The price of alfalfa-grass mix was $30 today, twenty bales minimum. The single-bale price was $31. No shortages or waiting lines observed.
The price last July was $19 per bale, twenty bales minimum, putting the increase at 58% in eleven months.
The average horse would need five bales per month, which works out to $150 per AUM.
The price of forage to the public-lands ranchers over the same period was unchanged, $1.35 per AUM.
The grazing program insulates them from the realities of the market, at least on the cost side, another reason to take more wild horses off the range.
Western Horse Watchers Association 