Hay prices double, supply suffers from drought

From KOB-TV.com -By: Liz Lastra, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - If you buy hay, you may have noticed prices have almost doubled this past year. Lester Begay is a local hay seller. He said last year he charged $8 for a bale of hay and now that same bale is going for $15 and the increase is happening all over. "Anywhere from Cuba around Bloomfield and all the way around,” he said. Begay buys hay from the largest supplier in the Four Corners, the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry, also known as N.A.P.I. He said he sees out-of-state suppliers leave with more hay than he’s allowed and with better prices. “They just totally refuse to work with any of the Navajo hay vendors," he said. Leonard Scott from N.A.P.I. said they are honoring contracts that were made over a year ago, before the drought changed the price and supply. Recently, they had to cut how much hay could be bought by everyone. “If we didn't deplete some of those measures we would have depleted our alfalfa now,” Scott said. Officials said N.A.P.I will run out of hay by the end of the year. “We will take some extra measures and make sure that we have put a plan together for next year. That we don't get into this situation again,” Scott said. Begay is worried his customers will not be able to afford to feed their horses and cattle. “It's possibly gonna go right back up to $20," he said. Read more

Hay prices double, supply suffers from drought