Jared Brush started moving hay when he was 17, but last year was the worst harvest he’s seen.
"Things were dry as all get out. We didn't see any second cutting hay really around here locally," said Brush. "That's a big chunk of our market, that's 30% of our revenue."
Brush runs Hidden Springs Farm in Mendon. They deliver hay locally to small farms, but almost half of their revenue comes from making out-of-state deliveries.
"We go to New Jersey, Connecticut, as well as down to South Carolina, Florida market,” said Brush.
Low hay production, high fertilizer and fuel costs caused those deliveries to stop last year and that caused the price of hay to go up.
Brush says if people are looking to save money, they should focus on the weight and mix of the bale and break the price down by the ton.
"That weighs 49 pounds on the money, so you're getting twice as much hay in a slightly larger package," said Brush. "Anybody who's looking to be smart about their money this year should realize it's not all comparing apples to apples."
Source: spectrumlocalnews.com
Photo Credit: gettyimages-d-keine
Categories: New York, Business, Harvesting