Dairy farming

[teddy52food]

Talked to an auctioneer last week & he said he sold a semi load of hay for $8000.00. How can that pencil out? Can't milk it out at today's prices.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Let?s say the load had 40 big square bales , each weighed 1,000 lb average. At .20 cents per pound, that would cost $8,000.00. And that is $200.00 per bale. I can?t see how that could be practical.

 

[SHALER]

Your post does not explicitly say if you know or were told it went to a dairy farm or not. I suppose that may be the case as you titled the thread "dairy Farming". Bruce figures it out to be 20/lb or $400/ton which is not particularly unusual for good high protein hay. It CAN pencil out when included in a total mixed ration. If you were just feeding this hay straight to dairy cows, yes it may not work out.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Would be good to know if they were big squares or idiot cubes. If small squares. Might not be going to a dairy, and idiot cubes bring more.

 

[centash]

Saw hay advertised here for 6 dollars for a small square, 40 or 50 pounds....lot more money in selling it than feeding it...

Ben

 

[john in la]

100 lb bales of alfalfa are selling for $500 a ton and 1000 lb squares are $400 a ton in my area. That?s 8 to 10k a trailer load.

 

[ss55]

When do hay prices traditionally peak? Do they peak in late winter and early spring and are the lowest during the summer hay making season?

 

[Vito]

$7 a bale down the street. First cutting from last year.

Vito

 

[Philip d]

I?m sure for that price it?s out of this world quality but still no , unless you only need a few bales to feed your show string at Madison there?s no money in feeding it.

 

[Northvale PA]

Here in SE PA hay prices normally peak by Christmas. Then get cheaper all the way into summer. Once January is over, winter has shown us its worst. By March, guys are emptying out the barns. Hay prices can pick back up during summer if it rains too much or is too dry. Or, if corn prices go up and hay land gets planted. Straw prices peak in spring when the landscapers get going again.

 

[coonie minnie]

Forage is very, very tight in the upper Midwest. Anything with fiber to keep a ruminant fed is akin to gold. In some cases, the crazy forage prices don't make sense long term, but cattle prices aren't great for dairy cattle, and it is only a few months til spring when there will be forage again.

I'm guessing are buying the forage to keep going to better times vs selling now.

As a dairy producer, right now the cheapest ingredient in my diet right now is ground corn! Maybe corn silage has a lower market value, but not by much! I feed distillers solubles or "syrup", usually a very cheap by product of the ethanol industry, but with low gas prices, local ethanol plants are running at a bare minimum to keep open, and what was waste from them is now selling for more than corn. The feed world is very upside-down.

 

[teddy52food]

I don't know where it went or what kind of bales but we are in the middle of dairy country. Stearns County Mn.

 

[Down under farmer]

$8000 a semi load few where was those prices November December in Australia. We payed 12000 a load by 8 loads landed at our farm after they carted it half way across the country. Years of drought massive feed shortages on the hole eastern side of Australia fodder an grain p r ices have skyrocketed. $450 ton for grain $350/400 ton hay and silage running $100/120 ton in paddock plus chopping and cartage. At the moment we buying in grain and protein meal and stocked up on cereal hay while it was avilible to mix with some silage we brought 12 months ago for $50 ton plus our own hay. Very tight to make money milking out of that at the moment. We have had some rain in last month taken pressure forgot headers dry stock back on grass not hay and rain came to late for summer crop and to early for winter crop but hedged our bets and planted bit of both. Time will tell with hay we brought and what we have on hand should get us through to end of the year but many farmers cattle and milkers around here been buying everything in for the last year and going no where near covering there expences

 

[Down under farmer]

$8000 a semi load few where was those prices November December in Australia. We payed 12000 a load by 8 loads landed at our farm after they carted it half way across the country. Years of drought massive feed shortages on the hole eastern side of Australia fodder an grain p r ices have skyrocketed. $450 ton for grain $350/400 ton hay and silage running $100/120 ton in paddock plus chopping and cartage. At the moment we buying in grain and protein meal and stocked up on cereal hay while it was avilible to mix with some silage we brought 12 months ago for $50 ton plus our own hay. Very tight to make money milking out of that at the moment. We have had some rain in last month taken pressure forgot headers dry stock back on grass not hay and rain came to late for summer crop and to early for winter crop but hedged our bets and planted bit of both. Time will tell with hay we brought and what we have on hand should get us through to end of the year but many farmers cattle and milkers around here been buying everything in for the last year and going no where near covering there expences.

 

[Down under farmer]

$30 a smale square of any sort of Lucerne is the going rate for ya backyard ponies for the last 12 months. This and prices in my previous post are double or more than what they normally would be

 

[farmerjohn]

Pardon my ignorance, what is an idiot cube?

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 04:35:06 03/03/20) Pardon my ignorance, what is an idiot cube?

It is a derisive term for small square bales because they usually take a lot of labor and most hay is now baled in round bales or large rectangular bales and are handled by machines.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Depends on the temperatures and how much snow.A year with late Spring with cold temps and snowy Winter hay will be high at the close of Winter.This year mild weather,almost no snow I see 1000lb big rounds advertised for $40 to $60.Grass is starting to grow and with predicted warm weather coming hay consumption will go way back for my cattle.I took a chance and sold a good amount of hay to a lady this year glad I did now.Plus she bought me some steaks and burger from one steer she had slaughtered the other day.Best steak I've had in a long time.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

All I am hearing is "hay shortage" around here. Local auction had nothing but crap and very little of it, reportedly brought $6 a bale in small squares.

I've got a bunch of nice dry 2nd cutting hay for sale, been advertising the heck out of it at $4 a bale, and not even getting a nibble.

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 07:27:02 03/03/20) All I am hearing is "hay shortage" around here. Local auction had nothing but crap and very little of it, reportedly brought $6 a bale in small squares.

I've got a bunch of nice dry 2nd cutting hay for sale, been advertising the heck out of it at $4 a bale, and not even getting a nibble.

Barnyard, advertise it at $8.00 and it will sell in no time.

 

[jaoneill]

Individual hay buyers around here are a strange lot, seems to be a North Country thing. Back in the day when we had idiot cubes I tried selling some one year and at $2.50 for a 60 pound bale only sold the odd pickup truck load. Same year my neighbor sold out of his 20 lb "bird's nests" at $2.00.
Now with rounds, I went with 4x4's because they hear $25 and jump on it; new neighbor with 5x4's struggles to get $30 in spite of the fact that there is 50% more hay in his bales.

Jim