It's hay buying time! With barely any hay in our local area we are exploring our options with hay auctions. We are OUT of round bales and want to close pasture to let the recent rains help it recover from our drought, so I stopped at the hay auction, bought a single load, and got to check out the process.
Today's load was 20.76 tons of weed free CRP hay and the total cost was $3366 (or $150 a ton plus $12.50 a ton delivery, or $162.50 a ton).
We need another 160 tons! I bid on several loads to get the feel of it but wasn't quite prepared to stretch my budget today. There's an auction here every week and we've been in contact with another hay auction owner so we are confident the hay is coming.
Now, we just need to pay for it. Remember we have a $5000 match on the table right now - with $4600 left to match!