Price of Hay

horsesfornow

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I have many horses to feed this winter and I am worrying about the price of hay, my farmer keeps telling me he didn't get as much this cut.

But the weather in Norfolk at the moment is good for the grass to grow why can't the farmers do a later cut?

I am going to feed 50% barley straw to hay.
 

MICHAELA8228

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I'm in Norfolk and still being told yield is at an all time low :-( Owe usual supplier is only letting us reserve 100 bales at a time (we usually use about 250 over the winter) which is a worry.

Bad news all round......
 

ischa

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a lot of farmers do tend to do a second cut ,but i think with the weather weve had i think theyve only just managed to get a cut on first lot ie why we lacking of hay .
i expect a lot of farmers will try to get a second cut, but again i very much dought they get much off , even so nothing at all
 

Achinghips

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Yep, a lot on my yard are cutting with Barley Straw too, and at £1.50 a big bale, it's proving quite economical.
I hate the hay issue. I have a supplier, but the storage and struggles with it can cause bad feeling on a Yard, esp when people put their own first. I'll certainly be looking at alternatives to hay this year, it takes up too much space, its messy, it gets easily wasted and it's now become too expensive to feed long term.
 

Vikki89

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Iv been told that a farmer near me will be charging £8 a bale for small bales of hay :eek: not sure what the farmer i use will be charging, last year i was paying £15-£20 for a large round bale.
 

BBH

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Mine has gone up from £5 to £8 with no guarantee of no future rises so i've bought 30 now and am hoping he can deliver some more as that won't last long.

Its gonna mean a whole new mindset for me as I always feed ad lib and suddenly having to ration it will be strange.
 

lucy1984

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Luckily for some reason this year the lady who i rent the field off has a couple of hundred extra bales than she had last year. £2.50 a bale to me but to anyone else she will be charging £5 :-S
 

Achinghips

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Well, he won't sell it then. Simples.

Alternatives are the way to go to combat such price increases - and more hard feed, sugarbeet is economical.
 

Beccahh

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im lucky im gonna go on haylege and the farmer has only selected a few farms to deliver to
the hay my friends getting she is gonna mix with a little straw and smaller haynets so he doesnt gobble the lot :) but yeah shocking the prices like the shavings problem we had last year 9.50 for a bale of shavings
 

Achinghips

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Thanks for that Lexie - was an interesting read. Perhaps this thread could therefore focus on what alternatives to hay there is.
 

Pipkin

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There is a plus side to living in damp wet cold wales.... £3 a bale for hay, £1.25 for straw if we pick it up ourselves or £2.00 delivered...
Girls get a mix of hay and haylage, think the haylage is £14 a roundal....
 

TheEquineOak

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I live on a farm where there is usually two cuts. The weather has been so bad that the farmer has only just managed to get the first yield done and bailed. He is out night and day turning it and then it rains and he has to do the whole process again. He's a vast supplier up here for hay, haylage, silage and straw, the majority of it has already been earmarked. Fingers crossed for the winter!!
 
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