Hay and straw prices

Updated weekly

These figures, from the British Hay and Straw Merchants' Association, show average merchant buying prices in £/tonne (ex-farm) for hay, barley straw and wheat straw in Great Britain.

Prices for big bales are shown  on a weekly basis.

See the downloadable Excel file for weekly and monthly prices for the key regions across GB as well as prices for big and conventional/small bales.

Please note England & Wales and GB weekly prices are simple averages of the weekly regional prices provided by the British Hay & Straw Merchants' Association. The composition of the prices may therefore differ over time, as prices for regions may not be available every week.

GB big bale hay, barley and straw prices

Source: British Hay & Straw Merchants Association

Big square bales are quadrants which are the most commonly traded bales. However, prices for different size of quadrant will be included.

Pick-up bale sizes are classified as being conventional/small.

Please note products listed may not be comprehensive and only reflect those with prices captured by the BHSMA.

While hay and straw prices are a key factor on farm, building consumer demand is just as important. See how our award-winning Milk Every Moment campaign promotes milk to students. 

Prices of round bales are not collected by the BHSMA due to the wide differences in bale quality and weights.  Also, round bales are used more for farm-to-farm trade and are not normally traded by merchants.

Units for all the prices are £ per tonne (ex-farm). We don’t provide price per bale, due to variation in size and weight.

This dataset was produced by our Data and Analysis team.

If you need any further help, email Martin, Dorian, Gavin or Esther at datum@ahdb.org.uk

Weekly and monthly price data, from 2019 onwards, is available to download in Excel format for the following types of hay and straw:

• Pick up baled seed hay
• Pick up baled meadow hay
• Big bale hay
• Pick up baled barley straw
• Pick up baled wheat straw
• Big square baled barley straw
• Big square baled wheat straw
• Big baled rape straw

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