If these bad summers continued, what would you pay for top quality hay?

[sidesaddlegirl]

I wouldn't pay £10 a bale for hay, I've already switched to haylage as I'm allergic to hay and straw, fed up with being gouged with hay prices and it seems to keep the weight better on my TB. Plus it's only £22 for a big round bale!

 

[landowner]

The prices and issues mentioned so far are fascinating to me as a producer. Hay is at the heart of our farming business, not just a sideline.

We sell at £4.50 per bale for conventional square bales (25kg) at our farm here in Hertfordshire, on the Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire/Essex border).

IMHO this is cheap for top quality hay. It's usually a fiver, but we had a wonderful crop.

Most people seem to go for cheap rather than quality. We put a lot of effort into quality. There are big differences. It's a proper agricultural crop albeit organic -- not just a field of random grass that we needed to mow anyway like I often see!

I'm seeing hay sold on eBay more these days and I sometimes sell on there too:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251202912338