I always find it fascinating to see what people are paying for hay in different parts of the country. I'm in Central Illinois and am happy to report that prices are down this year! I paid $2.75 a bale for a grass/alfalfa mix and $4 for 100% alfalfa. Last year, I paid $5 a bale for alfalfa that was horribly brown -- looked like straw, but it was all I could get. I heard people a couple hours south of me were paying $9 a bale.
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We got a large round bale of chemical free prairie grass hay for $55. I'm supplementing my does with Chaffhaye which I can get for about $13.50 for a 50 LH block. The prairie hay was pretty decent quality this year altho there is some straw in it that they're not super fond of. :(
You guys are lucky with such cheap prices. Our feed stores around here want 18. to 20. a bale for alfalfa. We got some mixed orchard bluegrass for 15. Everything we looked at local was garbage so didn't buy it. I just payed 320. for a ton of alfalfa. No one around here grows alfalfa and it all comes from eastern Oregon, or my last was from Idaho. I like a little chaffehaye and that is 14.95 for a 50 lb block. My oat straw is 4.50 a bale. Costs a bunch to keep the animals but I refuse to buy them junk hay and I am sure they wouldn't eat it. They would be picketing. My hubby says it costs more to feed them than us.
you cant find a supplier somewhere in south alabama? see alot of peanut hay there - but it is usually the huge round bales - lots of lush grass there - be worth checking out.
Emily Puentes said:
My goats are going to eat me into the poor house. Alfalfa hay right now for a standard bale is $29.00, Orchard is $27.00 a bale, Timothy hay is over $30.00 a bale and mediocre Costal hay is $8.00 a bale right now. I'm really not sure what to do because I want them to have the proper nutrition, but it's getting REALLY expensive. Right now my girls are getting free-choice costal with alfalfa pellets in the morning, and splitting a flake of alfalfa at night. I live in North FL and it's crazy expensive right now.
we paid $5 a square for an alfalfa mix last fall delivered and stacked. we were running a little low so hubby went out today and picked up 20 bales of a nice grass for 2.75/square. we are going to keep in contact with this person as a lot of the guys we have been buying from are getting up there in age and thinking about retiring. im hoping we get enuf rain this year to keep the hay prices down....we haven't had more than an inch of snow cover this winter.
Julieanne, at our Southern States store in Asheville they sell a lovely compacted bale of alfalfa forage-- it's alfalfa, timothy and orchard grass and 15% protein. It's green and smells wonderful and my goats are nuts for it. Bale is $16 but it's about the size of 2 bales of hay because it's compacted. I give mine regular hay too (from Southern States) but they aren't crazy about it. I also supplement with timothy grass pellets from TSC which they readily eat. Thought you might want to check your local Southern States store for the alfalfa forage. It's distributed by Triple Crown.
I live in western piedmont of NC, and prices are all over the place here. Hay is anywhere from $3.50 a bale for mixed grass to $14.00 for alfalfa. For me, finding the hay is the problem because I don't need much for my 2 goats and most folks want to sell in volume. I did get a bale of Coastal Bermuda from TSC once, it was really high quality and my goats tore it up. But I can't afford to pay their prices all the time and their supply is unreliable.
My goats are going to eat me into the poor house. Alfalfa hay right now for a standard bale is $29.00, Orchard is $27.00 a bale, Timothy hay is over $30.00 a bale and mediocre Costal hay is $8.00 a bale right now. I'm really not sure what to do because I want them to have the proper nutrition, but it's getting REALLY expensive. Right now my girls are getting free-choice costal with alfalfa pellets in the morning, and splitting a flake of alfalfa at night. I live in North FL and it's crazy expensive right now.
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in michigan good legumes/clover alfalfa mix square bale 2nd cutting is 6.00 from neighbor.
straw is 4-5.00 abale.
at tsc a bale i 19.00
on't have enough acreage to grow my own.
You guys are lucky with such cheap prices. Our feed stores around here want 18. to 20. a bale for alfalfa. We got some mixed orchard bluegrass for 15. Everything we looked at local was garbage so didn't buy it. I just payed 320. for a ton of alfalfa. No one around here grows alfalfa and it all comes from eastern Oregon, or my last was from Idaho. I like a little chaffehaye and that is 14.95 for a 50 lb block. My oat straw is 4.50 a bale. Costs a bunch to keep the animals but I refuse to buy them junk hay and I am sure they wouldn't eat it. They would be picketing. My hubby says it costs more to feed them than us.
Melissa Johnson said:
you cant find a supplier somewhere in south alabama? see alot of peanut hay there - but it is usually the huge round bales - lots of lush grass there - be worth checking out.
Emily Puentes said:
we paid $5 a square for an alfalfa mix last fall delivered and stacked. we were running a little low so hubby went out today and picked up 20 bales of a nice grass for 2.75/square. we are going to keep in contact with this person as a lot of the guys we have been buying from are getting up there in age and thinking about retiring. im hoping we get enuf rain this year to keep the hay prices down....we haven't had more than an inch of snow cover this winter.
Julieanne, at our Southern States store in Asheville they sell a lovely compacted bale of alfalfa forage-- it's alfalfa, timothy and orchard grass and 15% protein. It's green and smells wonderful and my goats are nuts for it. Bale is $16 but it's about the size of 2 bales of hay because it's compacted. I give mine regular hay too (from Southern States) but they aren't crazy about it. I also supplement with timothy grass pellets from TSC which they readily eat. Thought you might want to check your local Southern States store for the alfalfa forage. It's distributed by Triple Crown.
I was speaking to a lady in my area who has a herd of 15 nubians and she spends around $20,000.00 to feed her goats O.o
I live in western piedmont of NC, and prices are all over the place here. Hay is anywhere from $3.50 a bale for mixed grass to $14.00 for alfalfa. For me, finding the hay is the problem because I don't need much for my 2 goats and most folks want to sell in volume. I did get a bale of Coastal Bermuda from TSC once, it was really high quality and my goats tore it up. But I can't afford to pay their prices all the time and their supply is unreliable.
My goats are going to eat me into the poor house. Alfalfa hay right now for a standard bale is $29.00, Orchard is $27.00 a bale, Timothy hay is over $30.00 a bale and mediocre Costal hay is $8.00 a bale right now. I'm really not sure what to do because I want them to have the proper nutrition, but it's getting REALLY expensive. Right now my girls are getting free-choice costal with alfalfa pellets in the morning, and splitting a flake of alfalfa at night. I live in North FL and it's crazy expensive right now.