I have been watching this thread for awhile, but with a lot different perspective then more of you. I produce hay for our own livestock, and also to sell. I always think its somewhat interesting that most people always list the price they paid by the bale, and not by the ton. Small square bales can range from as little as 40lbs to as much as 120lbs, round bales are between 400lbs to as high as 2200lbs each. Per ton price is a much more accurate number.
Anyways thought, I don't think that a lot of people look at the true cost of production. I see people selling hay for less then what it cost the, to produce it. By the time you figure land cost or rent, fertalizer, lime, seed cost, fuel, equipment purchase/upgrade, equipment maintnence, and labor to do it, it isn't cheap. In general it cost more to produce an acre of hay then it does to produce an acre of corn or beans. Round bales are cheaper then small squares because they take less labor, and are just easier to produce. In my area less and less people are making hay. If it can't pencil out to make the same profit per acre as corn or beans then it's getting plowed under for row crops.
I get a little flusterd with all the bleeding hearts whining about how farmers are ripping them off with these high hay prices. Really? At last years hay prices I was losing money to make hay. I could have rented my land out to the guy down the street for grain and had a set profit per acre. Has anyone priced equipment lately, or fertalizer, or LAND? I have close to $20k just in equipment to be able to make the small amount of hay that I do in a timely maner. Fert. is $700/ton, fuel is $4/gal (my tractor burns 4 gal/hr) land is $5-7k/ acre in my area, $12-20k/ acre in the corn belt. Would you want to have that much money invested just to HOPE to make a profit? You can't buy crop insurance on hay ground in most areas like you can grains. You also cant hedge your futures a year ahead to lock in a profit. All you can do making hay is spend half your summer making it and hope it's worth your time, and your wallet isn't empty when your done.
If you think it's expensive now, just wait. It needs to be in the $250-400/ton range to compete with current grain prices. If it isn't that high then guys will stop making it, and we all know how supply and demand works. And yes, hay should be more expensive in the winter then off the field in the spring. How do you think that hay gets from the field to someone's nice dry barn? How do you think that barn got there in the first place? Doesn't it seem reasonable to get a little more out of it when you have to pay for a barn (upkeep on it & property tax) just to store it for a couple months, plus the fuel and labor to get it there? I would much rather sell it off the wagon while I'm making it and not sell any in the winter.
Sorry for the rant. I'm sure there are other producers on here that will agree with me on this though. The average animal owner probably doesn't understand what it takes.
And just to clarify, I did have to buy hay this year myself. I sold half of my first cutting to a regular customer in small squares for a fairly cheap price off the wagon. Then the rain stopped and I didn't get anything off a new seeding field, and not much off the other. I have bought several loads of round bales for more then I sold my first cutting for. I never comlpaned about the price of what I had to buy if for or tried to beat them down on price. It was a good price and we both knew it. I have leaned a valuable lesson this year about selling hay though, make sure you keep a reserve before you sell a bale or be prepared to sell some livestock
Our "best quality" hay guy usually sells his huge round bales for $75.00. He has so much of it after first crop that he sold us 12 bales for $50.00 and told us that if we take another 30, he will only charge us $40.00! We need this break.
for what you do. I know a long distance thank-you and hug doesn't pay the bills, it's more to say I do care! 
