Re: [IceHorses] Random note on hay bale weights, etc.
On 9/7/07, Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: That sure was a leap of faith for us - we'd never ordered a tractor-trailer load of hay before, sight unseen. I think hay is a problem almost everywhere this year. I don't have a lot of space to store hay in my barn. Probably about 4 ton would be the max in my hayroom and then it would be hard to get at, so I usually order 20 bales at a time from a fairly local feed store (1 hour north of here) and paid $15.50 a bale for the last load of Orchard Grass!!! As it happened, Gene had just bought some Oat hay from a local guy and said I should try some for the horses. They just loved it, so I called my vet and said was it okay with her to mix Oat with the grass for my guys and she said fine ( my old guy has Thyroid and insulin probs...). Anyway the $15.50 a bale stuff is about 140 lb bales and the Oat for $5 a bale is less than half that weight, but guess it all evens out. You guys pay a lot less, but have smaller bales... (The farmer we bought the Oat from said he has lots stored in him barn and just come get more when we need it. Yippee!)
RE: [IceHorses] Random note on hay bale weights, etc.
Anyway the $15.50 a bale stuff is about 140 lb bales and the Oat for $5 a bale is less than half that weight, but guess it all evens out. You guys pay a lot less, but have smaller bales... I'm really curious - how do you manage 140-pound bales?Of course, I guess if you feed it all close to the barn and you only have a couple of horses such that you can carry it all around in flakes, maybe it's not too bad, but we have several herds, so we have to carry whole bales around. I have trouble with anything over about 50-pounds. I use a wagon or the tractor to haul the hay around for 25 horses. I wouldn't even want to deal with 80-100 pound bales...thank goodness Cary is a big, strong guy! Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED] No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.485 / Virus Database: 269.13.10/995 - Release Date: 9/8/2007 1:24 PM
Re: [IceHorses] Random note on hay bale weights, etc.
Karen, I agree, it's also been a scary summer for hay here in Georgia. I had a bit of luck in May, before we knew we had a hay crisis. I leased my one non-Icelandic to a very good riding camp a mile or so from me and took Chigger's salary in fescue instead of dollars. (It's all green stuff!) So, I had hay for the others. During a normal summer, they would have grazed and hay feeding would have been minimal, but there was very little to graze this summer Then, in July, we had about eight inches of rain, which got the coastal growing a bit. I have a barn-full now, but I have had to pay over twice what I usually pay and the bales are smaller than usual. I am just happy I haven't had to ship it from Pennsylvania or some other distant place. Annie
RE: [IceHorses] Random note on hay bale weights, etc.
I am just happy I haven't had to ship it from Pennsylvania or some other distant place. Annie That sure was a leap of faith for us - we'd never ordered a tractor-trailer load of hay before, sight unseen. My cousin is taking about 1/3 of it. The sizes of the bales aren't consistent, or rather, the packing isn't. We grabbed two bales to weigh tonight - one was 38 pounds and the other was 47 pounds. But, considering we were told it should about 40 pound bales, that's probably nothing to whine over, even if more of the bales are 37 pounds. It looks like we basically are getting what we were told. After we committed to buy it, I could only imagine 20-pound bales, full of weeds, trash and mold - but it's good hay. I'm just glad to have hay! So, I have about 1/3 coastal, 1/3 fescue and 1/3 timothy put up. Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED] No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.485 / Virus Database: 269.13.8/993 - Release Date: 9/6/2007 3:18 PM
[IceHorses] Random note on hay bale weights, etc.
This is a bit random, but I finally remembered to weigh a couple of bales of our hay on the old grain scales in the old barn. (The scales are ancient, but amazingly accurate, judging my weight compared to the doctor's office scales.) Our fescue bales cut and baled on our farm weighed about 34 pounds - pretty typical of what I've seen and felt with fescue bales over my lifetime. Except for the 50 hay lite bales we got earlier this summer, which were MUCH lighter...a form of opportunism rearing its ugly head, I'm afraid. I'm not sure those bales even weighed 20 -pounds. Pound-per-pound, that was very expensive hay, and only marginal in quality, with notable weeds and leaves. GRRR. Our coastal bales weighed about 40 pounds. The bales are very close to the same dimensions, but coastal is cut when the weather is hotter and dryer usually, so you don't have quite as many worries about damp hay causing mold, and so it can be packed a little tighter. This fescue has very few weeds in it, but honestly, I've rarely, if ever, seen 100% weed-free fescue. The coastal is virtually pure, with practically zero wasted. In 19 years of owning horses, this is the worst year I've seen for finding hay. Coastal can be cut here until frost, but it needs rain to grow. If we get a really good spell of rainy weather, it's still possible to see more coastal cut, but we're not going to chance it. October is typically a pretty dry month. For the first time ever, we've bought some timothy from out of the area, which should be here tomorrow. I hope it's good hay...we're paying dearly for it. The timothy bales are supposed to be about 40 pounds per bale. We'll see. At the moment, we have a little over half what we need, and if the timothy is good, we should be well-set. To hedge our bets though, we've over-seeded a couple of pastures with winter ryegrass, and if necessary, we'll put up electric fence around the fescue hay field and use it for some winter grazing. We could probably be frugal and make it without the timothy, but we're not taking chances. Karen Thomas, NC [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [IceHorses] Random note on hay bale weights, etc.
I am fortunate that I have a good source of grass hay. I tell him early spring how much hay I want, ordered 325 bales this year. As soon as he gets the first cutting in his barn he calls me with the price, went up to $2.75 per bale this year. I send him a check for the year's hay and he keeps it his big barn for me. We go out and get a pick up truck load or two. We can get 34 bales in the truck and about 80 bales in the stall we use for hay storage. The bales weigh an average of 40 lbs. and vary between 35 and 45 lbs. It is a mixture of grasses. I have it analyzed each year and the protein content varies between 6 and 10%, and pretty well balanced as far as minerals go. Last year the protein was 6% and I supplemented the protein with alfalfa pellets soaked with beet pulp and had to add some extra magnesium and selenium. I like having less rich hay so that they can have as much as they want, especially in the winter to keep them warm. They seem to waste a lot of hay, especially when there is any pasture to eat. The pasture is not rich either. If the hay has been out for 12 hours they don't want it, but when I take another flake out and they go right at it. Sometimes the hay is picked over and sometimes they just left it to go to the pasture or somewhere else. We are still using up the rest of last year's hay and they will go nuts after the fresh stuff that we will probably need to pick up later this month. We always throw out any left over hay once a day even if it looks good. -- Anna
Re: [IceHorses] Random note on hay bale weights, etc.
In 19 years of owning horses, this is the worst year I've seen for finding hay. It's terrible this year in our area - none of the farmers around here even will get a second cutting so everyone is having to import from outside the area and are about to die from sticker shock. In past years you could pretty easily find decent grass hay for $4/bale - of everyone I've spoken to they are happy to find it at $9/bale now and I get calls almost every day asking if I know anyone that has hay - everyone is in a panic now that they realize there isn't going to be a second cutting. I am so glad that I bought enough of the oat hay to last me through May. The horses seem to really like it and seem to be doing well on it. The bales are very clean and nice big bales. Laree
RE: [IceHorses] Random note on hay bale weights, etc.
I am fortunate that I have a good source of grass hay. I tell him early spring how much hay I want, ordered 325 bales this year. We've always had it good too. This is the worst year for hay since we got our horses 19 years ago. We have the big old barn for storage and our wonderful hay guy normally just has the crew bring it and stack it in the barn for us. We pay him by the pound, but it's usually worked out to be about $3-3.75 per 40-pound bale, delivered, stacked and virtually 100% usable, gradually going up over the past few years. This year he charged us $4.50 per bale...but I'm not complaining. He's got to buy groceries too, and it's looking like he'll miss at least 2, maybe 3 cuttings this year. I paid a lot more for this yet-to-be-seen timothy. We handle our own fescue after a local farmer cuts and bales it for us. We were joking last night, since we so badly over-ran our hay budget this year: wonder if we can put this timothy in a bowl, pour some milk on it and eat it with a little sugar? Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED] No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.485 / Virus Database: 269.13.6/991 - Release Date: 9/5/2007 2:55 PM
Re: [IceHorses] Random note on hay bale weights, etc.
I also went out on a limb this year and ordered a tractor trailer load of hay from Aden Brook Farm. I initially got worried when they kept promising the hay but there was always some problem. It did arrive about 2 weeks late. It is absolutely wonderful first cut timothy hay. Yes, it broke the bank but the horses will be fed this winter. I also bought really good orchard grass from a local guy this spring. It was $4.00/bale which was a lot more than I was used to paying. The timothy is much better hay but also a lot more expensive. Renee ** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
