27 replies to this topic

[MorganT69]

Inputs going up and so is the price of my hay. I just got back from getting (today's) price on fertilizer and at today's cost, my inputs are at $66.26 per acre on fertilizer. That is a 60-30-30 mix with 10# of sulfer per acre. I grow Vaughn and Wrangler Bermuda grasses and they usually produce about 4 to 5 round rolls per acre. I dont think the customers are going to like the hay prices this year!!!!!!!! Whats your prices going to do this year???

[mlappin]

It will get much worse if corn hits $7/bushel again. Of course we all know even if corn was to drop to $3/bushel in 2013 it will take years for inputs to come down.

[Teslan]

I'm hoping my price will go up, but I have to be competitive with the market price in my area. I'd love to charge $20 per small bale as the price of fertilizer has gone up, but I wouldn't sell much for that price.

[LaneFarms]

Morgan my cost per acre could easily be higher than that if I used what my soil sample recomends. I just finished side dressing my oats and 30-0-0 cost $395/ton. The only saving grace we have is that we are able to apply most of our nitrogen during the summer in liquid form and save a little. I will have have $80-$85 an acre in fertilize for my oats. As far as hay prices there is a shortage here this year for bermuda grass hay both in rounds and squares due to so much being shipped to Texas. This coming year I am afraid is going to be worse due to the increase in prices of peanuts. There are lots of acres of hay being converted to peanuts. This is will take this land out of hay for 2 years giving us that have stuck it out a small window possibly to make a little profit finally.

[Vol]

I worry about further substantial input increases(basically fertilizer and fuel).....I already charge a premium for Timothy/Orchard small squares and feel that further price hikes will hurt my sales. I intend to grow Alfalfa for the first time this spring to diversify some......probably RR alfalfa. I feel like in my area quality hay has reached its price ceiling......very few dairies around anymore here.

Regards, Mike

[dubltrubl]

Inputs going up and so is the price of my hay. I just got back from getting (today's) price on fertilizer and at today's cost, my inputs are at $66.26 per acre on fertilizer. That is a 60-30-30 mix with 10# of sulfer per acre. I grow Vaughn and Wrangler Bermuda grasses and they usually produce about 4 to 5 round rolls per acre. I dont think the customers are going to like the hay prices this year!!!!!!!! Whats your prices going to do this year???

Morgan, is this per cutting, or is that your annual input. Just curious because mine is much higher for the year. I don't see how producers in our area can avoid increasing the prices this year. I hate to raise our prices, but it's gotta happen. Sadly though, lot's of folks took advantage of the situation in TX last year, and I don't see how they'll get repeat business from those folks if they raise prices even more. Especially the ones that put hardly a thing into their patches last year. I feel confident most our folks from TX will return to us if they need hay, simply because we treated them fairly and didn't take 'em to the cleaners. I might be wrong, but I just don't see the dire need this coming season from next door. As such, we're still concentrating on making a quality product, not volume. I haven't ordered up yet this year, but will be very soon. I cringe to think of what the prices are gonna be.
Best of luck in this coming season!
Steve

[Mike120]

In this part of Texas, we are getting a fair amount of rain, but that doesn't apply to the rest of the State. If it keeps up we should have enough ground moisture to get out a couple of cuttings before the drought returns. Unfortunately, around me the soil depth is only 3-4' before the clay layer so it can dry out pretty fast. I don't see the prices changing much but I suspect the demand will be lower. There has already been a significant livestock selloff, a continuing drought will just make it worse. Restocking costs will slow demand recovery as well.

With the NE refinery shutdowns and demand from Europe diesel will stay high and will likely go higher. I've seen forecasts of $4-$5 diesel possible so I'll probably fill my tanks this month. I don't even try to guess on fertilizer, but with decent ground moisture I'll probably use liquid. That will save a little.

[MorganT69]

Morgan, is this per cutting, or is that your annual input. Just curious because mine is much higher for the year. I don't see how producers in our area can avoid increasing the prices this year. I hate to raise our prices, but it's gotta happen. Sadly though, lot's of folks took advantage of the situation in TX last year, and I don't see how they'll get repeat business from those folks if they raise prices even more. Especially the ones that put hardly a thing into their patches last year. I feel confident most our folks from TX will return to us if they need hay, simply because we treated them fairly and didn't take 'em to the cleaners. I might be wrong, but I just don't see the dire need this coming season from next door. As such, we're still concentrating on making a quality product, not volume. I haven't ordered up yet this year, but will be very soon. I cringe to think of what the prices are gonna be.
Best of luck in this coming season!
Steve

That is per acre per cutting. I grow quality Bermuda grass for Horse owners around here, they are the ones that will pay premium for Hay. I sold all my hay this past year down to Texas also, he paid the same price as the locals pay, I dont believe in gouging a man when he is down and the ones that did should be ashamed of themselves. What comes around goes around..

[Vol]

This Farm Journal article kind of follows along with high costs of inputs and managing such.

The Data Dilemma | Farm Journal Magazine

Regards, Mike

[Texasmark]

Here in N. Texas we were finally down graded from drought conditions. I have had about 10" of rain in the last several months and the last rain was 6" in about 12 hrs. running my pools over the spillway and everything is looking up for spring planting.

I bought my hay last spring at $40 delivered for 4x6 premium rolls. About 2 weeks later it started to go up and a poor quality bale of the same size now brings $100 and you pick up if you can find it.

So I got my back field all plowed up, have my fert, seed, and diesel tanks full. Just ordered a new drum cutter and rake for $4700 delivered which is tolerable. Checked rolling prices and was quoted $12 per. I can live with that.

Mark

[Bob M]

These input cost have us worried also. Not sure how much more the horse industry can pay for hay. Here in Maryland we have a wonderful market, but they too are having problems cash flowing.

[hay wilson in TX]

Not sure how much more the horse industry can pay for hay
That has always been the question HERE. The recreational horse owners are not real bad, BUT the people in the Horse Business HERE have a dubious reputation for financial responsibility.
They will attempt to get us to sell hay at a loss so they can clear a small fortune.

[Vol]

the people in the Horse Business HERE have a dubious reputation for financial responsibility.
They will attempt to get us to sell hay at a loss so they can clear a small fortune.

Hmmmmmm.....is not Mike120 "one of those" in the horse business in Texas ;0).

Regards, Mike

[Texasmark]

What I find very interesting in the horse owner arena is what the horses get fed. Not what the animal necessarily needs and can digest, but what the owner thinks the horse has to have.

Around here bermuda is the grass of choice for them, both pasture and hay, and the hay has to be pristeen green, absolutely weed free or free of any other kind of grass and must smell as if it were just cut regardless of the time of year and how long it has been stored in a light free barn to preserve the green. These seem to be the same folks that have the vet out a couple of times a month....vets obviously love them to the point that a local vet built a new hospital and had a total building built for Equine servicing with wood lined stalls with wood chip floor linings and a rotary exercise pen and all the goodies.....gotta be making a fortune off that.....but, he is just providing a service for his "customers". Ha!

I have a lot of neighbors that have a couple of horses roaming with their cows, eat native grasses/weeds and enjoy the sudan x sorghum in the hay rings that the cows are eating. Have never seen a vet at one of these farms. One neighbor has 2 horses that have been there at least 20 years and the pasture has never been fertilized, mowed, or anything. It is overgrown with goldenrod which sucks all the nutrients out of the soil. His horses go out there and find something to eat. In the winter he will have a roll or two of hay delivered. Never saw one down and never saw the vet out.

So.......who is fooling whom or er ah whoom....."whoom....elephant release of methane gas". Grin.

So you say it's their money and their horse. True and after several years of trying to kiss their south end when they were headed north, I just said pfffffffft on it and stuck with feeding cows.

Mark

[hay wilson in TX]

Yes I thought of Mike120 but did not want to make an exception. Besides he is a hay grower with horses. But seeing he does have horses I maight not want to buy hay with out counting the bales and weighing the load.

I just figured up my fertilizer and herbicide cost for 2012 so far. Comes to $330/acre. Might as well be raising cotton!

I do not know how someone can raise a crop on $12,000/A land let alone on some of this stuff that has sold in the $28,000 range, in the Midwest.
I would suspect at least some of those $28,000 prices is based on finding oil &/or gas under it.

[Vol]

Yes I thought of Mike120 but did not want to make an exception. Besides he is a hay grower with horses. But seeing he does have horses I maight not want to buy hay with out counting the bales and weighing the load.

Good One Wilson!!

[dubltrubl]

I just figured up my fertilizer and herbicide cost for 2012 so far. Comes to $330/acre. Might as well be raising cotton!

I do not know how someone can raise a crop on $12,000/A land let alone on some of this stuff that has sold in the $28,000 range, in the Midwest.
I would suspect at least some of those $28,000 prices is based on finding oil &/or gas under it.

That amount is pretty much in line with my cost HayWilson. Last year was actually a bit higher, but then again, I had some catching up to do and the dry weather played into it some.
I have to agree on land costs also. To my mind, anytime land cost gets over about $3500/ac. you ain't gonna be able to get a payback on it by farming it.
Steve

[Mike120]

Thanks Mike, for defending me against the onslaught of character assassination and to Mr. Wilson for granting me a partial exception. Actually, I am just a poor grass farmer. Some grass is baled and some is harvested with four-leg combines. It's my daughter that's in the horse business and with that, I'm just the accountant, banker, and resident "hay fairy" that magically fills the barn with hay.

I have to agree with Mr. Wilson's view that "people in the Horse Business HERE have a dubious reputation for financial responsibility." Unfortunately, just about all of them that I have known fit that description. Most of it stems from the fact that they are incapable of viewing their animals as livestock. To them, they are pets and in too many cases, their customers are also their friends who think the same way. That makes it very hard to make, what I consider, rational business decisions. Although, I have to exert a bit of influence on some business decisions...She is getting better.

[Vol]

Mike 120 says, "Thanks Mike, for defending me against the onslaught of character assassination"..... you"ll have to pardon me, I got caught up in Wilsons humor.

and Mike120 went on to say, "It's my daughter that's in the horse business and with that, I'm just the accountant, banker, and resident "hay fairy" that magically fills the barn with hay."..........ah yes, the things we will do for our children are unending...

Regards, Mike

[MorganT69]

I sell Bermuda grass hay in a 4x5 roll, cattle people will not pay $50.00 up for good quality hay, most around here dont care what the hay is as long as its cheap when it comes to cattle, sheep, goats, the list goes on. Horse people on the other hand will pay a premium for good quality hay, therefore I market my hay toward the people who will pay, I have nothing against growing hay that has never been fertilized, never had lime put on it, never sprayed for weeds, its cheap because all you have to do is go out and cut it, the problem I have is that all my equipment is pricey and a small tractor and a bush hog would have been alot cheaper if that is all I was gonna do. What it boils down to is MONEY, who has it and who is willing to part with it in my direction and around here that is HORSE Folks, they love there horses and I LOVE there money. LOL