Small square bales of hay were fed at a rapid clip in recent months, says grower Mark Flynn, here with his son, Bryce.
Small square bales of horse hay are hard to find in parts of Kentucky as spring begins, reports grower Mark Flynn.
“They’re few and far between right now,” he says. Flynn and his father, Ron, put up alfalfa, mixed-grass and timothy hay on 400 acres at Flynn Farms of Kentucky near Louisville. “We had some pretty brutal weather for four or five weeks in January and February with lots of snow. Horse owners and livestock producers were feeding up a lot more hay than usual.”
The Flynns market most of their production within 150 miles of the farm. They sold out of small squares by late December.
“We usually have some stock to carry through until the end of January,” he says. “But our production was off a little last fall because we didn’t have as much rain as we would have liked. Then we had the early snows, so people were buying earlier than they normally would.” Some large round bales of grass hay are still for sale.
While the supply has tightened, area prices have remained fairly constant through the winter. Currently, small squares of alfalfa, at 50-55 lbs each, bring around $6/bale. Timothy small squares have sold for $5 each and mixed grass hay, $4.50/bale. Large round bales, at around 900 lbs each, sell for $20-25/bale.
“Prices across the board are about 15% higher,” he says, compared to what they were a year ago at this time.
Flynn can be contacted at 502-664-6032 or markflynn92571@gmail.com.