What would be an average price? I know there are different types of grass and bindings, but just say general pasture grass with rope binding.

Thanks!

$70-$90

Not sure how many guys are still baling with twine. We were one of the last here in the panhandle. For reference, beardless wheat hay (netwrapped) cut at its prime and never rained on sold at $150/roll (1200# rolls) up here

In Washington County you might just find some cheaper hay because it seems the drought map shows things aren't quite as bad in that area as they are elsewhere.

In Central Texas (McLennan County) we've been super dry for a while now and I imagine hay will get pricey. There are other areas that have had plenty of rain and are making hay, but now trucking costs (diesel) start to influence things to a greater degree.

Back before my dad passed away (but was still running cows) I always knew not to jack with him when we'd get into a long extended dry streak and he was having to write checks to pay for hay for his animals.

Today I talked to a good buddy in Sweet Home near Shiner.

He said 2022 first cut round bales are selling for $100-120.


I don't buy any hay, just have 100 bales custom baled every year.

If that price holds true, think I'm going to sell half the cows and almost all the hay I bale this year.

So i was asking for my dad who has been selling to family and people he knows at way too good of a price - $50 a bail.

I told him he needed to start going up a little...

Not sure if/when he will get another cut.

Is it fertilized? If not I'd say 70 per bale this year for 5x6. Cutting, raking, and baling is worth/ cost at least 35 per bale.
Currently baling fertilized hay and we have a little over 100 per acre in fertilizer. Making only 2 bales per acre ( 4x5 ) so the fertilizer cost alone is 50 plus per bale. Stores in our area are currently selling for 100 per bale for quality, fertilized hay. ( 4x5 ). We were fortunate to get about 3 1/2 inches of rain after fertilizing five weeks ago but it is super dry now and nobody is refertilizing after the first cut.

Sold 74 bales last week in Fayette county for $35.00 a bale. Net wrapped gordo bluestem about 1400 pounds per bale. Sold 70 bales of last years cut for $50 a bale. We did not fertilize or spray the fields-didn't feel right charging more without fertilizer or spraying.

jtp01 said:

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Not sure how many guys are still baling with twine. We were one of the last here in the panhandle. For reference, beardless wheat hay (netwrapped) cut at its prime and never rained on sold at $150/roll (1200# rolls) up here

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Methinks I see the correlation, old friend.

It was irrigated, meaning baled with no rain.

But yes we have still not eclipsed the 5" of rain mark this year. We are having to make our own rain using record inputs as we watch commodities take a dump.

When there's rain, there's grass. And when there's grass, a roll of hay isn't worth $150.

Hay season looks bleak

The 2022 Texas hay production outlook appears in doubt due to high fertilizer prices and widespread drought, said Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts.

Hay bales could be in short supply as much of the state has reported poor forage and hay production conditions as the season .

Joe Paschal, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension livestock specialist, Corpus Christi, and Vanessa Corriher-Olson, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension forage specialist, Overton, said dry weather, high temperatures and reduced inputs like fertilizer have inhibited warm-season grass production across much of Texas. Hay quantity and quality are down, while the cost to produce bales is up, and weather forecasts do not look favorable.

Thanks. That's a very informative article.

And to think, just last year at this time I was complaining about all the rain.

Paid $130/bale today in Menard for Haygrazer.

Man that's rough. Are you planning on keeping your cattle through this drought?

It's not rolls but we just put up 900 squares yesterday in far west Madison county off 12 acres. $8 per if you're interested, not fertilized hay.

I will say, the $35 a bale not fertilized was a good deal. I understand the the deal with fertilizer but I'm hearing a lot of guys who aren't fertilizing their fields this year and $35 per seems like that's on the lower end.

I think I understand, but want to make sure since I've never bought, sold, or used hay to feed animals. Is fertilized hay more valuable because it has/should have more nutrients in it? Once it's been bailed is there anyway to tell its been fertilized besides the persons word who's selling it? About what percentage is fertilized hay worth more than unfertilized hay?

I'm selling 4x5 Bahia for $62 per bale

Have around 1000 available at the moment.

RCR06 said:

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I think I understand, but want to make sure since I've never bought, sold, or used hay to feed animals. Is fertilized hay more valuable because it has/should have more nutrients in it? Once it's been bailed is there anyway to tell its been fertilized besides the persons word who's selling it? About what percentage is fertilized hay worth more than unfertilized hay?

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RCR

I am not an expert on Tx grass hay, but I would suspect the fertilized grass would yield better than unfertilized (assuming the same water input) but I do not know if that translates to feed value. Some low yielding grasses are loaded w value while another high yielding variety could be the equivalent of straw.

I use Dairylandlabs.com as my feed tester. If you look at their site under "feed & forage" and then "understanding your results", it could be informative.

The beef guys up here are not as worried about test results as the dairies….who won't even look at alfalfa testing < 185 RFV. There is a saying up here regarding hay - …come February 6th, it'll make a turd….or it looks better than a snow bank.

Hope you find what fits your situation.

Going to start whittling the herd soon, starting with the oldest. Was surprised how bad they were looking already. There is literally nothing to eat at all (and we've always under stocked our land on purpose….)

Unfortunately many producers are faced with the same decisions. Out here some guys have already shipped their herd driving down the market some. Most buyers don't have enough feed for them anyway so they'll likely end up in dog food and such.

We are all in drastic times. I read somewhere that cotton is over 90% planted but 40% in in less than "fair" condition. I'm familiar with several producers that have already abandoned their cotton crop 3-4 weeks after planting. They just don't have the water flow to adequately irrigate the crop and aren't willing to continue to invest in the inputs to grow a bad crop.

Read also that the drought in the Midwest will drive corn and soybeans back up after they have dropped some over the last few weeks.

Thanks for the response and info. I'm more curious than anything. I don't own any land(or lease any) besides the quarter acre lot my house sits on. So this isn't for anything besides just genreal knowledge.

It really depends on the grass where it matters for fertilization. I did my graduate project on the subject of forage protein content. What most people are referring to is coastal Bermuda grass and other Bermuda varieties when asking if it is fertilized. Bermuda absorbes more nitrogen and protein in the leaf to give a higher protein content when fertilized. I think sorghum varieties do the same thing. Klein and all other bunch grasses are not affected in the protein content. Fertilizer increases the yields of all forages (protein per acre) but not all of them have a higher percentage. NRCS is the studying agency who came to this conclusion

Ok, thanks! That's what I was looking for combined with the other response

Spoony Love said:

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It's not rolls but we just put up 900 squares yesterday in far west Madison county off 12 acres. $8 per if you're interested, not fertilized hay.

I will say, the $35 a bale not fertilized was a good deal. I understand the the deal with fertilizer but I'm hearing a lot of guys who aren't fertilizing their fields this year and $35 per seems like that's on the lower end.

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is this Bermuda?

Gammagrass said:

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It really depends on the grass where it matters for fertilization. I did my graduate project on the subject of forage protein content. What most people are referring to is coastal Bermuda grass and other Bermuda varieties when asking if it is fertilized. Bermuda absorbes more nitrogen and protein in the leaf to give a higher protein content when fertilized. I think sorghum varieties do the same thing. Klein and all other bunch grasses are not affected in the protein content. Fertilizer increases the yields of all forages (protein per acre) but not all of them have a higher percentage. NRCS is the studying agency who came to this conclusion

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User name checks out

TY for that explanation. I learned something. This is a good board.

Yep

We'll see how this rain plays out, but I'm not selling any hay for less than $100.

First cutting haygrazer only yielded 30% of what it did last year.

This has been our approach. We keep at least 2 years worth of hay stored on farm. For us that's around 800 round bales. We will sell whatever we have over that. This year wheat hay has been selling at a premium. We priced according to what a wheat crop would have produced based upon the price at the elevator and sold out in just a few weeks with having never advertised or called anyone. It was nice to get it sold early so we could focus on getting milo and soybeans in the ground and can concentrate on irrigation and plant health.

Deere got me for $190 today for a pressure gauge. This **** isn't going to work out for long with high inputs and a drought. We have been really lucky at our cattle farm, but missed needed rains on our hay ground.