Round bale hay?

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3707rachela

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Hi
I friend has mentioned to me that a local farmer is baling some round bales of hay in the next few weeks. I'm going to try and get hold of him and hope that there may be some left for us when it's been done! What sort of price are people paying for round bales straight off the field? I'd rather have small bales of course as they are easier to handle but I dont want to turn an opportunity down. Thanks in advance.
 
Im paying £5 for mine in spring/summer but autum/winter paying £10, Think we do get them quite cheap but we do stay next to the farm so think he gives us them a bit cheaper than usual :)
 
I always used small bale hay, until my supplier(local farmer) told me that his yield that year (think 2009?) wasn't good, but he had some round bales. I tried them and have never looked back. Mainly because 200 small bales take up a lot of room and labour to unload and stack and it also gave me more room for small bale straw. I am feeding between 5 and 8 horses throughout the winter and get through two round bales per week to 10 days. I usually tell him when he is cutting how many I will require (usually about 20) and he delivers them two at a time when required. Most round bales are equivalent to 10 small bales of hay and I am paying £30.00 each, my farrier is paying £65.00!! If ever I find a bale to be unsuitable, i.e. musty, dusty - he takes it back and replaces it!! Disadvantage is that it's very easy to 'load' a haynet when first opened, when you get to the middle its a real pain, until used and 'loosened' so you can get to the other half.
 
It is getting harder and harder to get hold of decent hay/haylage. sounds like you have a very good deal with your local farmer, best keeping that relationship good. We've started buying large bale 350KG (approx 12-13 small bales). we have enough horses to get through it. We pay £58 delivered per bale from Cole Hay Ltd much more than we paid a few years ago but comparing prices this year its very good. If only we had a decent local farmer!!
 
The only thing that can be missleading is that most large bales are about the same as 8 small bales (240kg) where as some, like the ones I get are (360kg) 12 bales.
 
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