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how much ????????

Most of the time it's cheaper and easier to truck the cattle than it is to truck the feed! Be better to find someone to feed the cattle through the winter.
But then again HD, you have a little different situation whereas you calve a lot earlier than others.
Whatever you do, GOOD LUCK! :wink:
 
Probably cheaper to ship it from my place :wink: What's hay going for in Manitoba?
 
I can get really good hay for 70-80 a ton and it is 200-250 a ton here ,,people even want 150 a ton for green feed here. Bunch of gougers. :???:

I cannot ship out my cattle to feed for winter as they calve starting Jan 1st and most are AI'd ,I do not trust anyone but myself to ensure the calves are born and cared for in extreme temps, unless of course I send them to south US where it is balmy out. :wink:

A fella I know is shipping from Manitoba and when all is said and done he figured he would save 50-60 $'s a ton.

Just wondering if his pencil was sharpened enough.. :?

I do not want to buy feed, but where I live we were hit really really hard, and I sure hate to get rid of some really great cattle, especially heifer calves that I cannot replace ..

Going over my feed supply I can keep 10 bred cows, 2 replacement heifers and 5 calves and one bull calf.. My herd was around 100.

I know I know; I should have stock piled when it was available but who knew a 50 year drought would hit us this hard ..Also when we dairied and it was short we didn't mind paying 250-300 a ton ,but with beef..

Thanks everyone.
 
Manitoba seems like a long ways away, I thought northern AB and SK had lots of hay this year. I know parts of the Peace country have lots. Which way are you from Edmonton?
 
Red Deer , Northern Alberta is along ways a way from us as well.

Southern Sask had lot's of first cut but when hubby was driving through there for work last week he said they had gotten so much rain that the second cut was rotted on the ground .. So hay sky rocketed in price.

It seems everyone is taking advantage of the demand of hay and all have raised their prices to a ridiculous amount. I wonder how their local farmers feel about it.

50 bales at the cheapest price I have found around here will cost $5000 min.

I'll keep looking, maybe someone will take pity on me.. :(

Thanks
 
Hillsdown, I know that sympathy doesn't feed many cattle, but I am sorry for the tough situation you are in.

After all the tough years we have had to endure, you have the misfortune to get another kick in the teeth with drought.

I hope that good providence will break out on you soon and in many ways.

Stay strong; better times will return.
 
Hillsdown there is a pile of feed within an hour of RedDeer. We are an hour west and north of RD and pretty much everything is feed around here courtesy of cold, frost and hail. We landed a big pile of silage in the yard that will come in at under 5c/lb of dry matter and it will have more quality than most folks hay in this area.
I think you need to look at alternates to hay this year but realise that may not be the most convenient for you. I will call my neighbors for a price on their hailed out grain crops baled up dry. This would be an "enhanced straw" type feed. It would vary from field to field but I'm sure might be an option along with some pellets.
 
I sure feel your pain Hillsdown! We paid $150 a ton for triticale last year and feeder alfalfa was $180 plus shipping. I saw small bales of horse hay that weighed 65 lbs for $9 a bale which comes out at $280 per ton. The big cubing outfits gave $180 in the winrow! :shock: If prices would of stayed that high i'd be done this year and so would a lot of others. Hope you find some cheaper feed close to ya. Keep your chin up!
 
Hillsdown take a look at the AB AG website feed listings. http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/app68/hay?cat=For%20Sale&cat1=Hay
I looked quickly and saw two lots that might work for you. 14-1500lb bales good hay at Valleyview for $60 and they can deliver.
Also 1600lbs+ oat green feed bales at Spruce View for $90 - we bought hay bales from these folks last year and they were exceptionally heavy bales, so heavy they were breaking our machinery :cry:
There are options out there - don't believe the coffee shop pessimists.
 
There's still a million acres of canola that will get baled if it freezes in the next couple weeks. there for sure isn't a surplus of hay in northern Saskatchewan-hay won't get any more expensive but it might get a bit cheaper there's more being made every day. There are big crops of straw in our country if that sort of thing interests anybody.
 
Frost warning from Red Deer north east into Sask for tonight. Froze here last night. Be patient Hillsdown, this is the traditionally high time of year for hay. Someone might be willing to custom winter your cows somewhere. Always cheaper to move the cows to the feed.
 
In past years I have shipped hay in from Calmar, Lethbridge, Mayerthorpe, Cochrane and Thorsby. Buy your hay from the producer and find a back-haul truck. You will be surprised how much money you can save with a few phonecalls. Make sure the bales are HEAVY.
I got some 2nd cut from a guy at Thorsby in 02, the bales weighed 2160 lbs and it was beautiful hay. I paid him (then) $60.00 per ton and the back-haul was $1600 to my yard. That hay landed here at $101.15 per ton when local hay was selling for $125.00
You can get 36 5x6 bales on a B-Train, do the math on what the difference is in trucking 1300 lb bales as compared to 16-1800 lbers.

Get creative and good luck. You Albertans have been spoiled with cheap feed for a long time. (Not a dig just a fact.) :D
 
Cowboyup - Is that why you wear a mask in your avatar :???: :wink: :lol: :lol: Eight cent/lb hay will not fly with recent economics of cows, the cows will be sold first. Guys couldn't make money on 4c/lb hay last year why would they spent 8c now? There is a shortage of hay but there is plenty other forms of roughage available at more reasonable prices - indeed I think the volume of salvaged crops about to hit the market will actually make for a good cattle market late in the year.
 

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