[Cjnewton82]

I just paid £70 for two four foot first quality round hay  bales ( apparently the equivalent to 12 small bales each ) with free delivery is that a good price I have no idea first time buying hay

[Hillview Farm]

I Can get 5-6 round bales for that price and I wouldn't want the best quality for sheep. You've paid horse people price

[lachlanandmarcus]

An ok but cattle quality bale would be £20, a horse/sheep quality one about £26 here, tho it does vary by area which OP you haven't stated. £35 is a full price, was that delivered? If so them depending on the distance it may be more reasonable than it sounds. It ought to be top notch for that tho.


Also, if stored inside then maybe 12 bales but if any weathering on the outside it would be more like 10 (or even 8 if lesser quality)


The other thing to bear in mind is that the price will be higher if you buy two than if (like some on here) you are using and can store more. As that's more worthwhile sale for the vendor, and you will get a cheaper price.

[Tim W]

I would charge you £3/small bale + £1/mile there and back + £15/hr for my time---not unreasonable ?

So I think you have paid a fair price

[Pasture Farm]

I sell top quality collected £25 5foot bale      I may need a favour one day  £1 mile one way delivered Locally

[mowhaugh]

I think what you have paid is perhaps on the more expensive side, but if you are pleased with the quality, it suits what you want, and having it delivered rather than having to collect it has made a big difference to you, I don't think it is too bad. (We have recently sold some 5' bales for £27, but that was not delivered, and whilst it was good quality, fine for sheep and native ponies, I would not have described it as top quality.  We wouldn't have had time to deliver it, but if we did, would probably have charged £20/hour hire of man and tractor plus diesel at cost)

Certainly, if the other option for you would have been small bales, I would be happy with what you have.  When you need to purchase more, I would just weigh up if you need such good quality, and what else is available locally - it may be that knowing the quality is consistent and that it is delivered means it is worth paying a wee bit extra.

[Cjnewton82]

The round bales where £35 each with free delivery (from about 16m away) I don't have a trailer so otherwise I would have to be small bales.
Do people have normally feed Second quality to their sheep then this is my first year with Sheep so I'm learning as I go so all advice is welcome

[lachlanandmarcus]

I think the price sounds ok with delivery that distance for really good bales.


Sheep will eat second quality but will do better on first quality. So second quality can be a false economy ESP if you are paying for transport in the price of every bale.

[firther]

that's cheap hilltop, I'm paying around 20 quid for mine. good quality as well. make our own small bales and sell what we don't use.

[si-mate]

I would say that is about right for 2 bales delivered.


I'm paying £18 / bale for very heavy 4' bales. It's a good colour but not too much smell and the analysis isn't very special but it does my cattle just fine.
But then I am collecting 18 bales at a time and have committed to nearly 100 so would expect a better price than someone who is just having a couple at a time.

[marka]

We've just paid £25 each for two bales including delivery - although these were the first bales that we've bought from this particular source so we only got two just to see what the quality was like, but we neednt have worried as its turned out to be really good.

[DartmoorLiz]

I've just paid £4 each for 20 small bales 2012 collected so you've done better than me.  I could not find anyone selling large rounds or I'd have done that instead.