Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living What Is Hay Worth?

The hay talk has me wondering about the price of hay. What is it where you are?

I am going to say it greatly depends on the kind of hay, and size of the bales. I feed round bales to my cows exclusively, this year feeding wheat that we cut and rolled while it was in the dough stage. Good feed, but made a mistake in not using bale wrap and storing it outside without covering it. That means I've got some waste, and will have to buy a load to finish out the winter. I have a Mennonite run produce auction a few miles from me, and they have a hay sale ever Friday. I haven't been in a few weeks, but the last time I was there, round bales of what we call horse quality, were bringing around $60 a roll. That is usually at least a 4X5 or 5X6 roll, and will usually be a mix of orchardgrass, or timothy, or fescue, or alfalfa, in some combination. Good grass hay will usually bring $45-50 a roll. Lesser quality will usually fetch from $20 on up.

I don't really keep up with the square bales, because I don't feed it. The one exception is that I do sometimes buy some large squares for my horses. I bought a couple earlier from a neighbor for $50. It was good grass hay, and high quality. The problem is, my horses waste it, so I bought some smaller rolls from another neighbor for $50. They were also good quality grass, with a little alfalfa. As I said, I'll have to find a few more rolls to finish out the winter, and have been waiting to figure out just how much I'll need. Just guessing, but I'm sure it will cost me about $40 for a large roll.

an actress by the first name of Rita

My, my John, 24,003 posts like that?

Just like me, most of them have been totally useless; but I have fun.

This covers my area pretty good.
ML_GR310
Moses Lake, WA Fri Jan 12, 2018 USDA Market News

Washington-Oregon (Columbia Basin) Weekly Hay Report

Tons: 2625 Last Week: no report Last Year: 6300

No trends due to the holidays and market not report the last two weeks.
Trade slow this week with light to moderate demand. Timothy for export
remains slow. Competition from Canadian interests and Australian oat hay
producers hurting US exporters. Retail/Feedstore steady. All prices are
dollars per ton and FOB the farm or ranch unless otherwise stated. The NW
hay expo will be held on Jan. 17-18th 2018. At the Three Rivers Convention
Center in Kennewick, WA.

Tons Price Wtd Avg Comments
Alfalfa
Mid Square
Premium/Supreme 800 155.00-155.00 155.00 Bleached
Fair/Good 1300 145.00-155.00 150.00 Export
Fair 500 140.00-140.00 140.00 Tarped

Orchard Grass
Small Square
Premium 25 215.00-215.00 215.00 Retail/Stable

Alfalfa hay test guidelines, (for domestic livestock use and not
more than 10% grass), used with visual appearance and intent of sale
Quantitative factors are approximate and many factors can affect
feeding value.

ADF NDF RFV TDN-100% TDN-90% CP-100%
Supreme <27 <34 >185 >62 >55.9 >22
Premium 27-29 34-36 170-185 60.5-62 54.5-55.9 20-22
Good 29-32 36-40 150-170 58-60 52.5-54.5 18-20
Fair 32-35 40-44 130-150 56-58 50.5-52.5 16-18
Utility >35 >44 <130 <56 <50.5 <16

RFV calculated using the Wis/Minn formula. TDN calculated using the
western formula. Values based on 100% dry matter, TDN both 90% and 100%.

Quantitative factors are approximate, and many factors can affect feeding
Value. Values based on 100 pct. dry matter. End usage may influence hay
price or value more than testing results.

ADF = Acid Detergent Fiber; NDF = Neutral Detergent Fiber; RFV =
Relative Feed Value; TDN = Total Digestible nutrients.

Grass Hay guidelines
Quality Crude Protein Percent
Premium Over 13
Good 9-13
Fair 5-9
Utility Under 5

Contracted price - Price and conditions of sale agreed upon when buyer and
Seller negotiates a transaction.

Source: USDA Market News, Moses Lake, WA.
Greg Sanders 509-393-1343 MosesLake.LPGMNams.usda.gov
www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ML_GR310.txt
http://www.ams.usda.gov/market-news/livestock-poultry-grain
greg.sanders2ams.usda.gov

0945p gds rlc

1/2/2018

Per Bale

Large Squares: $55.00-75.00

Rounds: $32.50-60.00

Small Squares: $3.00

Fodder: No Test

1/4/2018

Per Bale

Large Squares: 35.00-67.50

Rounds: $20.00-85.00

Small Squares: $3.00-3.75

Fodder: $19.00-27.00

Large Square Straw: $25.00

That's all that matters. That was a goodun too!

In the past couple of years I've noticed bales of corn stalks that I had never seen before. I figure thes have to be cheap.

You boys will chit a turnip if I tell what we have to pay up here. We have to feed a large portion of the year too.

80.00 to 140.00 per bale at the last auction this past saturday,grass hay. 5x6 net wrapped rounds.

$50-$55 for 5x6 weighing 1600 pounds or so. That's coastal type grass hay.

Dang. that would break me. We have a local guy that is in the hay business, and puts up a lot of hay each year. He has some good hay, alfalfa, and he also bales chit and tries to pawn it off as good hay. We all laugh at how he thinks his hay is always worth more than anyone else's, but even his is not that high.

I feed 3 x 3 's about 800 pounds and they ran $105 last August. This was mountain timothy. Small squares are $11- $12.

Sorghum hay or haygrazer that looks like baled cornstalks are about $45-$50 for 3 x 3's

Those kind of prices have broke ranchers during a drought.

Damn near broke me a time or tow.

I had nice things that turned into round bales... Like bass boats, etc.

Bad times.

Yeah it is about triple what it should be.Only one cutting in the spring and it was only two thirds of what it should of been.Warmed up early,got the grass to going and then cooled back down and frosted stunting it.Then it quit raining may 16 and didnt rain again until the last week of august.Too little too late.People are running 4 hours south into missouri to get grass hay.

Alfalfa is running $150-180/ton around here. High priced given the drought.

Most hay around here is sold by the ton. I guess straw bales can be sold by the bale but hay is generally by weight.


We are currently feeding 5-6 ton of alfalfa a day but luckily we put up the majority of the hay ourselves. I guess we did buy around 100 ton as backup and that was $150/ton delivered.

I see alfalfa for $160 a ton in 1500# round bales. Some is a bit less but it is all expensive compared to last couple of years.

Went to the local hay sale today. Prices were all over the place. I saw some small squares of good clean grass hay go for a $1.75, which was pretty good bargain I thought. Other small squares, especially the alfalfa, went for $4 and up. The big squares sold well, with some alfalfa selling for $120. There wasn't as many round bales as normally there are, some good grass 5X6's brought $67, and some 5X6 wrapped grass hay brought $55. There were some smaller wrapped bales, mostly the high moisture baled kind, that brought in the $40 range.

I need a few more rolls, as mine isn't going as far as I'd planned on. May have struck a deal with one of the sellers there. I'll go get it, and save him the time and labor, plus the selling charges.

Dealers around here buy hay by the ton as it comes by semi's that has been weighed. They sell it by the bale though, as there isn't anything close to get it weighed. Plus a lot of locals that have a horse or two don't know that an average bale would be about 65 pounds and the dealers sell those 50pund bales for the price of a 65 pound bale. They buy 2-3 bales at a time and never know the difference

I got it in the shorts two years ago. A dealer was advertising 3x 3's for $95 so I bought a trailer load. I got them home and in the barn and something didn't look right.I measured them and they were 33" x 33" x 7 ft long.Probably didn't weigh 600 pounds. I went back and complained and he wouldn't make it right.I figured he owed me about $100, I let everyone I know about the deal and I am darn sure I cost him more than the $100 .

Around here,hay dealers are about as honest as used car salesmen.