You’ve no doubt heard all about the drought in Texas this year and seen the pictures of land so parched it looks ready to spontaneously combust! Well, there has been an unintended side-effect that has resulted in a great example of the double-edged sword: a hay shortage. This allowed hay producers to charge record amounts for hay that was trucked to Texas while creating a problem for locals around those hay producers who found signs saying “SOLD OUT” when they went to pick up hay for the winter. I experienced this first-hand as follows:
On August 15th or so, I called the guy I normally deal with for hay and he had a story to tell. Back in July, his entire crop received 7 rains effectively ruining the hay for horses. He continued stating “all the local hay is going to Texas, so you better stock up!” How right he was. Call after call resulted in the same story “we’re sold out and have sold off the next cutting to Texas”. Thanks very much Mr. Hayman! What are your regular clients supposed to do now that you’ve become a sellout like the rest? The answer happened to be truck in your own semi-load! I did just that! Screw these guys who took an extra buck a bale rather than passing that cost onto his normal clients who wound up paying much more as a result of their greed.
The above picture is of the semi-load I shipped in at a ridiculous cost to cover our needs. There are many folks who are paying $300-$350 a ton for hay that cost 1/4 of that in 2010! It’s a travesty and yet, when you check craigslist in Nebraska for example, there is still hay available for $50 a ton! Doesn’t say much for our integrity now does it?
An even bigger issue is one I heard from farmers in Wyoming and Montana- much of their hay being shipped to be Japan. With so much local hay being shipped rather than consumed by locals, a shortage is quickly exacerbating the situation and we’re seeing crazy prices like $150 for a 700lb bale of grass hay. That’s insanity. Who can afford to feed animals at that cost. My prediction on what another unintended effect might be is the sale of beautiful horses at meat auctions which is an absolute travesty.
As a result of the above situations, I attended the hay auction on October 29th, 2011 and the lowest priced decent hay recorded was roughly $240 per ton. That doesn’t include shipping mind you, so you’d have to add on the cost. Many of the lots exceeded $350 per ton for excellent quality hay. The problem? This hay was 1/3 of that amount last year. Paying a little more is one thing, tripling the expense of feeding your animals is another. Not everyone has a few extra grand laying around to bring in a truckload and I saw it as having no choice. Take the risk or pay three times what we did last season.
The answer to all of this for those unlucky enough to live in an area like Northern Colorado? Locate a trailer-load of hay and have it shipped in. Search craigslist in Nebraska, hop in the truck and take a ride. Make the deal, hire a trucker and put this nightmare behind you.