Why would straw be more expensive than hay?

[zzGypsy]

straw prices are up because people buy them for halloween decorating.
at least that's my guess...
and yeah, hay availability is a BIG problem here too.

if you're shopping way-out-of-area, springfield, MO craigslist sometimes has resonable small (2-string) bales listed from time to time. if joplin's closer, check that too.

 

[gaited horse]

Quote:
I blame Imp not the cow.

 

[Mattemma]

I pay $6 for the straw.Never got the hay,but I think it is the same price.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I blame Imp not the cow.

Well in a roundabout way, so do I.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
You better be headed a lot further north than here if you want to find where they got more than one cutting of hay this year. Some people got a second cutting right at the end of the season, but most people left what they could up as pasture instead of cutting it.

Instead of buying hay for nesting material, I cut some of my tall grass and let that dry a few days. It works quite well.

Why would straw be more expensive than hay?

It's called Capitalism and how the Free Market system works. If people are willing to pay that much for it, people are willing to charge that much for it. Around here, straw is $7 a two string bale at the gardening center. It's better than hay as mulch because straw does not have as many seeds.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

In my part of Florida hay is produced all over. Straw, on the other hand, is only available from the fairly scarce small-grain crops that are grown in the winter or has to be trucked long distances from the grain producing areas of the nation. More hay, less straw means that the scarcer commodity is going to be the more expensive.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Straw is a by-product of oats. In order to get straw, one must combine the oats (and combines are quite costly). You must plant your oats and tend to the field more than that of a hay field. Straw is more difficult to obtain because it isn't as simple as growing up a field of grass and cutting it for hay, and therefore price reflects this.

When my mare was about to foal, I had purchased straw bales off of my hay supplier for $5 a bale because he had to pay $3 for them. He had no oats that year and had to buy straw for me. It's also very hard to find around here--but it's excellent for newborn baby horses!

 

[sharron]

boy am i glad we don't live where ya'll do, we pay 3.50-4.00 a bale and thats the good stuff as we feed sheep and mini horses
Quote:
$7.25 a bale????

Ours is $14. And yes, straw is MUCH cheaper.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
You better be headed a lot further north than here if you want to find where they got more than one cutting of hay this year. Some people got a second cutting right at the end of the season, but most people left what they could up as pasture instead of cutting it.

Instead of buying hay for nesting material, I cut some of my tall grass and let that dry a few days. It works quite well.

Why would straw be more expensive than hay?

It's called Capitalism and how the Free Market system works. If people are willing to pay that much for it, people are willing to charge that much for it. Around here, straw is $7 a two string bale at the gardening center. It's better than hay as mulch because straw does not have as many seeds.

IF we had some tall grass to cut. I didn't have to get the lawnmower out even once this summer. It never rained. What's outside the yard the cows ate before it got to any length. I was just out in the meadow and our neighbor was up here feeding the cows. Eighty acres of land for grazing and they are having to feed the livestock. It's going to be a long, hard winter.

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

Go to your nearest newspaper. Buy the end rolls of unprinted newspaper from them - heck, one place we were at, we'd pay $3 or something for the roll, but if we returned the inner roll deal, they gave us the $3 back. Cut off roll, run through a general paper shredder. Cheapo nestbox filler.