[ellied]

A query for those that buy in round bales of hay - are you getting better prices this year and does anyone know of places that would deliver a load to north Fife?

I have 2 local suppliers historically very helpful and I will continue giving them some business.  However, I fear they are pricing nearly as much as at the tail end of last winter which reached £35/36 a bale and I've heard elsewhere that some good hay is available at £15 a round bale which is half their last quoted prices and closer to the £18 delivered that I was paying previously..  I ended up using barley straw for part of the feeding, which was £15 delivered, so that's another option if I can get it at less than that, but I still need hay too.

I'm putting out enquiries to recommended suppliers in areas where some of these reports are coming from, tho I reckon for any great distance the delivery would be too much to add..

[bazzais]

The cost of production I imagine has increased this year along with the price of fuel, this will probably outweight the fact that there maybe no problem with the supply due to the longer season and good weather for cutting, curing and bailing.

I have never bought big bales of hay other than as favours from mates - but last year we were paying £25 for big round haylage - I imagine that the production cost of a large round bale with the increase in diesel and plastics would be somewhere near £12 a bale this year at a guess. So if you take into account wastage and running costs of machinery I doubt it will become any cheaper as the margins are small.


I have not got my winter feed sorted yet - but I will be doing it all before the winter this year and storing on the yard - because I do think prices are going to have to rise out of necessity to cover costs and not because of any 'profiteering' on the demand outstripping supplies.

Delivery is always going to cost a premium as its very labour intensive.  Pickup is the only way - even if you have to hire a trailer for the day, its well worth it.

Baz

[robert waddell]

the price of fodder  is like the price of oil         if there is a crisis in one part of the country the price rockets as demand increases     diesel and plastic may have increased marginally    but the biggest effect is the weather to dry in some places= low yield and extra feeding needed to maintain stock to wet =not enough good quality hay/silage/haylage and straw   there is a bit of profiterring both by the producers and suppliers
£5.50 a bale  small one last year this year just now £4.50  not that much of a difference
the problem with the £15 per bale  hay you will have the haulage on top of that(had a look at another site and to transport some things as a part load it is extortionate)

[ballingall]

We are paying £25 a bale. But we go straight to the farmer and collect- one bale at a time. His big bales fit in the back of the transit van, and are relatively easily transported. The feed suppliers who are within 2 miles of that farmer, buy his hay and then sell on to their customers. I don't know how much they charge for it if you collect, but the charge for a large bale plus delivery is £40.
I do try and keep a spare bale in the yard- even if we have to put it on a pallet and cover it in tarps. But better that than having the snow so bad that we can't get up the farmer's road....

I have a friend in Glasgow and I know the cheapest hay he could source last year was £40 delivered.

Beth

[Roxy]

With 16 goats and 10 ponies, we get through a lot of hay.  Last year it was £35 for round baled hay, and £30 for the round haylage.  We went with the horse trailer and collected two at a time, and sheeted them up.  Straw was similar price.  We have just got a long bale of straw, and that was £35, but its massive.

Not got any big bales of hay yet, using up the small bales, but expect to pay a similar price to last year .......

[Padge]

Last year we paid £35 for round bales   This year we have our own which actually COST us £25 each to harvest we have seen them for sale at up to £50 each :0     hopefully we won't need to buy elsewhere this year

[lachlanandmarcus]

We make our own hay for the sheep but ironically it's too rich for the horses so have to buy it in. This year small bales are costing us £4,25 delivered (and help unloaded) which is 50p more than old hay was last year. But with a combination of increasing fuel costs and the very unreliable weather around, I think that's ok. If we had collected it would have been £3.75 or £4.00 (cant remember which) but they are quite a way away (everything is in Aberdeenshire).

If I could store/handle large bales I could buy my neighbour's! But it wouldnt fit into the barn doorway! And I wouldnt be able to stick it on the quad and whiz through the snow up to the sheep....

[SallyintNorth]

lachlandmarcus - if you are in Aberdeenshire isn't there loads and loads of straw going for a song?  If your horses don't want hay that's too good, could they eat straw?  Fells & Dales can - trouble is, hereabouts we have to pay about the same for clean (untreated) straw as we do for hay!  I have in the past mulled about trying to finding a trailer coming back empty from Aberdeen and getting it loaded with straw at £5 / large round bale...

[lachlanandmarcus]

good idea! but hmmmm well that would be what you would think! But I cant store big round/square bales and small bale straw isnt very common at all, it's all round baled. Also the weather has been soooo unreliable that although the hay crop has been OK, the grain crops are still not all in (!) and lots of the straw has been soaked and hasnt yet been brought in.

But it's mainly the bale size thats the issue - tho if I need and cant get a delivery due to the weather late in the winter i know my lovely neighbour will bring up a single round bale for me. Hopefully we have enough to last all the animals now tho :-)))))

We are hoping to build a new barn at some point, have done the footings etc, just need to save up for the lid! That will have a door wide enough for round bales to go in. The old barn is destined to be part of the house (has PP etc)

[wytsend]

Here in Devon  I am paying £15 per round bale of hay... appr. 300kg   &  £30 for a square Haylage of appr. 400kg

I feed haylage to everybody,  makes feeding so much easier.