crazy prices

[mnbob]

Stopped at a country store yesterday on the way home, had wagons of straw bales @ $4.00. Said they were selling fast. Just up the road a green house garden center had the same thing. I sell the quality Alfalfa/grass at $ 3.50 ?? Whats up?
How is it in your areas?? Bob

 

[Anonymous-0]

It is not being bought by farmers for use as bedding or feed. It is being bought by rural home owners as "home decor" asseseries.

 

[steve-jd4000]

yeah city people pay more money.

am a farmer my self and living in city I see those things. 12 ear sweet corn 4.50! am going grow my own sweet corn as soon as I find ground.

I got tractor and planter.

 

[Don-Wi]

Yup, city people pay whatever you ask for straw bales. We sold it for $3/bale to a floral shop my mom works at, then they turn around and sell it for $6/bale.

Donovan from Wisconsin

 

[dlplost]

Back when it was 75 cents a bale, locals were selling to the Racetracks in the City 500 miles away for $2.50 per bale. Price was soo good guys would take off from work for weeks at a time just to sell hay.

 

[Anonymous-0]

People seem to pay high prices for straw in some areas. Some people are really grubby about what they sell if for. I had a beighbor that had rye and oat straw. He said I could bale a load if I wanted( I only need 100 bales), BUT I had to wait till he baled what he needed to make sure he had enough. Here it is 3 weeks later, its gotten 3-4 inches of rain on it the last week, it supposed to rain the next 5 day, there it sits in the feild, on top of that, he wanted me to pay $1.40 a bale, and thats if I baled it. NOT, told him no way, I'll pay $.40 if I bale it. He passed, now it sits. I even offered to exchange me baling it ll for him(with a thrower compared to him with stacking on racks) and then I would just take the 1 load no money exchanged.

 

[Pair-a-dice farm]

Yep that does seem like a lot for straw, last year I paid $1.25 for rice straw out of the barn. I really don't understand our urban brothers, they will line up to pay $4 for straw but if hamburger gets to $3 they think it is too high. I have always thought that beef on the hoof should be what hamburger is in the cooler.

 

[John S-B]

With the below average wheat harvest this year I'm not at all surprised that straw is up. Lot of wheat around here was either plowed under or it grew too short for baling.

 

[RickL]

MNBob nothingsd up you just ned to get out more as they always say to me,anyway been selling straw for 3.50- 4.00 bales for about 18 years now. its been 3.50 out of the field last two seasons period,hay is smae and everything goes up from there. $5.00 hay off the trailers. cheapest i have right now is $4.50 if they bring wagon to the field.. I also get 4.50 for the little 10inch bales. You just not been out enough. north of me hay been $12.50 bale at auctions last couple weeks now its back to $5.75. $3.50 for the rought stuff even you are sim,ply to cheap

 

[suptscottyb]

home decor asseseries??? Who wants a rotting bale of staw as decor? Maybe they are mulching their flower beds in for winter or some such use.
Also, and I don't buy or sell straw but, seems to me you just might be biting the hands that feed you...

 

[jimont]

Crazy Prices??????????? Would that include the CRAZY PRICES of fuel,repairs,labour and replacing machinery????????? Sounds to me like the farmer finally becoming aware of selling retail as opposed to wholesale(what will you give me for my product?) We simply can't stay in business to-day by selling wholesale and buying retail!!!!!!

 

[rrlund]

Those prices are for city slickers for their dog houses,decoration,etc.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I grow 2400 acres of soybeans and wheat, so lets look at input costs:
land $3000 acre
tractor to work the land $140,000
30 ft disc $30,000
field cultivator and roller $35,000
30 ft grain drill $45,000
fertilizer and seed $120 acre
spray and application $35 acre
combine $240,000
baler $22,000
wire $60 roll
bale stacker to pick up the straw $35,000
barn to store the straw til you need it $60,000
sooo, $4.00 straw is cheap

 

[WGM]

I would say the fertilizer value of a bale of straw is a lot more then $.040.

 

[WGM]

I would say the fertilizer value of a bale of straw is a lot more then $.040.

 

[WGM]

I would say the fertilizer value of a bale of straw is a lot more then $.040.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Something is worth whatever you can successfully sell it for. If the "country store" can get $4/bale for straw, I am guessing they are making something on each bale, but probably not a huge amount.

Could you get more than $3.50/bale for your hay? Maybe, but if $3.50 is the going rate, and your neighbors are selling it for that, and there is plenty of hay in the area, then it is likely that you won't sell much hay if you price it higher.

I happened to notice a sign at a feed store in the Spokane Valley today advertising new straw for $6.50/bale, which seemed kind of high to me. But that store is pretty urbanized and caters mostly to suburbia and horse people. I bet I could find straw for lots less in the surrounding country, especially if I bought a couple of tons at one time. But if I only needed a couple of bales, it would not be worth my time to go hunting around to find it at a cheaper price than the feed store.

I don't know how much it would cost to bale and haul straw these days. While wheat straw is more or less a waste product, the modern varieties of wheat they grow around here don't have nearly as much straw volume as they used to. Most farmers just spread the straw and then plant over it with low till farming methods. So they don't mess with the straw at all after combining. And I bet it is hard to get people to handle the small bales these days, which would have to be handled several times to get them to the feed store. So maybe the convenience of getting a few bales at the feed store is worth the $4 or maybe even the $6.50.

While I do see some hay put up in small bales around here, most is done in the large round bales, or the huge rectangular bales. The bluegrass seed farmers also bale their straw in the huge bales, to get it off the fields to allow next year's crop to grow. I see semis carrying those bales, I suppose to feedlots somewhere. But there is NO WAY those bales could be handled by a person, only a fairly large machine, like a forklift. One of those bales would completely fill a pickup bed, and would probably weigh too much for a half ton. And when you get it home, you have to unload it somehow.

If you are set up to do small bales and raise some grain, you might consider baling and storing some of your grain straw. It might sell real good! And maybe you might research the local price of baled hay. You might be charging less than you could.

Supply and demand, with a little correction for convenience. Good luck, hope it works out for you!

 

[Kelly C]

You can judge the market by garden centers.
I just got 100 bales of wheat straw for 1.25 bale. Heck if I had to pay $4 a bale for the critters to sleep on. I think I would sleep on the straw and give the bed to the critters.

 

[Bob Kerr]

Sulivan County IN near Wilfred. A farm is selling straw for $4 a bale, pretty unheard of around here, he only has a few bales set out so maybe is is going for the yard saler market.

 

[kyhayman]

$3.50 for alfalfa grass, if you would shoot me an email if you can handle at least a semi load.

 

[Bob]

I was in a WaldoWorld today where they were selling MINATURE straw bales for $4.99. How about THAT?

 

[Burnie]

If you want some big money send some hay 'down under'. Just got off the phone with a truckie mate of mine who has spent the last week hauling hay. Said he saw some for sale at a produce store in an urban horse area for $10.00 per biscuit.

 

[Tradititonal Farmer]

And you left out fuel! City slickers and city moved to the country wannabees complain about food and commidity prices but are too inept an/or lazy to grow anything.Most don't even grow a garden but complain about prices of farm products. The day of cheap food and cheap farm products are coming to an end.

 

[Anonymous-0]

You forgot to subtract your gov. payments tho

 

[Anonymous-0]

the goverment payment pays the rent on land, thats why I left it out !!!

 

[Anonymous-0]

Last year, local Coop had some loosely baled wheat hay as "straw" for $6 then nothing. Agway had excellent straw...at $7 per 40# bale.

Did buy a few bales last year for the garden for a specific project. Planned this year out to not use any!

I can get it for a couple bucks less usually if a friend whose a retired dairy farmer has any in stock (he uses it for his residual herd of animals he keeps for the real estate tax breaks).

Remember, this is Southern New England...where we don't grow grain crops. Last year was the first time this 37 y/o ever saw a combine in use in my area! Little tow behind one, by a dairy farmer whose hobby is draught horses...raised his own oats.

Virtually all our field crops are silage corn and hay, so it's not like there's many options for someone to buy straw from a farmer.

 

[wayne2]

In the Puget Sound(Seattle)area contractors on const. sites paying 10.00 to use as ground cover lots of rain-mud. But shipping from Central Wash. over Stevens or Snoqualmie pass costs. It's decred by someone who likes fish-possibly worried our Oceans are dying!! Wayne

 

[GeneMO]

My son works for John Deere corporate in the Kansas City area, with the big sprayers. He can get you one for only a quarter million!!!1

Gene