http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ok_gr310.txt

It aint cheap.....

Ain't that the truth? And a lot of the ones I found were listings from 2008. Not much help now.

However, I found a listing from 3 days ago that does list what's available. When I checked the area codes, it looks like some in the Lawton/Altus area and also some up around Muskogee/Bartlesville. All the rest is coming in from places like MN, IN and WI.
It looks like you have to create a log-in to see who actually has it, but worth it if you really need hay right now, as so many people do . . . me included.

My mail carrier said that people have been trying to give away registered horses, to anyone who will have them. It's way beyond being sad.

Pat

Here is a link that might be useful: Oklahoma hay Exchange

There is still a lot of hay in the hay fields in this area but I haven't seen any signs with prices. Maybe it is all for their own livestock and just hasn't been moved to the barns yet. I'll keep my eyes open.

Carol, I'm surprised to hear that there's still any standing in the fields. Up around your area seems to be one of the few places in the state that has any available at all. I imagine they'll be bringing it in soon, but if the drought expands, they'll be needing it all for their own stock.

Pat

My husband is actually finishing up haying a few of our fields. I had a guy up here neae Nowata selling square bales (grass hay) for 2.65$ a bale 2 weeks ago. The guy could have probably gotten closer to 5$ but it was none of my business... Anyway, most people are stockpiling for their own usage in this area as they are unsure what next year will bring I guess.

Redding, I will try and find u some hay, it will be grass or prairie hay, not alfalfa, but it would be better than nothing, right?

How much are you looking to buy?

E

Last week round bales here that normally are about $95 were going for $165 and the guy at the feed store said 'they aren't even good quality, but none of the hay here is good quality this year so you take what you can get". These aren't even full-sized round bales. (I don't bale hay---can you vary the size of the bale????) They looked about 2/3s the usual size of big round bales.

Anyone here cutting and baling has to fight off a crowd of people stopping and interrupting their cutting and baling to ask if the hay is for sale. Most people cut and baled in June after heavy rain in May caused lush growth. About 15% of our county got about an inch of rain about 3 weeks ago and that kept some of those pastures going another week or two, and they're the pastures being baled now.

In a good year, everywhere you look you see signs in pastures that say "Hay For Sale" with a phone number. This year I haven't seen a single 'for sale' sign.

All the above is for cattle hay from native grassland pastures. I haven't seen any of the higher quality horse hay anywhere.

I'd just as soon have good quality grass hay for the sheep, rather than alfalfa, because they tend to waste all the stemmy portions. The small bales of good grass hay that I saw listed on the exchange were $6-8 a bale, but I don't think they are around here anyplace.

I did see on the hay exchange that there are some small square bales of alfalfa for horses available, but the only ones I saw for OK are around Altus, and they only had about 50 of them. The big bales are going for $170-190 a ton and the little manageable bales are from $250-300 a ton!!

I'll have to ask my daughter what she wants to do. We only have the pickup, but if we could haul 8 to 10 bales or decent quality, it would be a gigantic improvement over what we have now, and that's nothing but a bare pasture. Unfortunately, if the hay is really poor quality, the animals won't eat it. You'd think they would get hungry enough to go for it, but they don't. They just stand around and bawl in a pitiful manner. We've got a couple of late lambs and a pair of heavy ewes that should be dropping in a couple of weeks. Now is absolutely the worst time for them to be going short of feed.

Pat

Pat,
I got my horse hay in Shawnee last Monday. It was really nice grass hay, small bales, $6 a bale. I was very pleased with the quality with this being such a bad drought year. The man I bought it from said he was baling some round bales later in the week, but said it would not be as high quality hay as the square bales I got. Don't you live near Shawnee? If you send me a PM with your email address, I can give you his name and number. He had a few bales of the square bales left on his trailer, but I would imagine they are long gone now. Maybe he can help you out though.
Dawna

Dawna, yes, I do. I live outside of town, near Bethel Acres. I usually buy my feed at either S&S or at Shawnee Feed. How can I send you my e-mail? Are you also on the garden group that we started on Facebook?

We're not set up to handle round bales at all, unless someone would drop one in our field. I won't hold my breath until that happens. :-)

Pat

Wow, this is very, very funny. I offered, out of kindness, to get you hay. In a time where hay is not to be found in OK because it is all being trucked to Texas, I offered you hay. Granted, not alfalfa that you would like, just plain old grass hay, but nonetheless, beggars can't be choosers. You all but turned your nose up at me. Is it because I am not in your little FB clique? I imagine so. Yes, I am a relative "newbie" here, but weren't you all at one time? You could have just said "thank you very mch Erod, I appreciate the offer, but I think I have found a source" or something, ANYTHING to that affect-- shown some gracefulness or even a tiny bit of thankfulness or gratitude for another human being attempting to offer you assistance. The world has become a selfish and ungrateful place and I try to lend assistance where I can. I guess that type of thing is not appreciated here by a few people. Adios Amigos.

I think that was a nice offer Erod. I don't think anybody meant anything in a negative way. Everyone here is pretty nice and appreciative. It probably just came across wrong.

I counted about 20 semi-loads of high-quality hay going south on I35 between Perry and Wichita a few days ago, similar to what Dawn has seen. Pretty sad.

If you look on Craig's List there is hay - local and trucked in from Missouri and up north. It's not cheap, but when you have to have it - you either pay the price or sell the animals. We are blessed to have a few bales left from last year, but already having to put hay out for the cows - we don't have enough for the winter. Hopefully it will start raining and we'll get a late cutting in the Fall. Buying hay unseem is taking a chance - keep that in mind - not everyone is honest.

Elrod, if you would go back and re-read the comment about alfalfa.

He would rather have grass hay over the alfalfa. The sheep waste the alfalfa more since they dont like the stems.

He said he was going to ask the daughter what she wanted to do.

I said "HE" as i dont know if "Pat" is male or female.

I'm sure they are trying to find the best bang for the buck.I know i would be.

Erod, at the time I was mostly looking for hay for other people, including the gal who was desperate for something to feed her horses. Our own situation wasn't nearly as dire as that, although it's rapidly gaining ground. I'm trying to keep an ear to the ground for any hay that might be available anywhere, so I can tell other people. My mail carrier told me last week that people are trying to give away registered horses because they have no feed for them. Some situations are so much worse than mine that it's awful to think about it.

My sincere apologies if I seemed to snub you. It was absolutely NOT my intention.. We just had a lot of other stuff going on and I blinked right past your generous offer. I'd have to talk to my daughter and see if there's a time she can set aside to drive over your way, if you still know of some that's available. As another newbie here, and one from the west coast even, I do know that folks can often misconstrue something I've said, so I appreciate your feelings in the matter. If you felt I was being rude, please forgive me.

Pat

Pat,

If you click on the "My Page" link beside my name, it will have a place you can send me an email. If you send me an email with your email address, I will email you the name and number of the guy I got my horse hay from in Shawnee. I don't want to post his phone number on the internet.

BTW, you have been extremely helpful to me in my search for hay, and I don't know you from Adam. And no, I'm not on the facebook garden group. I appreciate all your help!

Dawna

Hi Busy1,

You're absolutely right. I can't afford to buy hay that the sheep will just pick through and leave most of it on the ground to be trampled. When I want them to have the higher TDN of alfalfa, I feed them pellets. Otherwise it's wasted, not to mention expensive. I'd rather leave that feed for the animals that will better utilize it. Waste right now would be inexcusable.

And BTW, I'm a she. I'm one of the older gals in the group.

Dawna, I sent you a note, and I really appreciate it.

I'm still wondering if I shouldn't contact my friends from out of state and see if they are interested in hauling any hay in our direction, just because so many people are having trouble finding it. It would probably be round bales and mostly good grass hay, but hay is hay . . . right?

Pat

Pat, if there was a place to store the hay, i know it would sell.

Last month the local feed store owner was selling 4x5 prarie hay for $55 a bale. This was already in the stressed stage before it was cut and baled, but it is roughage.

Most folks that have hay are keeping it all for themselves. I know i am keeping mine. I have started to cut my herd to conserve costs.

The sale barns are being flooded with folks selling livestock. There is nothing in the pastures for them to eat. It is too late for some folks to recover if it did start raining. It just would'nt support anything without being supplimented with hay till the gras could get some growth.

I had heard that there was going to be a hay auction, where they would have a location that hay would be trucked in and sold to the highest bidder. I dont know where or when this was to happen.

You Might contact the local livestock sale barn and see if there were people interest in hay and what the going rate was for the area.This would give you some information and you could see if it would be worth the effort to get some hauled in.

Good idea. I know that my farmer friend has hauled hay to distressed areas before, like when there was all that flooding on the Mississippi and the cattle were stranded. He does it more because he's a good person than to make money from the deal.

I thought maybe Shawnee Feed had gotten a load in, because they had a big trailer covered with a tarp, Come to find out, it was only straw. On the day that I asked, they said they don't have any hay of any kind, and can't find any.

Conditions have been so wet in IL and IN that I don't even know if they've been baling, or if the fields are too wet to work, but it's sure worth a phone call to find out.

Pat