| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| LYNDILOU |
Posted - 22 Feb 2010 : 7:01:22 PM
for hay ! I cant seem to find any for less than £4 a bale ! because there is a shortage, farmers are asking such high prices , but who will suffer ? the horses and owners struggling to keep their horses I fear  |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| lulu |
Posted - 01 Mar 2010 : 12:06:23 PM
Not too bad here in our part of Sussex we've paid £3 a bale (small) last autumn and in Feb from a local farmer, nice hay too. |
| Valentine Arabians |
Posted - 01 Mar 2010 : 10:19:53 AM
The only problem I have with my hay supplier is that he bales the hay into the big round bales on the field and then when you order, re-bales into the small square/oblong ones, so there are a lot of 'bits' wasted...he says it is easier to store in the big bales! I would get big round bales, but I like to know exactly how much hay (in slices/wedges) I am giving and I can't do that with the round bales. |
| Delyth |
Posted - 01 Mar 2010 : 08:56:47 AM
Just to echo what Judith has sais. We make our own haylage and again we are looking at £10-12 a bale to make. The price of the wrap itself has rocketed. Unfortunately we have no surplus this year, just hoping I've got enough to take me through !!
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| Judith S |
Posted - 28 Feb 2010 : 6:36:12 PM
Just to put things in perspective so you can judge whether you are getting value for money, we make our own large and small bale haylage and sell what we do not need. We worked out the cost of making it so we could judge a fair selling price.
Large bales cost us over £10 per bale for mowing, tedding, baling and wrapping - that does not include any costs of fertilizer, harrowing or rolling - so we thought £20 per bale was a more than fair selling price, with delivery on top.
Similarly a small bale of haylage costs around £3 to make - plus a lot of hard labour and sells at £6. If you had a contractor to produce small bale hay you would be looking at around £2 a bale to make. |
| Valentine Arabians |
Posted - 26 Feb 2010 : 10:43:02 AM
I was shocked when I spoke to Lynda on the phone, the other day. Hay prices down south are horrendous.
I have been getting our hay from the same person for nearly 8.5 years now and it is still £2.50 a bale and good quality Timothy hay too. The only increase in prices has been with his haylage, but that has only been upped by £2.00 for the big round bales, to £20 a bale in the last year.
We have been lucky in our area. Long may it last.
Liz |
| avanti |
Posted - 26 Feb 2010 : 07:12:54 AM
I have been feeding big bale haylage at £30, our local farm are not very nice people, they have kept their large bale hay and kept putting price up, apparently there was no hay for the last month so the haylage is all sold, now they have found a barn full of large bales and are charging £50 a bale, before anyone thinks this is sour grapes I have known and been friendly with this family for 45 years, the farmer was saying to an audience the other day how he hates profiteering  , I hope they are left with it, I have a 3 acre field away from the yard that will be down to haylage this year!
Mandy
edited for spelling |
| george |
Posted - 25 Feb 2010 : 6:32:25 PM
£3.50 for a decent bale of hay here in Swansea, although we have been using big bale haylage at £24 a bale of really nice stuff, sadly he's run out now so have to go in search again |
| Nichole Waller |
Posted - 25 Feb 2010 : 6:27:36 PM
I was paying £3.00 a bale last year (Small square bales). Our regular supplier told us in January that he was nearly out and wouldn't have enough to last the winter so i bought in another 40 bales but he put price up to £3.50.
Then when this lot ran two weeks ago out i phoned a few places and was quoted £6.00 a bale for small square and £40 a bale for large round bales....
I kept phoning round and eventually found some at £4.75 for small bales. I asked him if i could buy 60 bales and he deliver 30 and save 30 for next time (as i don't have room to store 60 bales) but he would only deliver me 30 bales and said when i needed the next lot they would probably go up...
I'm in Essex (near Epping) so if any of you have a good supplier that will deliver in my area that is under £5 for small bales (that are good quality) can you PM with some numbers..? |
| Cate |
Posted - 25 Feb 2010 : 5:55:59 PM
My straw delivered before Christmas cost me £8 a large round bale; my last lot of straw delivered January cost me £12 a round bale, and was told yesterday that they have gone up to £25 a big round bale!!!!
The farmer two farms down has always done my hay and put it in the barn for me. He would roll my fields and fertilize, and take half the hay for himself. Found out by accident when I was mapping/digitalizing my fields that the farmer had the 6 acre field as his and was getting paid/claiming for it!! So, now I need to find someone else. He speaks but won't discuss the fields. |
| alistair leslie |
Posted - 25 Feb 2010 : 1:56:07 PM
Large 4ft bales are on offer at £35!! here in Essex |
| Delyth |
Posted - 25 Feb 2010 : 12:08:24 PM
Hay doesn't seem too pricey up here but I've just had 10 tonnes of straw at £95 a tonne !!!!! I am fussy with what I have but they are only going to poo on it !!! They'd better appreciate it ;) |
| moatside |
Posted - 25 Feb 2010 : 11:38:36 AM
Like Rosie I am lucky enough to have enough grazing to cut my own - again I use a contractor and often have problems finding a small baler. Makes me smile at how I struggled to sell nice, sweet hay off the field at £1.75 a bale and at £2.00 a bale once I had moved it under cover!! |
| kimzi |
Posted - 25 Feb 2010 : 11:13:18 AM
We are lucky to take our own but we hit a huge snag yesterday,went to collect it brought it back and landrover and trailer got stuck in the mud, quite a feat when the landie is a 4 litre v8 and took 3 hours to get it unstuck, so now praying for dryer weather or we will be in the same boat as everyone else. |
| Lindsay |
Posted - 25 Feb 2010 : 10:09:20 AM
I am paying £15 collected or £20 delivered for a round bale of excellent hay. LAsts my three about 10-14 days. I'm also £7 for a round bale of straw to bed down my shelter. I guess we are lucky up here in Scotland. |
| gossy |
Posted - 25 Feb 2010 : 08:35:19 AM
fortunately we dont appear to have been hit by the increase down here in bristol, the hay i get is excellant quality and very cheap, never varys in quality it is always really good. im also lucky that the yard i am on has an abundance of fantastic grazing all year round. |
| rosie |
Posted - 24 Feb 2010 : 1:10:43 PM
Agree with what Nicky has said 'farmers can't be bothered making small bales of hay or straw now'.
We only have a few acres where we make our own hay, & we use a contractor.Last year our regular contractor retired & we had a hell of a job finding a contractor that owns a small baler!
We found one in the end & he did a great job for us. We also sell any surplus straight out of the field so anyone with storage space would be as well trying to get hay/straw at harvest time rather than Feb/March? |
| marionpack |
Posted - 24 Feb 2010 : 12:58:59 PM
I paid £3 for my hay back in August and my supplier told me then that the price would rocket and he was worrying that he wouldn't have enough to supply people through the winter and that he would need to buy in, somebody on the yard where I am bought some hay in early Jan for £4 (light bales) she's just ordered some more it's now £4.50 |
| nikki |
Posted - 24 Feb 2010 : 12:37:43 PM
My supplier has struggled to make hay these last 3 years due to the amount of rain we get, same with straw, he charges about £3 for a proper bale of hay and £2 for straw.
I get the big baled haylage for £23, they do waste some but it has cut down my hard feed bill, as they do really on it and 09 haylage has been a very good quality. |
| nicolanapper |
Posted - 23 Feb 2010 : 8:47:24 PM
I think the whole point Lynda is that farmers cant be bothered with making and handling small bales of hay or straw now, and those that do, sell them at a premium.
Nicky |
| sab2 |
Posted - 23 Feb 2010 : 6:37:14 PM
I have been paying £20 for large square bale haylage but sadly its run out bought some small square hay bales for £3.00 but have now found some round bale hay for £20 so am happy just have to wrap plastic round it as have no storage in a field. |
| LYNDILOU |
Posted - 23 Feb 2010 : 5:32:07 PM
I have had a delivery today of the £4 hay as opposed to the £30 big bale hayledge so I will see how they like it, they have been wasting so much of the hayledge I understand that farmers must make a living , but they will lose customers who cant afford to keep up with the rising costs, |
| nicolanapper |
Posted - 23 Feb 2010 : 4:25:39 PM
I think perhaps it is just a reflection of our times!! Just bought one bag of nuts, 1 mix and one Happy Hoof, cost £23! It must have gone up by nearly 25% these past 2 or 3 years. We are lucky, I have just two horses now and 30 acres so in summer they only need grass, but it is very expensive to keep horses. It seems here in the South east there are not enough farms making hay, and too many horses!!! Nicky |
| pinkvboots |
Posted - 23 Feb 2010 : 1:13:25 PM
We are in Essex and are paying £4.50 a bale, it was £3.50 in November but our stockist is buying in as he has run out of his own stuff, it is quite course but they are eating it, the bales are a good size I am getting through 3 a week for one horse as much as he will eat, although the hay was cheaper I needed an extra one some weeks. I was paying £5.00 a bale last year at a different yard so cant really complain. |
| Jingo |
Posted - 23 Feb 2010 : 12:11:33 PM
We have been selling large round bales of lovely meadow hay for £25 delivered locally - nearly all gone. Our haylage bales are huge probably weigh approx half a tonne!!! All triple wrapped and treated with an organic microbe to help fermentation and keep once opened but they are costly at £40 per bale.
Last year was an awful hay making year for some we were really lucky and made all ours without ANY rain on it. Think we have enough haylage left for the next couple of years!!
I agree over the last few years, costs have increased tenfold for the making of hay and haylage but prices have not increased that much. Gone are the days it was cheap to keep horses!!! |
| jaybird |
Posted - 23 Feb 2010 : 11:44:24 AM
Hi all
Surely this cannot be a shock it was reported in the H&H last year that it could possibly get to £7.00 a bale before the new 2010 cut...so people were well warned.... it's even getting short in France with all the snow it's easily making 20 euros a large round !!!
Beryl
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