Why would straw be more expensive than hay?

[ChickenAlgebra]

Quote:
Haven't owned rabbits in many, many years but wouldn't that be alfalfa hay? I don't want them to eat it, I want them to line their nestboxes with it.

They sell INSANELY overpriced grass hay now. But a little plastic bag is easily 2 - 3 times the cost of your bale of straw.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
part of the problem in comparing prices is the size of the "standard square bale" is regional. in CO when I was a kid, and in MO where I live now, the "standard" square is a 2-string bale and is considerably smaller than the "standard" bale in AZ and CA (where I just moved from. there it's a 3-string bale and it's twice the volume and size.

good green timothy hay, properly dried and densely packed in CA in a 3-string bale weighs around 105 lbs, +-10lbs. last time I checked (in June) it was running $24/bale, or around $0.23 a pound.
the same quality of hay here in MO is sold in 2-string bales weighing 40-65 lbs, as of last week, $6.50 a bale... so about $0.13 a pound.

and to make it more complicated, in some areas the "standard square bale" is a 4x4x7' bale weighing about 900-1100 lbs. in July, alfalfa in the big squares was going for $75, so around 7.5 cents a pound.

just saying the "standard square" is regional and you need to know which one you're talkiing about before you can compare prices. and that, of course, doesn't take into account how densely packed, how wet or dry, or type and quality of hay... and if you really want to know what you're getting for the price, you need to have it tested for protein, etc.

my friends in texas are used to paying by the protein content not just the weight of the bale, so a high-protien 800 lb big round might cost more than a low-protein 1000 lb bale. they were looking at buying hay here in MO and haluling it down, and were surprised that noone locally tests their hay before selling it.

YES! Thank you for explaining this so thoroughly. Years ago in Texas as a teenage girl I could easily sling those bales around; I can't even lift one here in AZ at all.

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
yeah, in CO at 15 I'd haul two bales at the same time - just grab a string on each one and go...
in CA with the bales we get in the 110-115 range (typically) I had to learn to use leverage, how to balance them, and hay hooks are required.
there is a mechanical leverage tactic to it... in CA we hired marines off camp pendelton to do some ranch work on the weekends and invariably, unless they came from cow country, we'd have to teach them the technique. it's fun to watch straping young marines 30 years younger than me struggle with manhandling the bales...

and it's MORE fun that they switch from calling me "ma'am" to calling me "sir" after they watch me do it

but it's more efficient to teach them how, since that's what we're hiring them for.

 

[SillyChicken]

Quote:
Why would you use hay in the nest boxes? It's way more expensive than straw. Could you start combining straw with hay and then gradually go to straw?

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
part of the problem in comparing prices is the size of the "standard square bale" is regional. in CO when I was a kid, and in MO where I live now, the "standard" square is a 2-string bale and is considerably smaller than the "standard" bale in AZ and CA (where I just moved from. there it's a 3-string bale and it's twice the volume and size.

good green timothy hay, properly dried and densely packed in CA in a 3-string bale weighs around 105 lbs, +-10lbs. last time I checked (in June) it was running $24/bale, or around $0.23 a pound.
the same quality of hay here in MO is sold in 2-string bales weighing 40-65 lbs, as of last week, $6.50 a bale... so about $0.13 a pound.

and to make it more complicated, in some areas the "standard square bale" is a 4x4x7' bale weighing about 900-1100 lbs. in July, alfalfa in the big squares was going for $75, so around 7.5 cents a pound.

just saying the "standard square" is regional and you need to know which one you're talkiing about before you can compare prices. and that, of course, doesn't take into account how densely packed, how wet or dry, or type and quality of hay... and if you really want to know what you're getting for the price, you need to have it tested for protein, etc.

my friends in texas are used to paying by the protein content not just the weight of the bale, so a high-protien 800 lb big round might cost more than a low-protein 1000 lb bale. they were looking at buying hay here in MO and haluling it down, and were surprised that noone locally tests their hay before selling it.

Our bales of coastal grass hay have been weighing in between 120 and 150 lbs.. three string bales.. much bigger and heavier than any I bought when i lived in Delaware

we're paying 22.50 a bale for the coastal
Alfalfa is running around 24. per bale

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Why would you use hay in the nest boxes? It's way more expensive than straw. Could you start combining straw with hay and then gradually go to straw?

Because straw molds way faster than hay. Straw is hollow shafts, molds grow in those shafts.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

We use what I call hay dirt. We go into the hay mow of our neighborhood friendly farmer, ( after asking first!!!!) and fill a burlap bag with the stuff that shifts onto the floor as they move the bales around. It's small pieces, and a nuisance to the farmer. The chickens normally shuffle through it and eat a lot as they make their nests.
We have also used dried grass from the lawn- -bagged after drying, and will scoop up the missed pieces off a field that was just baled. It's called gleaning. Of course it helps that you live in the middle of farm fields. Our big score was last year when a big bale lost it's strings when they were picking it up to store. They certainly weren't going to bring back the baler to rebale it so the farmer left it. I forked it into our little trailer and had lots of wonderful mulch and nesting material.
I have seen ads on Craigslist and Freecycle after Halloween that offer leftover decorator bales for free.
Also check with horse owners. They have to be very fussy about dusty hay. For as little as you use for nests, you can often shake out the dustiest parts and use the leftovers. They might also have hay dirt

 

[arabianequine]

I don't buy straw that often lately but it is like $3 per bale/50-100lbs. Go to a farmer if you can instead of a feed store. I put my hay on pallets and all the loose stuff that falls through and off onto the ground I rake up and bag it for the coop. It works out pretty good actually.