Texas hay buyers

How is the hay mrket in texas?What is the forcaste for next year?How is your drought,is it breaking or continueing?Whats the demand?Because so much western Colorado hay went to texas,stocks here are short-demand is VERY high.good horse hay is $10+ bale.If I had 100 ton I could sellit in a heartbeat!Steve

we've been getting some rain weekly here about halfway between san antone and houston...tanks are full and stuff greened up before frost got it...big question is IF its gonna keep raining.
hay's coming down in spots...saw some 5x5 coastal for 85. south of me...i saw it as high as 145. for a 4x4 of unknown heritage...i bought 6x5 rice straw delivered for 60. back in october so not everybody is gouging folks.
they got 5.5 inches in austin this mornin so hopefully the highland lakes caught some water...lots of rice and hay farmers in my area depend on the colorado river for irrigation water...lakes pretty much ran dry this summer...there was talk of no irrigation water at all this year...we'll see.

The price for rd bales has weakened a little with the green grass that's emerged since it started raining some. But Tx hay production is hard to predict(where I live anyway) because it can be very wet in May and not rain for 2-3 weeks and my area gets similar to a very dry. Just like it did last year.

With the fact that it started raining some before the frost hit and the high demand for a short supply of hay; I am suprised that most did not take a chance on planting some winter rye.
This has been a good year for rye around me. Warm and wet.

Some may have and that could account for the reduced demand of hay.

Still a good market in Tx as far as I know. Good horse square bales (light - maybe 50lbs) $14.00 at the feed store. 5x5 horse hay rounds $125 at the feed store.

It's still high in central Tx, but has stabilized. Average rounds of mixed are about 115, good and heavy alfalfa are at 230. Junk corn residue at about 90. 3x3x8 of mixed are anywhere from 125 to 175 or more for pure alfalfa . Squares are around 10 to 12. Supply is matched to demand: lots of turnover at the hay dealers but more comes in. Local guys are still sitting on own-made reserves, if they have any.

For next year forecasts are from average year to dry again but not as severe.

The good news is that it started raining again in November and has continued when normally it's dry in November and December. We're getting lot's of good bottom moisture built up on the blackland.

For me it was good as I planted oats, wheat and rye for grazing and I haven't had to buy too much hay. I ran out of my own at the end of last month.
I didn't feed any hay last week and was able to just graze but am having to rest it so it will come back thus it's back to hay for a week or so.

The hay comes in from all over the place. Kentucky, Utah, Minnesota, Missouri; varies tremendously. Quality is usually good, there's been a few loads of junk come in but most of it good hay that is properly baled and we're grateful to those who are sending good hay down here as we were hurt bad in 2011.

The rain you mentioned today filled my pool to overflowing. My next years hay patch was plowed black clay so most of this water is here for my hay crop next year......so much for the Mexican Pacific whatever you call it disturbance that the whiners are whining about.

Mark,

Redneck and proud of it even if I am 70.

Nancy, Is that timothy/alfalfa ? I just sold 200 at 3.50