Small square hay prices ...

T

TrueColours

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 December 2008
Messages
114
Location
Wilsonville, Ontario. Canada
www.truecoloursfarm.com
What is the current price like for small squares (40-45 lb range per bale) and what is the available quality like? And what is the current availability?

What types of hay are currently available? Timothy? Timothy/alfalfa mix? Straight alfalfa?

Have interest from someone looking to import some and just wondering at the logic of doing so if this is already well looked after in the UK currently with available supplies and types

Many thanks
 
UK meadow hay ranges from £2.50 - £6 depending on area.
Racehorse type hay from uk might be £5-8, ryegrass seed hay type.
When I enquired about imported hay a couple of years back it worked out as about £9-10 a small bale for Timothy. That was delivered, on a pallet and it was a heavy very tightly packed bale, they reckoned was about 1.5 or 2 meadow bales worth
 
As we're getting into spring the consumption of hay will drop a lot over the next 2/4 weeks. Farmers will be looking to clear out their hay from last year so the barn is ready for this years crop so the price usually drops quite a lot this time of year.

Because farmers don't value last years hay (too low in nutrition for sheep/ cows) it's better for many many UK horses in light work so horsey people will stock up now to last them through the summer.

Importing so it arrives in mid Dec, early Jan would probably be most ecomonic.
 
Thank you!

Do you get straight alfalfa in the UK? or predominantly alfalfa (70-80%) mixed with grasses / timothy?

With the UK growing season, do you get 2nd / 3rd cuts at all? Really curious as with my fields over here I always get 2nd and 3rd and in many cases get a 4th cut as well and the 3rd and 4th's are literally 100% high protein alfalfa

Thanks again
 
It tends to be one or the other. Either straight alfalfa, which is normally put into 20kg bags chopped either by itself, or as a chaff when mixed with chopped oat straw (to balance nutritionally).

Bales hay is nearly always either a meadow hay which would mostly be a mix and have quite a lot of timothy but also cocksfoot, rye, fescue in it. However some wrapped haylage is pure timothy.

Hay in UK is normally max 2 cuts, with the second cut lower energy and more stalky and fibrous if its meadow hay. In northern climes (like where I live) it would only be one cut, tho farmers might get a wee second cut for silage purposes.

Most horse owners in the UK with horses have fairly good doer perhaps a little overweight types, and therefore they are not looking for high energy hay, they want late cut lower sugar fibrous stuff which wont risk a bout of laminitis (founder).
 
^^

Many thanks

So it really only going to be your racing / performance / breeding establishments that would be looking for straight or high percentage alfalfa hay bales?

1 to *maybe* 2 cuts only??? Wow - thats not much at all, is it? Or - maybe thats the norm and we are the exception, getting 3 cuts on a regular basis and 4 if we need / want it. I think we are spoiled for sure over here ...

Would there be a market for North American straight timothy and timothy/alfalfa mixed hay? 1st, 2nd and 3rd cuts? I know from the numbers we are bandying about, it would need to sell in the GBP 8.00 8.50 range per bale to make sense to do so ...

Thanks!
 
I honestly don't think people will pay £8 + a bale for hay, there just isn't that much cash for horses (which are a hobby) in the UK at the moment.
As an example people here are paying £85 a month for DIY livery including good quality ad lib hay!

People who need top quality forage (racing, competition yards etc.) tend to feed haylage rather than hay at all.
 
Where hay is bought from, and whether the bales were flat 8s or 10s, would affect the price, as would the time of year.

Direct from the grower would be about £5-6 each. From a feed merchant who buys it from our grower, it's £7-8. Hay quality is also hugely variable, and even from the mown grass within a field. Here in Norfolk, the quality of hay grown is often of a less than desirable quality.

We buy in hay which is baled as Hestons (about 6cwt each), and for some reason, hay which is made in round or large rectangular bales, tends to be a much better quality. I can't explain why!

As Polos Mum has also said, timing the buying is important. Those who are still carrying huge stocks will be keen to move it at a lowered price, and by Mid March, as they may well be hoping to refill their storage space by mid summer.

WELL MADE hay from last year will be fine this winter.

Alec.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top