machinery and feed his family.

 

[Honey08]

Everyone was panicing exactly the same last year, and we all managed.... If it makes you feel better, we've had so much rain after a very warm spring, that grass has grown better than I've seen it for years. I personally have decided to bale a 6 acre field that hasn't had enough to bother with for the past two years, which will give me enough to feed my own, and probably a fair bit to sell.

In the NW we are having the usual problem - it won't stop raining long enough for us to make it! A lot of farmers are taking their second cuts this week.

Anyway, back to the question - we are paying £5 for hay, and £3 for straw. Both are beautiful quality. A friend nearby has bought hay for her ponies for £3.50. but its very hit and miss - more miss than hit!

 

[chrissie1]

Purple pony,

The farmer has an amount of money that he needs that field to generate. If thebfarmer has spent the same amount of money on preparing the ground, the same amount of money on the fertiliser and the same amount of time to make the hay and bale it -then thatbis all added up and divided by the amount of bales he makes on that field. So if he usually gets 1000 bales but this year he only gets 500 then the cost of hay will be double. If he doesnt do that he will lose money.

I agree. We aren't farmers but last year spent £400 on fertiliser on a field that normally gives us about 75-80 wrapped haylage bales. We had 32. So each bale cost us £12 in fertiliser alone, never mind the cost of cutting etc etc. I don't for the life of me see why we should have sold our suplus at a loss to fund other people's horses. This year in addition to the fertilser we have limed it and weedsprayed it. So far we see no indication that we shall get any more than the 32 bales we had last year, if that.

 

[Faithkat]

Ordered my haylage yesterday (he baled on Tuesday and hopefully being delivered tomorrow) - 1 metre square bales at £26 each delivered. "Normal" huge bales are £38 each delivered.
Haven't bought straw this year yet but last year it was £20 for a huge (10ft long) oblong bale


Just been reading back through some of the earlier replies from the beginning of June. Interesting that people have said the long-range forecast for June was hot and dry . . . . hmm . . . well, that was wrong wasn't it? Down South we have had loads of rain this month and apart from the odd day, like last Sunday, it has been pretty chilly. The grass has grown amazingly this month with the combination of warm soil and rain. Most of the hay/haylage round here has been cut already and if this weather keeps up they will most certainly get a second cut in August so no reason whatever for inflated prices

 

[Doris68]

Our hay is being cut at the moment. Looks much better than I thought it would. Will sell any surplus that we have. We're in Suffolk so will post details of number of bales for sale if anyone is interested...!

 

[FairyLights]

I cant see how anyone can sell at less than £3.50 for a small bale of hay,taking fertilizer,mowing, turning,baling,carting,liming and weedkiller into account. It really shouldnt be less than £5 a small bale to be in profit.

 

[purple pony]

I cant see how anyone can sell at less than £3.50 for a small bale of hay,taking fertilizer,mowing, turning,baling,carting,liming and weedkiller into account. It really shouldnt be less than £5 a small bale to be in profit.

I was talking about farmers who are trying to sell you a small bale of hay for £7 and small baled haylage for £10 when normal prices are £3.50 for quality hay and £6 for first cut small haylage. Not to mention £50 for a year old mouldy bale of hay!! Has any horse owner ever met a poor farmer who sells hay/haylage/straw???

 

[madabouthehorse]

Purple pony,

I dont understand. The hay companies buy the hay from the farmers. Some dealers travel miles to get hay/hayledge from the places where they have loads, they buy huge quantities and that is why they can secure a good price.

The farmer has an amount of money that he needs that field to generate. If thebfarmer has spent the same amount of money on preparing the ground, the same amount of money on the fertiliser and the same amount of time to make the hay and bale it -then thatbis all added up and divided by the amount of bales he makes on that field. So if he usually gets 1000 bales but this year he only gets 500 then the cost of hay will be double. If he doesnt do that he will lose money. Farmers do not receive a subsidy for growing crops or set aside anymore. They have a subsidy atm which is for leaving perimeters of fields for wildlife to flourish.

Now whilst back in the 70's farmers werent too badly off, nowadays this is not the case and i think you'll find Mr Supermarket takes the largest chunk.

If you have found a dealer that seems to be under charging the market rate then younare either very lucky or he is selling you last years cut.


So the farmer charges the money so he has ahouse, replace his machinery and feed his family.

W.O.W someone who actually gets how it works! I'm one of those who goes round defending farmers from a farming family though and as far as prices go, £8.50 a small bale of hay, and about £5 a small of straw(although ours live out 24/7 so its not needed) !!! and that's the cheapest i could find! Luckily all horses/ponies are off hay now, and have been since it rained as they live out 24/7, god knows what we would've done if we'd had to keep buying hay as our supplier had run out and others were wanting £10 a bale hopefully they will get a second cut of hay in

 

[Pipkin]

I cant see how anyone can sell at less than £3.50 for a small bale of hay,taking fertilizer,mowing, turning,baling,carting,liming and weedkiller into account. It really shouldnt be less than £5 a small bale to be in profit.

I`m paying £2 per bale of straw and it`s really good stuff and double size of normal bales.
£2.50 per bale of hay which is also really good.
Haylage is £20 a for a 4ft roundal or my new supplier is £30 for 8ft round (didnt know you could get them that big but he reckons theyre 8 foot)

 

[Pinktijen]

I pay £30 for a large round bale of hay, £35 for a square. Gold dust to find. One greedy farmer is charging £80 a large square bale.....disgusting!

 

[mon]

But one £80 bale of hay only covers one and a bit sets of shoes for horse or a fill up of the truck, just spent over £2500 on a bog standard mower to cut grass and costs dont stop there.

 

[rebmw]

Thankfully I have had our 2.5 acre field cut and baled in last weeks sunshine, so my first go at hay making has been a success.

We got 79 bales which compared to figures from a few years back of 80-100 per acre is a bit on the low side. Hopefully with my two boys out over most of the winter while I have a baby, it should last me til next year.

To pay my contractor to cut, turn twice, rake up and bale, it cost me £1.54 per bale. I didn't fertilize the field as we had sheep on it over the winter, but even with the cost of paying someone to harrow and roll in the spring, and then spot spraying the weeds ourselves it has worked out at about £2.70 a bale.

Last winter I was buying in all shapes and sizes of bales of hay, sorry not sure of their exact names. A big round bale of hay-£42, huge rectangular bale-£78, large rectangular-£47 and from what the farmer told me they generally worked out at between £4.50-£5.00 equivalent per small bale.

 

[FairyLights]

If people buy
"farmers Weekly" or check on line there are the latest market prices for hay and straw by region in it. Priced per tonne. there are approx 50 small bales of hay to the tonne.

 

[TallyHo123]

£15 for a large regtangle bale of straw and £30 for a large regtangle hay.

 

[PhoenixDiva]

Just had small bales delivered and stacked for £5.50, £1 more than last year.

 

[giveitago]

Just finished getting my hay in the barn, at cost, including some help and diesel etc..£4.41 each. Thats at cost and not including my labour and help from 2 friends. The cost is a little high as yield was low Nd we have small acreage.

I hear that our local tack shop is buying from the farmers for £4.50 a bale, expect to pay quite a bit more than that!

 

[Bangagin]

I spoke to our hay supplier a couple of days ago, and he has plenty of hay in at the moment - £4.50 for a small bale, and £17 for one that he reckons is about 4 1/2 small bales in size. I'm ok for grass now that we've finally had some rain, but am going to have to start thinking about buying in some hay in a few months time.

 

[FairyLights]

Just finished getting my hay in the barn, at cost, including some help and diesel etc..£4.41 each. Thats at cost and not including my labour and help from 2 friends. The cost is a little high as yield was low Nd we have small acreage.

I hear that our local tack shop is buying from the farmers for £4.50 a bale, expect to pay quite a bit more than that!

yes it does cost! and how many people will sweat for hours in the heat heaving heavy bales about? not many nowadays.

 

[fishy]

I'm in the northwest and a customer has just been in my tackshop. She told me they are paying £7 for a small bale of hay and £52 for a large round one (although they haven't got any at the moment) Straw is £55 for a large rectangular bale and she pays £7.50 for shavings. She's got 2 horses and not looking forward to the winter!!