Is hay situation really this bad?

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lcharles

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Our yard owner has put up a sign saying:

'Only ONE SMALL haynet PER DAY allowed otherwise there will be NO hay by December!!'

We pay for DIY which includes hay and straw. Even though we havent got signed contracts, we pay our rent and he supplies straw and hay.

So yesterday he says that by Friday (this week) they'll be NO hay and little straw! So everyones gone crazy and bought their own in - even though we have nowhere to store it! I've ordered 5 small bales (all i can find!!) to keep in my stable.

Mine live out 24/7 pretty much unless they have to come in but my field is waterlogged! They only come in for 2 hours each night whilst i ride.

Everyones panicing at the yard, especially people with horses on box rest. Hay isnt about, only haylege is available (I cant feed my mare haylege).

Is hay really that short. I found one person with some left and they will only sell 5 bales per person and they are rebailing big bales into little bales! Tempted to send two people down and get 10 but also feel this is selfish as mine are out most the time so i'm not in desperate need like other people.

How long will this go on for?

I must admit i dont think my yard owner will not supply it (think he has a secret stash!) but he's started supplying haylege to others. Do i panic and buy as much as possible just in case - what if i need to box rest one of mine?!

Yard owner is checking stables every day for excess hay. I understand that it cant be wasted but 1 small haynet a day is totally unreasonable.

What would you do?
 
The hay situation is indeed TERRIBLE.

My OH is a farmer andwe grow hay and Haylage to sell. Having so far cut precisely NO hay, I don't even have enough for my laminitic horse, never mind to sell :(

So it is indeed rubbish for everyone - sorry!
 
I agree Patterdale, my husband too is a farmer, we normally have around 25 acres for hay, so far we have NOTHING AT ALL and we have just 2 horses to feed through the winter.

The one field we set aside for hay is ruined by the rain, that will now become silage once the weather picks up.

I am so worried it is untrue, what do we feed them through the winter and from a long range forecast is doesn't look like the weather will pick up till August 13th.
 
I've just had best hay and haylage quotes for 3 years and have got all year supply guaranteed. It's not a great year and lots will only get one cut, but a fair few got an early cut in and so the supplies are there. The place we're probably going to go with have already had a cut and have never yet had to buy in.

I wouldn't be going for small suppliers right now though. Our field is yet to be cut and we'll probably have our worst personal year. Prices I should imagine will rocket soon, so worth getting some longer fixed quotes if possible.

It's nowhere near as bad as two years ago. I didn't know anyone with 2 cuts and lots didn't even get one in. This year will be a later cut and a milder winter, so won't start feeding 'til later anyway.

It's not a great year by any means, but it's a lot better than it has been. It's still double the quotes I was getting 5 years ago though :rolleyes:

Pan
 
Had a conversation with my YO on Saturday about the hay/straw situation. He makes his own hay and buys in straw. He assured me that hay will be made - even if its late Aug/Sept time and that there will not be a shortage. He did say though that any hay made will not be very good quality (not worried about that with two good do-ers!) but price would not be affected. He has approx 60 large bales of last years hay left which would not see us through the winter, but he has assured us that it will not be a problem - hope he's not being too optomistic!
 
Agree with patter dale as farmers we have round baled dilated outsides of three fields, can't move them as too wet and as raining at moment don't know when going to cut anymore grass, had to beg a few bales for my two horses but when In they mainly have alfafaand straw mix out of a bag, as long as we make enough hay for my two I will have to be satisfied.
 
Yes it is really THAT bad. I have just had a whole lorry load of haylage delivered but there is no hay at all and it is even looking dicey for haylage if this rain continues. What is the reason you can't feed halage to your mare? I have never come across a horse that cannot have the dry hi fibre type.
 
We have three fields for our hay, and one is totally useless!!!! Although this is due to the very, very high numbers of rabbits!!!!!

They have eatten a whole field of hay :( Altough it's only about half an acre to an acre.

The other two aren't as bad one has loads ready to be cut and the other has been hit hard by the rabbits.

The biggest problem we have now is that the farmer that cuts ours have not started cutting their own, so may not have time to cut ours this year :( I only have the one pony so don't need a load, hopefully we have enough left from last year. Really strange as not that long ago we were selling ours by the trailer load for £3.50

Hope we have enough this year.
 
I was talking to someone at the feed shop yesterday whose livery owner/farmer has doubled her big bale price to £60..

It's not good here..

I desperately need my hay cut :(
 
i'm really worried about the hay situation this year, im south hampshire and everyone round here seems to think small bales will be £7-£8 each. if it really will be like that, i won't be able to afford to take 2 horses through the winter and may have to consider selling one :(

please brighten up weather :rolleyes:
 
There are now 76 horses on our yard apparently - which is probably the issue! He just got 5 more liveries in 3 weeks ago, he would of known about the hay situation then so i don't think he would of had extra liveries knowing we had hardly any hay?!

Mine dont get through alot at all but think i'd like a few put to one side - just in case.

I'd still be able to have my 'entitlement' of one net a day for when i need it but I don't know how long his supplies will last!
 
Agree with Bertolie - our farmer isn't that bothered as he'll just cut later. Apparantly he's known worse so if he's not panicking then I'm not.
 
I don't know how your farmers have managed to cut, dry and bale hay.

We have 3 x last years crop of fab quality from our own fields), but only because we are on a hill and the wind dried our hay very quickly. The farmer who cuts for us is very reliable and gets in the barn for us quickly.

Lots of bales still outside drenched with rain and some early cut is heating badly. A friend in Brittany which is nearer to a UK climate tells me the quality so far is appalling - if farmers have managed to cut.

In May we all expected a bumper crop now I am not so sure.
 
The farmer who cuts our hay isn't really that concerned - the quality will not be so good when it eventually does get cut and will probably be a bit dusty but it will get cut at some point.

I have to soak hay for my mare anyway so the dusty bit not that much of a problem and she doesn't need very good quality because she's a right lard arse.

Annoyingly though I sold 70 bales earlier on this year of really good quality because I thought I'd just get new stuff for this winter so actually would have had the right amount needed!!

I've now got 9 bales left. Not ideal but am hoping to have some by beg Nov. when horse comes back in!!
 
I've given up on waiting for the weather tobreak so hay can be cut here.

Have got lovely local farmer to sell me enough of last yrs 2nd cut dry barn stored small bales (quite nice)to take my 2 right through the winter. Have never lost my bottle in previous years. Still was £5 delivered & stacked tho.

Good luck to others needing it at present :o
 
Ours isn't great either.
Usually we have a huge barn full. We don't have much and what we do have is poor quality :( Still, they will all have food, so it's not desperate yet! Not fun though :\
 
Wagtail, I'm not entirely sure why she cant have haylege, when i bought her the owner said not to give her haylege-didnt question it at the time because i've always fed hay so it didnt matter :rolleyes:

The bloke i bought her off was very genuine so there must be a reason. He was very knowledgable and owned his own stud farm. Unfortunatley he passed away from cancer last year so I cant ask him. I do know a girl who owned my mare before he did so i will contact her to see if she knows! My mare is very sensitve to feed changes and colic'd yesterday - probably from eating the hay which i've had to scoop off the floor! :(

Some people are buying the hay/haylege in and taking the cost out of YO rent but i wouldnt do that. Would you?
 
catwithclaws said:
i'm really worried about the hay situation this year, im south hampshire and everyone round here seems to think small bales will be £7-£8 each. if it really will be like that, i won't be able to afford to take 2 horses through the winter and may have to consider selling one :(

please brighten up weather :rolleyes:
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Can you try them on straw and Fast Fibre, I know straw can cause colic, but natives might be Ok.
 
We are farmers and it is pretty dire at the moment, crops should have been cut june/early july, its now laying twisted and down on the fields (going to take a super mower to get through it now!) Around here farmers are now cutting and baling wet newly cut silage, we are holding on until the better weather comes, hopefully september, also buying up as much of last years stock as we can find, just had 3 lorry loads arrive, we've got 8 horses to feed and 200 sheep plus we supply hay locally to horse owners. Bloody weather! On a brighter note, they reckon the jet stream is moving north slightly next week which should bring in some better weather.
 
We have just made enquiries about imported hay in the event that our usual hay supplier can't get his done. We were quoted £5.50 per small bale of last years hay and £13.95 per small bale of imported hay cut this year. That is a huge amount of money IMO but it may come to that yet.
 
lcharles said:
Some people are buying the hay/haylege in and taking the cost out of YO rent but i wouldnt do that. Would you?
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Not the full cost of the replacement, no, since the spec of that isnt under the YOs control and they could go and buy imported canadian racehorse hay and charge them for it :-OO. But there should be some adjustment if hay is an included element of livery and they arent supplying or able to supply the agreed sufficient amount. The question would come to what is sufficient.

Given most horses in UK are overweight, on a UK basis horses might benefit from a certain amount of rationing, tho if a horse is in overnight one small net would to me be insufficient.

It is certainly something that needs to be discussed with YO and an agreed way forward re all the liveries agreed, you cant just withhold part of the contractual rent without discussing and trying to agree the reduction, it has to be only if you cant agree anything so you are shown to have made reasonable efforts.
 
monkeybum, im gloucestershire as well and have just managed to track down 9 bales from 2 different places!! No where else has any or they arent selling at least!

I'm sure things will be ok in Sepember but hay doesnt go off so wont hurt to have some as backup i dont think!

Fell sorry for people with hundreds of sheep etc to feed x My horses dont hold the weight and they are in work 6 days a week so dont want to risk it x
 
my haylage supplier managed to cut 400 large bales back in May so for the main part I am sorted but I still use hay beginning and end of winter - I have 2 acres waiting to be cut and rather than panic I have let the horses have the very edge which is a bit rougher during the day (v small section) - hopeful for a cut by middle of august - mine is beautiful meadow grass with most of it still upright so fingers crossed will be ok if we get the weather.

Local supplier of hay is now selling last years at £7.50 but I cant imagine many bales are left !!
 
We must be really lucky. Local farmer has had one cut already, and will (fingers crossed), gulf stream getting stuffed etc, get another before end of August!
I have just bought a load for £2.50 a bale.
 
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