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Hay markets
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Seth_ia
Posted 7/19/2024 07:04 (#10817299 - in reply to #10816620)
Subject: RE: Hay markets



Most of the cow guys make their own hay. They only buy hand-to-mouth in late winter or early spring when they run short. Finding a commercial cow-calf producer that wants to buy large volumes of good hay at market prices is hard. In central Iowa it seems many of them bring in cheap grass from Missouri or buy damaged hay locally. A beef cow just doesn’t really need good alfalfa either. Well managed cow calf operations that do buy alfalfa are often times mixing it in a TMR with cheaper ingredients. So that cuts down on the volume they need. It's getting harder and harder to find the cow-calf guy that wants a big volume of alfalfa to just put how in bale rings.

On the lighter side, selling "cow hay" in central Iowa can easy. Sell it for less than it costs you to produce it and you’ll have a line around the block! That seems to be the expectation of some cow calf guys in the area anyway. I lose track of the number of times each year that I get a stock cow guy calling, and he says, “Well, I can’t pay as much as hay is going for at the auction; it’s just cow hay”. I figure auction price is pretty darn good indicator of the local market and I shouldn’t have to subsidize someone’s cow herd!


Depending on what kind of hay you raise, horses, dairy’s, club calves, sheep and goats pay considerably more. We have a number of very strong hay auctions in central Iowa. If dealing with people isn't your thing, go the auction route. If you don't mind people, then "Life Style" hay is where the premium is. There are also a number of jockeys around that buy and sell hay. I love my big square baler and wouldn't ever sell it. However, I do less and less big square bales all the time. It seems to be a niche market unless you're selling dairy hay oftentimes. On the positive side. If the Daisy Plant gets built in Boone, it sounds like we are going to need a pile of dairys in central Iowa!

Edited by Seth_ia 7/19/2024 08:03
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