How much will hay be this winter??!

There's loads around us, the price has dropped!!! But the quality isn't too good.

I cut my own haylage this year & am still waiting to open the first bale, not expecting it to be that great as it was cut late & was starting to brown. I don't need anything fancy for mine, so i think that i will be fine. More tricky if you've got racehorses.
 
I paid much less than last year, bought in July as soon as it was cut and collected off of the field! £3 a bale :-)
There is loads around where I live and its all no more than £3.50 bale! Happy days!!
 
baker190 said:
I paid much less than last year, bought in July as soon as it was cut and collected off of the field! £3 a bale :-)
There is loads around where I live and its all no more than £3.50 bale! Happy days!!
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Wish lived close to you wherever you may be - being quoted £5 a bale round here and that's not the best quality.
 
Our farmer charged us £7 a bale last year and is still charging £6 a bale for the hay cut from 2 years ago. As he didn't get as many bales this year, but made them bigger we will be looking at £7+:eek:. This is incredibly poor hay, and as he baled it whilst wet this year, about 70% of the hay barn is now brown and mouldy. Despite 'yard rules' I will be going 2 minutes up the road for the amazing quality £3.50 hay bales that another farmer has cut.
 
Theres tonnes more about where I am but prices seem to be staying the same as last year :(. Suppose if they get a second cut it might go down, as some of the fields round me could be cut again if we had a dry spell.
 
In Norfolk it seems to be around £3.50 up to £5. I got mine for £4 delivered. Bit stalky, which is fine for our good doers, it is from a field behind our house so we know there is no ragwort and it was baled dry so shouldn't go mouldy. We saw so many people baling after rain!
 
Hay was £4.95 last winter and this year it has gone up to £5.95 - East Anglia.
Not sure what it is back at home in the Midlands, but it's usually about £5.00.
 
Penniless said:
Wish lived close to you wherever you may be - being quoted £5 a bale round here and that's not the best quality.
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That is what I was paying last year and the year before, Most people seem to be collecting off of the field this year though which I think makes a big difference! I must admit, I have also sticked up a start for next year in case it goes up agan!
 
In this neck of the woods, there seems to be more hay available compared to the last two years. Although from what I'm seeing around me, prices haven't dropped (still at £5 to £6 for a small bale) - I wonder if they they might drop later, if farmers start to find it harder to get rid of, if more's been cut this year?

We'll have to wait and see. I guess other factors to consider like diesel prices which are ever increasing, might mean that hay prices won't ever go back to the £3 a bale that we were paying not that long ago.
 
I have just paid £2 per bale for last summers hay, with the new cut being £2.50 - lovely quality too.

The most I have heard of around here is £4 a bale.
 
Someone tried to charge us 4.50 the other day, I laughed and said not to bother so bought a big round for £25, it was selling for £2.50 off the field the last dry spell we had. Our is cut and will be baled either tomorrow or saturday, it is a very good yield, very dry at the top with the older long stalks but then a new crop that has come up underneath about 18" high, was cut monday but is so thick it is slow to dry. I think we will have made more than usually comes off those fields and am just praying we get no rain until it is in, we reckon on around 600 small bales and 50 - 60 big rounds. I can't see there being a shortage but reckon the quality may be poor this winter.
 
Around us (the midlands) we have had so short dry spells. The grass itself has grown loads!!! But there hasn't been enough time for farmers to cut and bale. The farmer next to us lost a lot of hay as he just kept leaving it due to the weather until it was all crushed and died.
We managed to get 170 bales off of ours but due to the weather we had to rush out and get it in as soon as it was baled. The hay we managed to store in our container is gorgeous and smells lovely!! (about 100 bales) unfortunately we had to store 70 under tarpaulin and a lot of it sweated and got a bit dusty and mouldy :( we sold 30 bales of it that didn't mould for £4.50 which seems to be the norm price for around here atm.
I think hay supplies may begin running out into winter and prices will rise. A lot of the reason it's so cheap probably is due to people wanting to be rid of it quick before it gets wet if they have nowhere to store it.
 
Sophstar said:
Our farmer charged us £7 a bale last year and is still charging £6 a bale for the hay cut from 2 years ago. As he didn't get as many bales this year, but made them bigger we will be looking at £7+:eek:. This is incredibly poor hay, and as he baled it whilst wet this year, about 70% of the hay barn is now brown and mouldy. Despite 'yard rules' I will be going 2 minutes up the road for the amazing quality £3.50 hay bales that another farmer has cut.
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If you get any grief about doing that, remind them that hay like any other product is covered by trading standards and hay that is mouldy or has ragwort in it is considered not fit for purpose (because it is harmful when used for the intended purpose) and it is an offence to sell it. Now a couple of mouldy bales can happen in a load of 00s and if replaced thats ok, but for the majority to be 'bad' is not.

In other words, a rule saying you have to buy from one source would only be deemed legally reasonable if what is supplied complies with the requirement to be fit for purpose - otherwise you cant be bound by it. Quality will vary this year nutritionally, but all of it should be free from mould.
 
Well my supplier has not informed me of any price rise from last year and so I have left my livery fees as they are. That will be the first time in three years I haven't had to put them up to cover the increase in price of haylage and bedding. So fingers crossed...
 
severe shortage up here this year! have hayledge on order as could only get small amount of hay and i want to keep it for the spring. not quite sure how my babies are going to get on with the hayledge as none of them have had it before, just hope i dont have trouble :D
 
£2.75 off the field in Hampshire, but it's about £3.50-£5 a bale if delivered.
There's lots of hay but the quality isn't great. They should be dropping their prices.
 
The farmer that supplies my hay has told me his prices won't be going up - he has loads of hay and still loads left to cut (that was about 3 weeks ago), but the quality won't be good. He charges £45 for a heston bale.
 
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