July's Hay Days.....Ahh, They're Done!
To me, there aren't many better feelings than knowing that you have your hay supply safely stashed and ready to feed in the months ahead.
Of course, to Ed and his friend Dennis (shown here), it must have been a fairly good feeling to be unloading and stacking the last of it during sudden cold front instead of on a hot day.
On Sunday, when Ed backed this flatbed load up the barn door, it was 97 degrees. A brewing thunderstorm kept him from unloading it, so he tarped it for Monday--when the high turned out to be 58! (Note the brooding clouds.)
With this gigantic annual summer chore accomplished (have I mentioned how much I love my darling husband?), summer seems that much sweeter.
(That is, if it manages to return!)
posted by Juli Thorson @ 11:24 AM
12 comments
12 Comments:
Y'all have some truly unpredictable weather!!!
I just got my load of "fresh off the field hay" and it smells sooooo goooood! What would we do without our hubbies?!?!? My husband is not a horse person but does not mind helping with day to day chores.
We get the remnants of whatever weather you had and it has been one really strange Summer thus far.....
Here I go being nosey. I recently unloaded my first load - two-string bales of fescue at $8/bale, same price as last year. How are hay prices up there?
We don't buy by the bale, we buy by weight (meaning by the ton). We take each load over a scale before unloading it.
Our area hay prices came down, from $200/ton last year to $175.
We calculate 4 tons per horse per year. That usually has us with a bit left over at the end of winter, but I prefer that to running out!
Makes for a painfully large check to write all at once (times four horses), but it helps support a local family; we know exactly where all our hay comes from and how it's been grown; we get on the good-customer list for the following year; and it's cheapest in the long run.
PS. How much do those $8 bales weigh?
The first cutting of the Colorado crop is such a hit and miss this year. We had the second wettest June on record in the Denver metro area since the late 1800's. It rained for something like 35 straight days, making any cut hay a perfect target. I've never seen so many adds for mulch, cow hay, feed-it-quick horse hay, or erosion control bales! I'm waiting for second cutting here. As much as I'd like to go with the cheaper 4x4x8 bales, I simply can't move them, so it's still small squares at roughly $6/bale ($4 if you don't mind you hay rained on...).
Local hay is probably a little bit better over there than here in SW Wa. I was excited to get eastern Oregon orchard grass for $10 bale!@100-120lb 2 string bales, down from as much as 19.50ea last year! The 19.50 bales were 3 string 180lb bales This year its running $200-$250 ton, verses $295-$310 we paid last year! I usualy buy by the bale, because I do it myself, my hubby will help if I realy need him but he is allergic, so I do most of it with my daughters help. We live only a mile from the local dairy who is our hay supplier. He hauls in 2-4 double semi loads a week! We pay more because it all has to be trucked in. Our local grass is 40-50lb bales and I have seen it from $1.75 bale in the field to $5 a bale, big range! sometimes it takes some figuring to get a mean price when the supplier switches back and forth from 2 to 3 string bales. But he is realy good about putting out sighn that say the price per ton, the price per bale and how many bales in a ton, some of those 3 string bales go 10-11 to a ton! Thats some big bales! Its so much easier to do 2 sringers!
wow, in my area of KY hay is at 4.00 a square bale which typically around here weighs 85-100 pounds and it's exceptional quality I think the high quality usually runs around 8-10 a bale
First year every, we took the first cutting on the hay, because last year it was after the middle of September before there was a second cutting. Two string, appx. 50 lbs of hay ran $4.00 a bale. We may need to go back to get more, if there is any. In Mississippi, we have had very little rain this year.
Ha! My car accident injury has excused me from this chore for the first time since I was 8 years old.
But alas - I felt like a lazy turd not helping...instead of rejoicing in my free time....oh well... such is life as a cowgirl...
We cut and bale our own hay, which can be as nerve racking as trying to find good hay to buy. Here in Northern Missouri hay can range from $3-6+ dollars a 50 pound square bale and sometimes more if hay is scarce. We are almost done ( thankfully) . we put up 800 bales to feed our 3 equines, a milk cow & calf, 18 sheep and 10 goats and that usually gets us by till the spring pastures come in. We are lucky that we usually don't need to feed hay at all in the spring- fall months.
Here in Michigan, I am still waiting for my second cutting. First cutting, small square bale, is running about three weeks behind and costs $3.00 per bale if I pickup. Summer has been more like fall this year. I have to agree nothing smells better than fresh hay.
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