Hay this season

[Michelle Clarke]

Hey everyone! Been so busy lately, have not had a chance to keep up with everything here, but there is some neat threads (LOVE hearing about the grey stallion!!).

Wondering what everyone is doing about hay this year... Even the grain prices are going up and up and up. Here where we are in Central Texas, we have had one decent cutting and one crappy cutting (low volume and brown by the time it was cut for the most part...). Most likely won't get another one in most places. We go through about 12-15 roundbales per month (used to only be in the winter months, but mostly no grass left now); and between 150-200 square bales per month. Right now I am paying $65.00 for small tipton roundbales and between $6-$8/square bale. Of course the cheaper ones I have to go get, so not much saving after adding in gas, our time and paying an extra hand to help load and unload.

My grain bill is now $600 per week, up from $400 not too long ago...

Two years ago, when we had a drought, I had roundbales shipped in (to the tune of $115+ each), but this year with diesel prices, I doubt that will be feasible.

Anyone have any ideas for supplementing hay? Some say beat pulp for up to 50% the ration, but you have to soak the molasses out of it....

How is it going in other parts of the US?

[dara]

Dose all beet pulp have molasses in it?? I dont think ours up here in oregon has it in it. I LOVE beet pulp for my horses. I am thinking of feeding it now because we also all out of pasture and hate feeding almost the same amount of hay as in winter. I dont feed lots of grain so my girls love thier beetpulp and it gives me the feeling of giving them a large portion of grain like i would like to be doing. Our hay this year was a really low yield! We got exactly half of last year. last year we got about 60 ton from our fields and this year only 30 ton. The bales are 100 lb bales and selling for about $170.00 a ton. most everthing that is good quality is a least 200.00 a ton. Lots of fields around here got rained on, the farmer got ahead of him self and cut ALOT of field all in one day then it rained hard:( I am glad he is not doing our feilds anymore!!
I cant imagime spending 600 a week on grain alone!!

[DianneC]

Alfalfa is $300 a ton here and Timothy and Grass are out of sight - they all have to be hauled over the mountains from Eastern Washington. We got 6 tons of local hay and hope to get more. It works out to $178 a ton. I like to feed it with a little alfalfa to balance the calcium. We started feeding a bit of hay each evening as the pasture is about gone, but had a good rain this week so it should start growing again. Our temperatures have been in the low 70's this week and around 50 at night, weird.

[angelsdream]

Luckily, we've got plenty (too much for our horses) of grass in our pastures - I've been having to keep Lakota and Cherokee both up in the Jenny Craig lot to keep there weight down.
We have been getting our own hay up this year fortunately, which is going to be really nice not having to pay for it this year. But if I had to buy it, square bales are going for $4.00 or $4.50 bale right now and will go up when winter gets here.

So far all the price increase's have not hurt me too bad. I dont' have near as many heads to feed as some of you, I feel so sorry for all you guys who are being hit hard by all this. It's a lose lose situation if you dont have grass right now. Everything is going up - hay,feed,diesel, etc. Like Michelle said, she's having to buy hay right now due to lack of rain and no grass, so add that on top of having to feed grain, and that will just carry right on into winter. She won't get a break.

[fantasykiger]

OH my word I gues I have to count myself lucky as well the hay prices are no more expensive then have been the past 2 yrs. We have had more then enough water over the winter and spring that the hay feilds are doing very well. hay farmers don't want rain in the summer when they are cutting we had a great 1st cutting and some are already on their second and will surely get a third by fall. I already have my grass hay on reserve for Sept. I get the bales off the field for $175 a ton. Outof the barn I was paying $210. But Alfalfa was alot cheaper then grass, some horse owners were buying it along with grass and feeding 50/50. But I think the price of alfafalfa is pretty much the same as grass now around here. I don't feed it so I'm not sure.

As far as grain prices ugh that is getting to me, feeding my chickens is no longer cheap. I do grain some of my horses and everyone gets their supplements. The cost of feed has made me become more educated about what goes into my horses and how much, because waste is no longer an option I can afford.

[fantasykiger]

There is no molasses in beet bulp some say soak the beet pulp pellets because they will triple in volume and they fear if you feed it dry and then it enters the horses stomache where it encounters moisture and triples in volume there it could cause problems. If you buy shredded beet pulp you don't really have to soak it but you still can.
My problem with beet pulp is that my horses think it is about the most nastiest stuff on the planet. They refuse to eat unless I soak it along with a good measure of some other feed like a horse senior or safe choice soemthing to mask it, even then only a very few will eat it.
here is more info' on beet pulp www.shady-acres.com/susan/beetpulp.shtml

[dara]

Yes, i was tought you always soak beet pulp but Mine is in a large pellet form and have never used the shredded stuff. I would assume you would still need to soak that too.
Thats to bad your horses hate beetpulp!

[J]

I paid $3.50 per bale for 100 bales of LAST YEARS local hay and $5.00 for this years. I don't know the weight...but since I can buck them no problem....I'd say they can't be more than 30lbs. I bought 200 bales...although I think I ended up shorting myself 25 as they thought they owed me 50 and I had a blonde moment and said 25 as I was trying to figure out where I was going to put 50 and had 25 going into the horse trailer in my head! DOH.

Ya...this was some expensive hay Prior years I have got it for $3.00 per bale delivered. And while I can go south to Chehalis and get it for 3.00 per bale in the field...by the time I pay fuel for a good 4 trips at close to 50 miles each way...well...I'm right back up over 5.00.

I still plan on picking up another 20-40 orchard grass bales. I figure those are going to run me anywhere from 11-15ish per bale. or at least I hope.

I have never fed beet pulp myself. I will add in Alfalfa pellets if I need to up the protein. I prefer that because I can measure out exactly how much each horse should get. Mine are loose together and if I fed alfalfa hay...I"m sure fat boy piglet, I mean Sundance my Kiger, would surely founder.