I have been noticing some complaints on the local Craigslist about how high hay prices are this year, and the price difference between Central Oregon and hay from the Valley. This post is meant to show why hay prices are as high as they are, and why it is justifiable. As a hay farmer, I am naturally biased, but this blog is intended to educate, and I will use numbers directly off my budget, and I welcome any readers who see any errors in my math to comment.
Before I jump into the math part of this post, there are other reasons why hay is high this year.
- Jump in commodity prices. This winter, wheat and corn to near all-time highs, and since farmers can lock in their price for their crop, many plowed under their hay acres in favor of other crops. This happened all over the country, not just in Oregon.
- Lack of carry-over stocks. Lots of hay got drenched last year, especially 3rd cutting in Washington. That meant premium hay was hard to get; dairies and feedlots had a hard time finding the quality hay needed for milking cows and feeder steers. Most farms don’t sell out until late winter, but this year, most everyone was sold out by December. That meant there were 6 months of VERY little hay on the market.
- Several years of historically low hay prices. Many hay farmers in Central Oregon face tighter budgets than other areas because of our shorter growing season. When prices drop, many farms barely get by. So when prices finally do climb, they climb pretty high, but usually drop back down after more acres are planted. Simple supply and demand principles.
So now I want to jump into the numbers of growing hay.
Below is a list of costs per acre assuming the hay is put up in 80# small bales and three cuttings with a total yield of 5 tons per acre.
- Power $80
- Fertilizer $250
- Harvesting $195 ($65 per acre per cutting)
Total = $525 per acre, and that is not counting the cost of water delivery, cost of the land, or all the hours spend irrigating. Those costs differ greatly between farms.
If the yield is 5 tons an acre, at $200 per acre, that is $1000 an acre. $1000 – $525 = $475 an acre – cost of the land, water, and irrigating labor. So lets say the hay grower makes $200 an acre, if he farms 100 acres, his profit is $20,000 for the whole year. In order to make that profit, the grower spend $52,500 in costs. Not exactly a great business plan. However some areas have better yield, such as Culver and Madras, but overall, the profit is very small compared to the amount of capital the farmer has into the hay. But its true, hay farmers will make money this year, will we get rich? Hardly. But the $20,000 payment on the baler will sure look less scary….
Some have commented on how much cheaper hay that is grown in the valley is. (The “valley” being land on the west side of the Cascades.) Hay grown in the valley has the advantage of being irrigated primarily by rain, which saves farmers a lot of money, and that is reflected in the lower prices. However valley hay is usually lower quality, both in palatability and nutrition content.
I understand that it is hard to swallow coughing up $200 a ton for hay to feed horses, but the prices are set for a reason. Yes, farmers will make money this year, but remember that we are farming for a profit. We have huge amounts of capital tied up in our crop and we deserve to make a return on our investment.
If you have any thoughts on this, please comment!
Central Oregon Hay 
As I am not a farmer I still say “well said” I am glad a farmer stepped up and explained to these ungrateful “flaggers”
I understand your point, but am still being forced to go to the valley for the not so great Orchard Grass at $100 a ton. I run a horse rescue and do not rely on outside $$ for any of the feed, hay or anything. And as much as I would like to keep our money here in Central Oregon, I just cannot.
I do commend you for continuing to grow hay as there are others not able to go outside the area to get a deal.
This is all and good and I appreciate the effort you have gone too. But it still does not explain why your hay is more expensive than anywhere else in Oregon. Period. They pay out just as much to get their hay ready to sell also. But they sell it for half the price. They can afford too so there should be no reason why CO farmers can;t. They just say it is a FREE MARKET. That does not cut it.
I am in agreement with the previous 2 posts. I know many including myself who have owned horses forever that are struggling more than ever to keep feed in front of their horses now. Most of us know exactly how much hay we need each year and approximately how much we will need to buy it. I had budgeted $150/ton for premium orchard grass, which is more than I paid for locally-grown premium hay last year. Last year, I bought hay from multiple growers and the *most* I paid was $130/ton. When I see an average price of $180 – $200/per ton for lower quality “pasture mix” hay and $220 – $250 for orchard grass, well, that just isn’t going to fly.
I understand that Central Oregon hay is better quality than hay from anywhere else, so I do expect to pay a bit more for it , but not double! I’m sorry, but it isn’t THAT special. I also understand about commodities and that more and more farmers are growing corn instead of hay because the government is subsidizing the corn growers substantially. I don’t blame farmers at all for wanting to grow the crops that make them most money. However, it’s not just the valley growers that are selling their hay for half the price that it is being advertised here. There are many hay farmers advertising weed-free, high-quality orchard grass for under $4.00/bale who are also east of the Cascades. I haven’t seen hay offered here for less than $8.00/bale! They more than likely have to water their fields just like Central Oregon farmers do, so I still don’t get why the growers in Central Oregon have higher costs than growers in Northeast or Southeast Oregon.
I agree dana. I have been doing tons of research all over Oregon and CO farms are price gouging us big time almost double from last year is insane. I would love to support my local farmers but it seams they are not supporting us. I am transporting large amounts of high quality hay in from the valley and selling to people at a much lower cost delivery included. So until the CO farmers come down on prices which I am sure they won’t I am doing whatever I can to get affordable hay to me and my fellow horse people who are desprate to feed their horses but can’t afford the prices.
And that’s exactly how the free market works, people will find cheaper substitutes and that will drive the CO hay prices back down…just doesn’t seem to be working so you’re probably not factoring in all the hidden costs, such as time to find it, fuel price to transport, cost of lower quality on possible vet bills, etc. I think its insane that you are “blaming the farmers”…don’t buy from them. If your boss offered you a raise, would you turn it down? Quit whining and go with the valley hay. I don’t think there are any hard feelings amongst the local farmers who are getting the $200/ton that you are buying someone elses hay. they are obviously still selling it or they would lower the prices!!!
Bingo, Dave!
Fair pricing is “whatever the buyer will pay.” Period. If a seller is honest, provides good service, is courteous and easy to deal with, the value is there and the buyer makes the deal.
Most reputable business people learn quickly that It is short-sighted to overcharge because the marketplace will hold the seller accountable and his business will suffer in the future. Sort of like killing the golden goose, to sell the golden egg. Frank’s open disclosure is courageous.
Hey Frank,
Stumbled across your blog. I farm hay in kansas. Sounds like you have some spoiled horse people out there. I don’t sell much horse hay, mostly to dairies and feedlots; but I do know if you offered quality horse hay for 200 a ton in the midwest you would have people lined up till every bale was gone and offering to buy hay you haven’t produced yet. Especially if that is the price for an 80# bale. I don’t know what fuel source you irrigate with but with our high irrigation prices 200 a ton is not much above break-even. As far as hay doubling in price, our hay is selling for 2.5 times as much as last year and still climbing.
Good Luck
Frank,
I too just stumbled onto your blog and think you are doing great things at least in trying to educate people as to the costs. I farm in Western Nebraska and have many of the same issues, I have pretty much given up selling to the horse market because of many of the customer’s demands vs the cost, in fact I exclusively put up large squares these days to lower my total costs, labor for small squares was approaching $4/bale!!. True, you can go elsewhere for cheaper hay but it will not be the same and there will also be many hidden costs. At the same time they must also realize that at some point if you do not make money you will stop producing and their options will be further limited and they will be forced to go further and further away to get deals or the pricing will go out of sight. At the end of the day it is as you said….a simple case of supply and demand. If they are complaining now at $200/ton, wait until the fall and winter when it gets worse. In my area we are getting calls every day to send hay to OK, TX and for export as there simply are not enough acres and when you couple that with extreme drought…..hold on!
Has anyone taken into account that both diesel fuel and fertilizer are both up this year by more than 35%.
No one is disputing that fertilizer and diesel prices have increased…I own a small business that operates trucks that run on diesel, so I am very familiar with that expense.
What the growers around here are not addressing is why there is such a disparity in pricing between Central Oregon hay and hay that is grown in the valley. The farmers over there buy fertilizer, diesel and water just like the farmers over here do, yet they are selling their hay for half the price per ton and are still making money on it.
Yes, the hay is known for being of better quality here, but I find it difficult to believe that it costs twice as much to produce here as it does there.
Have you asked the valley farmers why their hay is so much cheaper? Maybe you should, it is because valley hay is a by product. They have virtually no irrigation costs (mother nature provides the water), and whether you want to believe it or not, the quality is way more than twice as good in central oregon as the valley. Be honest about it, fuel to go there, wear and tear on your vehicle, your labor, the amount that you have to feed your beloved pet, future expenses that are unexpected, retirement, health care etc (guess what, most of us don’t have a retirement plan as we cannot afford one, and a lot of us don’t have health insurance either, and in case you didn’t know, agriculture is the second most hazardous occupation, behind logging) and then and only then can you speak about the costs associated with putting up hay. And the bottom line is, if you don’t want to pay what the farmer is asking, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! Your choice. I have yet to see (and I sure could be wrong, there might be one) but I have yet to see a discussion like this about the prices of food at the grocery store, the prices that you spend on yourselves personally, etc. Farmers do not due this for the money, because guess what, there isn’t any, they do this for the way of life. Think back to Paul Harvey’s Dodge commercial on the superbowl, that is why. And yes, I do understand that you do not understand, but we do, so we will keep fighting like hell to feed all of those who fight like hell to put us out of business every day. Have a good day.
If you own horses farmers assume you have money. Most horse owners would disagree with this notion. Would you feel bad ripping off somebody that you know makes and has alot more money than you? Its the american way. Is there really a hay shortage or is that just what farmers want you to think so high prices can be justified. In Idaho we receiving so much rain in April and May farmers did not have to water once and had a much higher yield. But there is a hay shortage. Also last year many farmers did have hay left over they just decided to hoard it all. I almost feel like it is some sort of scam. Farmers are not economist, they do not know how much hay is being produced, they do not know if there truly a shortage. But somehow this story creates a sense of fear of buy now or pay even more later. How do farmers know? Very few lack any college education and barely have much of a high school one at that.
I am sorry, but if you are going to flame farmers for being ignorant, uneducated thieves, shouldn’t you at least use punctuation in your flame? “If you own horses farmers assume you have money. ” It should be , If you own horses, farmers assume you have money.
That is just the first example of the errors in your post. There are many others.
Also, what exactly, are you trying to say in this sentence? ” Very few lack any college education and barely have much of a high school one at that.” If your point is they lack a college education, then your sentence should read this way. Very few have a college education … The way you wrote it means that they are college educated.
Farmers are many things, and economists are one of those things. They have to be jacks of all trades or they do not keep their farms very long.
Well, I don’t grow hay, but I work among the growers daily here on the West side of the Cascades. You almost never see any irrigation here. It rains a lot! Another thing, hay here is a by product of grass seed. The farmer here gets paid for the seed and the bonus of the left over hay. So I say kudos to them for getting double bang for their work. But it also explains why its cheaper.
They fertilize to get the most out of the seed. They DONT irrigate! And as stated, it does not have the quality of the CO grass.
I have lived in rural areas most all of my 52 years. Horse people ARE difficult for the most part. For the most part, they have money and an attitude to go with it. Not all! But a good enough ratio to earn the reputation. Kind of like Lawyers and Car Salesmen. People I worked with didn’t have a darn thing, but they had horses. Drive old trucks, but had nice horse trailers. Kids wearing outgrown clothes and shoes, but the horses had nice tack and anything they needed. Its silly really!
This isn’t a bash against horse people at all. Its more of an explanation. Everyone has a different view. Some just seem to be reluctant to see the whole story if it doesn’t fit their outlook on life.
As a matter of fact, we have been looking at property in C.O. At first, I avoided anything with hay or alfalfa as a problem with the property. Then I remembered growing up around ag and thought it would be great for my grandchildren to grow up with too. So I did some research on what the bottom line is. Hay wont support a family. There isn’t enough money in it for the 230.00 a ton. If I hire out the cutting and baling, I could offset my house payment. It certainly doesn’t pay all the costs and wouldn’t pay if I had to buy my own equipment.
So if you want to feed your chosen hobby a certain type of feed, then pay for it and enjoy. Before you go trashing a farmer for providing what you want to buy, try researching a bit and have a clue about what you are talking about . There are reasons things are what they are. The open market is a very good referee. If you don’t play nice, you are going to get slapped down. p.s. I don’t remember hearing any of those nay sayers griping when prices were in the toilet and didn’t cover the price of getting it out of the field………….Do you?
I live in the Midwest, own 15 horses, raise (and sell) some hay and work in the livestock feed business. Premium hay in the Midwest is priced at $200 and going up (if you can find it). Hay acreage has been planted to corn and beans – areas where crop farmers are making a profit. Most of this hay is being bought by the livestock industry where feeding animals is not a luxury or sideline- it is a necessity for them to make a living to feed and support their own families.
At $100/ton for any decent quality hay someone is not figuring in their true costs – fuel, machinery, land costs, fertilizer, labor etc. Just as costs for cars, fuel etc. have gone up for the average consumer so have these costs for crop producers. I would buy all that $100 hay as soon as you can because it will go fast as soon as someone figures out it is there and they can ship it to their area and feed it cheaper -like one enterprising person did on a previous post here. My guess is by fall, when people figure out how truly short we are on hay acres and how miserable the weather has been to get up premium hay (in much of our marketplace) all of Franks hay will be gone. My costs are the same per acre when I get poor quality hay due to weather risk (like unending rain or drought) as to put up the premium hay. Premium hay is priced where it is for a reason- it is the only way we can hopefully cover the huge capital and weather risk we take every year on our crops.
I won’t pretend to know why the price difference in different area’s of Oregon. I do know if they are charging $4 a bale they are not covering their cost of production if they are a commercial producer, it doesn’t matter what part of the country they are in. I will say this to Frank. You don’t have to justify your math to any buyer. Charge as much as the market will bear. I don’t remember any hay buyer telling me what a good citizen I was when hay prices were dirt cheap and they were feeding their horses for next to nothing. Now all of a sudden we are gouging them and scamming them. That is exactly why I don’t sell to horse buyers. I don’t know if you realize how wild this hay market is in the midwest. There is NO hay in texas, oklahoma, kansas, eastern colorado; relatively speaking. There are a lot of hay brokers across the country that would love your hay and will love it even more this winter, as other poster’s here have noted. And they will buy it by the semi-load, not nickel and dime you over a few bales. There’s always backhaul trucks coming out of your area heading east that are looking for loads. Anyway I’m sure I am not telling you anything you didn’t already know. Good luck and hope your hay goes up well.
NO hay in Texas? Are you sure about that? I called my friend who lives in San Antonio and when I mentioned the hay shortage, her response was “what hay shortage?” She said she had no problem finding hay at reasonable prices. The farmer’s hay barns she drives by are FULL and that the feed stores aren’t buying any more hay because they are FULL. The feed stores in San Antonio are selling 80 lb grass hay at $6.00/bale and 100 lb alfalfa for $14/bale and that’s at RETAIL prices! Central Oregon growers are charging $8 – 10/bale for grass hay. When she checked with other horse owners in various parts of the state, not one of them knew anything about a hay shortage either.
I also have several friends in Eastern Washington said they had more than enough hay there also.
Apparently, the so-called “hay shortage” is nothing but a big fat scare tactic to cause panic and artificially increase the prices.
Wow Dana
Please explain to me why the writer or any other grower, builder, retailer owes you a better deal on anything. Don’t like the price of gas? Sell your car. A horse is a luxury. We all have luxuries we can or cannot afford. It’s not the growers job to help you afford your “luxury”. If he can’t sell his crop than he will have to make an adjustment. Pretty simple really. I am thinking of getting into the small farm hay growing business. My girlfriend has 4.5 acres in irrigated orchard grass. She has offered several horse rescue facilities the opportunity to cut and bale it and take it for free. No takers. Know why? The expense. They don’t want to pay the equipment, fuel and labor. But you want the farmer to absorb the overhead for the sake of your hobby. I will buy haying equipment even if it’s old and tired (priced mid size tractors lately?. I won’t discount it when it’s ready for sale. I will be doing it to make a little money.
Nice start to a Blog site here.
I farm approx 400 acres in the Puget Sound area….Western Wa, putting up about 1000 tons of square bales, primarily Orchard/Timothy mix…. I suppose our hay here is most similar to that produced in Western Or.
I try to make the best hay product possible in a bale package for the local market. Every year seems to have its challenges and successes.
On the very day that we began mowing our first cutting this season, June 1st, I sold the last 50 bales from last season’s crop…..I’ve been pricing at $200-$240 since last fall.
Being in Western Wa I’m “competing”, on one end of the scale with numerous hobby farmers who all “dump” their bales onto the market at the same time every summer. It isn’t pretty. Prices run anywhere from $2 to $4 bale ($60-$160 ton) on these small farms….until it is all gone. The other end of the spectrum is represented by the retail stores and out of state marketers offering “premium” grasses at $240- $300 ton.
This week I drove thru the Orting valley on my way to pick up parts at the JD dealer. I saw a sign on the side of the road offering hay at $4 bale in the field…I detoured to investigate as I wanted to see what I was up against there. It was Saturday. I saw an old guy hunched over in the seat of an antique tractor pulling an even older baler which had a young kid sitting ontop of the bale chamber attempting to aid the bales poop out of the chute by kicking with his heel on the top of the bale. About every third bale was broken strung out behind in line. The rest were ragged banana bales. The grass that they were baling had been down for 10 days, bleached yellow and had been showered on for 5 days. Second growth was popping up thru the cut grass.
What amazed me though was that there was a line of a dozen trucks and trailers on the field and backed out onto the street of folks who were waiting for a turn to pick up these bales to take home to feed to animals. WTF!
What”s my point? I don’t have one. Like I said above I try to make good hay.
I have paid for, good condition equipment that breaks from time to time. Last week my baler pto shaft broke. $200. This week my mower had a conditioner bearing go out. $150. Last season my raking tractor which has 11,000 hrs on it finished up the year using one gallon of oil a day. Rebuilt motor: parts and machine shop labor $2000, I swapped it out myself. Year before my delivery truck lost compression in two cylinders, rebuilt 454 motor swapped out myself, then a couple months later the trany needed replaced.
I’ve talked to a thousand hay customers. I had essentially the same conversation everytime with each one trying to impress folks with the features and benefits of my products and impart a sense that I care about making a good product and they should support me…. Price is the main factor in my opinion. Quality isn’t so important to most folks.
These days I’m much more apt to say “This is what I’ve got. Do you want it or not”. I’ve become the grouchy old farmer that when I met them I used to be puzzled by.
We grow hay, and raise beef cattle, sheep and horses in the Mid-Atlantic region. My family and I have struggled to keep the family farm and we are not in the business of supporting other peoples hobbies. Horse owners are the most fickle customers we have to deal with. There is good reason for this, owning horses is for the most part a LUXURY!
If the stock you raise can’t support itself on the land or your pocketbook, then ship it. period. This goes for rabbits to rhinos.
I’m so tired of folks managing horses like pets and then complaining about the costs. Are these folks griping about the price of pet food? They should buy more quality hay and less “foo foo dust”. (the equine supply industry is a billion dollar a year business and most supplements are unproven scientifically)
Basic animal husbandry: If you keep problems on the farm then all you’ll have is problems. Good stock has vigor, which has been bred out of many horse breeds by… PEOPLE!
I care for each animal I raise equally. From a mama Angus that tries to kill me when weighing her calf, to the 20 year old mare that is like an old friend. But if I couldn’t afford to keep either, or they were chronically ill, I would ship them or put them down. This is a truth of having any animal and even life itself. You have to accept the bad with the good.
Bottom line: Do what’s best for the animal, not what makes YOU feel good.
Support your local farmer, if you don’t be prepared to keep paying more and more in one way or another.
Many people in Central Oregon whether top line breeders or just 4Hers have had to cut back on horses because of the price of hay as I have. And I am sure we aren’t the only ones. But in Central Oregon it seems to be more prevelent here. And just like your post Farmer Al……farmers here think their hay is gold.
I raised my top line bred horses on coastal hay for years with no health problems. Here in CO the soil is crappy, in the valley the soil is rich. But it doesn’t mean they don’t need fertilizer and irrigation. No, todays farmers are spoiled. They go out and buy their fancy new equipment with air conditioning and make us pay for it. Do the math. 200 acres of orchard hay will on average grow at the least 3 ton of hay per acre. So that makes 600 ton of hay on that 200 acres. Now average the price at $225 a ton (since some farmers sell it for $200 to $250 a ton) and that would make it a total of $135,000. And what…….half of that would be profit? Still $67,000 is nice wage for at most a 6 month work period. More than twice what I make all year.
It is just sad that this also could soon put an end to our 4H groups that learn so much from owning and caring for horses and other animals. I know it gave my daughter a good sense of responsibility as she was growing up. Do you really want to deny them this in the world we have today?
I know we have not had a good example from our countries leaders the last couple decades, but do we really want to be like them and just make it harder for everyone else? What happened to helping your neighbors and being a GOOD neighbor. I don’t know what I would do without a good neighbor. We always help each other out. Farmers and ranchers use to be the first to rally around to help neighbors raise a new barn or help with fields when one wasn’t able to do it because of injury or illness.
Power and Greed is what we are getting from our Governemnt and Riche. Are we really going to sink to their level?
Update on southern Iowa hay. As a hay grower, I compete yearly with Conservation Reserve Program acres, that when mowed, consist of this years weeds and last years undergrowth. If it can be put into a bale, it’s called hay! This past week, I was offered $65 / ton for 4X5, 1200 lb net wrapped, good quality, mixed grass hay. Same dollars this individual would pay for weeds and dead grass. Is it any wonder hay ground is being converted to $7.00 / bu corn ground?
I’ve “given” away a lot of hay to pickey horse owners over the years. Most don’t have a clue. They won’t bat an eye at $400 / ton, flavor sented horse feed from the feed store. It’s always a relief when their check clears. Surprising how many don’t! I’ll bet that statement will ring a bell with many producers!
Yeah, welcome to trying to compete with the Feds like the rest of us. They are trying to destroy America and need to be voted out NOW!!!!!
I believe in supporting local business as much as possible, but this is the last year I will buy hay locally if the growers continue to keep their prices artificially high, particularly for hay that is of marginal quality. I bought 1st cutting orchard grass hay this year that cost $180/ton and it is 50% weeds and cheat. It’s worth closer to $80/ton and is basically cow hay being advertised as horse-quality hay. The $200/ton hay this grower had was only marginally better.
Fankly, I am unimpressed.
If this continues, Central Oregon growers will be hoping California dairies buy up all their hay because they’ll be the only ones they will be able to sell it to.
Folks, we are in CRAZY economic times. The global economy, commodity markets and the price of food in are in general chaos. Unfortunately it’s largely due due fear and uncertainty. We are sitting on the largest uninvested amount of cash in the history of this country. Nothing is more anti-American than holding onto your money and waiting for the “bottom” to invest. The only way to a healthy economy is to spend some cash wisely= locally. Most retailers use low prices to lure folks in and charge more in the long run. Because you can’t haggle with retailers you pay it. Generally speaking, farmers are down to earth. We try to help folks out buy working with them only to have them back out of orders and complain about quality and price. And we must try to make money back on lost cuttings as well, this is a major factor in bad hay seasons.
Most farmers I know are stimulating the economy buy making capital investments. (purchase of new equipment, purchasing seed/fertilizer, hiring labor, construction of buildings etc.) AND Most of those farmers are doing so by having huge loans and their land in hock. The investments made lead to one thing: How quickly can I get this crop off the field to preserve the highest quality for the lowest cost,? Period.
Can you imagine any business where you would basically put cash into the ground and hope for the best possible weather, low pests/weeds and dumb luck to MAYBE make 20% (never 50%) profit in a GREAT year? This should open peoples eyes about establishing a positive relationship with your local farmer. A healthy local economy is where it all starts.
Every year we sell out of hay and have to turn customers away. This tells me that are product is in demand. We love nothing more than to have repeat customers year to year. We offer forage analysis and price according to quality, our inputs and regional markets. In the Mid-Atlantic we have to compete with imported hay from Canada, just as Oregon hay buyers must compete with the Asian export market.
The bottom line, not power and greed is what drives any good business. If farmers were greedy, we would sell our land and wait for the market to crash to reinvest. (like most large businesses are doing right now). It’s not about power and greed, it’s about making a living and It’s about time farmers get a chance to do so.
I agree the times are crazy for all parts of the American Economy and the Feds and the rabid greenies are not helping. They want the rest of us to live in the 1800’s while they drive huge SUV’s, spend millions on vacations, give hard earned money away to those who refuse to work, and want to provide medical care for free for everyone in Mexico that sneaks across the border. They are irresponsible children and we need to vote them out and get term limits as soon as possible.
My husband and I just happened upon this blog. We own (well the bank owns! – we figure we’ll have it paid for by the time we are 75 years old) a farm in the interior of B.C. (that’s in Canada!) This is in response to some of the horse owners that have been bad mouthing farmers hay prices. I think it was Joyce that commented farmers are greedy and are purchasing fancy new equipment with air conditioning! So…. am I correct, should farmers be operating open cab tractors and put up with working in -20deg to +100deg weather so that you don’t have to spend so much on your hay? Should we be like that farmer who operates his antique equipment with the young boy on the chamber to keep the bales pooping out? WTF? Do we not work toward a goal of being able to go back to the bank to borrow more money to upgrade our equipment? My husband is a preventative maintenance person – he does most of our repairs himself, but after years of use, even the most well cared for piece of equipment needs to be replaced. We put 16,000 bales through our square baler per year and it is 15 years old, our round baler is 12 years old, and I could go on, but you get the picture. My husband keeps his maintenance program up in hopes they will last us another 5 years minimum. We are the first to help our neighbors, and we have customers that have been purchasing hay from us for 25 years. We try to keep our prices competitive and we do realize that we cannot price ourselves out of the business. But that is the key word. Business. If we can’t pay our bills, eventually there will be no business. Good luck to all you farmers that farm for a living. I hope people will come to understand that we cannot be compared with weekend farmers who sell a few ton per year and have very little overhead.
Sherry,
My prayers are with you and your husband. I have seem ancient farm equipment still working and I know some of it is repaired with bailing wire, spit, and love. I wish you the best and I hope you can get the best equipment to run your business in all types of weather. I as a horse owner appreciate all of you and the hard life farming is. So just to say thank you is the best I can do and ask God to bless your farm with fair weather, rich soil, and good rains.
Thanks for the explanation of costs. Yet, I have heard that the reason California is so low on hay for horses and cattle is that most of the hay is being shipped to Japan and China. It puzzles that a land like China cannot produce enough hay to feed their own horses and sell to Japan at a profit to the Chinese. I be grudge no farmer or other person a profit on their work and am paying $20 per bale for Alfalfa and $18.50 a bale for forage. Grasses are over 23.00 per bale and the bales are getting smaller and smaller. Last week it took two bales of forage hay to feed to horses and I measure out the hay by the pound and supplement with cubes and pellets to keep every thing in balance. The store where I got the hay was shocked when I told them it took two bales. I usually get a week from each bale to feed two horses. Not sure why the bales were smaller and the price higher but none the less I appreciate your information and wish you the best. It also surprises me that corn etc. have gone up so high since the mid-west grows it by the tonnage and we have had is stored in barns etc for years. So much so that the government used to sell it to China and Russia well below our market cost. Well this just goes to show how little I know about the AG industry. Best wishes to all farmers out there especially those in California’s central valley where the congress caused drought drove many small farmers out of business and the proposed high speed rail will take away many family farms if it gets built.
This whole discussion is so simple. Hay is worth what someone will pay for it. It is not worth $100/ton because a couple spoiled baby boomer horse lovers think it should be. “Worth” means what someone will pay for it. It doesn’t matter one lick what the production costs are. If it cost the farmer $400/ton to produce the hay it is still not “worth” $400/ton. Likewise, if it cost $5/ton to produce, it is still “worth” $200/ton. It is worth $200/ton because people will buy it for $200/ton. All you whiners can blame other hay buyers for hay prices. If you don’t like the price, DON’T BUY IT!!!!
Typical unintelligent response. Must be a farmer. Just because the BIG hay farmers ship their hay to Texas for the drought and over seas for minimum of $300 a ton does not give them the right to sell it here for even $200 a ton. Many here in Central Oregon are going to the valley for their hay this year. We are tired of the fearmongering (hay shortage) and greed they throw out around here. Farmers just don’t get it. We can make or break you and I hope we break you. The problem is it won’t break the BIG hay farmers but it will the little farmers because they are trying to follow in the footsteps of the Big farmer. Try looking around Central Oregon and find out how much the horse and livestock population has diminished in just the last few years. All because of hay prices. You see it up on Craigslist alot. “Can’t afford to feed anymore so am selling.”
I fed my show horses for years on coastal and valley hay and they did great, showed well nad were never sick. We don’t need high cost hay or alfalfa to keep them in good condition. That is what supplements are for. I still have to supplement my horses on the high priced orchard hay as I did on the coastal and valley hay. Why can’t we all help each other out rather than be divided as this country has become. Which is a big shame.
The price discovery is set when a transaction occurs. If you are not willing to pay the asking price, do not make the purchase. I don’t think a pair of jeans are worth $75, so I won’t spend that much. You are correct, if no one buys at the asking price, the price will drop. If the farmer has more costs in producing what he is selling and no one buys at his asking price, he will be out of business. By the same token, you have no right to tell that farmer where, when or to whom he decides to sell. If he wants to sell to China, more power to him! I really don’t think he needs to be worried about YOU breaking him, though.
Farmers aren’t there to help you or anybody. They are in business to make money. If you can’t afford the hay, sell the horses and stick to something smaller. It’s that simple.
Joyce,
“Typical unintelligent response. Must be a farmer.”
“does not give them the right to sell it here for even $200 a ton”
“I hope we break you”
“We don’t need high cost hay or alfalfa to keep them in good condition.”
“Why can’t we all help each other out”
So farmers are dumb, farmers don’t have the right to sell their products at market value, you hope farmers go out of business, you don’t need their hay anyway, and you are entitled to recieve charity from farmers.
Would you just stop and listen to yourself? Farming is a business. Most farmers depend on that income. There are people who do it for a hobby and don’t care if they make money at it. Why don’t you buy a farm and become one of them. Then you can sell all your hay below cost and help people out.
Well said. Joyce is a fool and has no understanding of business. This probably explains why she has no money to pay the ‘market price’ for hay. Get a cheaper hobby Joyce.
Joyce…wow!!! What is it with you do gooder liberals that criticize those you disagree with as “unintelligent”…me thinks thou protest too much. Maybe you’re the one who doesn’t get it.
I was reading this blog to get info on raising hay. We own horses and as the price of hay has risen, we are looking for ways to offset costs…growing alfalfa hay on our property. As I am looking into this I’ve run intro $1000’s of dollars to prepare our 2 pastures (only 15 acres total). This does not begin to include machinery or the type of irrigation equipment needed to grow good hay. But never for a second have I begrudged any money our local farmers make. The price of hay is rising here in SW Montana and many ranchers are shipping hay to Colorado, TX, etc for much higher dollars. I was raised to overcome difficulties and rise to the challenge. If I want horses and hay is costly, I don’expect others to rescue me….I know the pressure these ranchers and farmers operate under. My wife and I will come up with a solution. Matter of fact I am finding it exciting and challenging. My horses are not your problem. They’re a beautiful and amazing luxury!!
As far as people helping others, my wife and I could not love our neighbors and community more. When I came down with throat cancer 3 years ago and couldn’t work, our neighbors were incredible. They would come over and complete jobs without being asked, and when we offered to gift them back, we were promptly rebuffed with “this is what we do as neighbors here”.
I wish you well on your journey. Tom
Don’t like the price of hay……….. THEN RAISE YOUR OWN!!!!!!!
I don’t know what the bitch is about $8.00 a bale hay? I just paid $21.00 per bale for alfalfa and orchard grass hay is more. I’ve decided to put 80 acres, that I bought for an investment, into hay production. I’m $50,000.00 + into used equipment and next is soil preparations. OMG people!! and I haven’t produce one bale yet. Get a grip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is in CA. and our land isn’t cheap either.
I have about 7 acres of hay in Clatskanie Oregon, and I do like to help farmers that do need a break on the cost of hay.
You cut, you haul, make me an offer, I am like I said, generous.
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