Okay, I've just about quit selling hay!

[ksluy]

To me horse hay is a high protein hay clean with no mold, a horse can get a cough with moldy hay and with lower protein he just will not do well. A cow can eat just about anything we all know just a few years ago during the drought where i live farmers were feeding anything they could get there hands on. Even bailed corn stocks. As my dad use to say it beats a snow ball. Now here I can get great hay at low prices! There was just to much grass this year, some farmers didn't even bail there last cutting.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Bigfoot, I like your attitude

I differ from you, in that I don't own the baling equipment. I've been fortunate to find a local customer who comes to cut and bale the hay - AND is respectful of my land. I sell to him at a bargain price because I trust him and hope to keep this relationship for some years.

My wife and I work very hard to keep our 110 acres of hay clean. We don't sell weeds and we don't want the neighbor's weeds invading our property. We've spent endless hours tackling thistle by hand, one plant at a time, in addition to some spraying. We've also found it necessary to report a neighbor to the Department of Agriculture - twice - for failure to control thistle on his property. This year, I suspect we'll do it again and I REALLY hope, this time, he gets hit with a major $$$$$$$$Fine$$$$$$$$$$. There's no excuse for his laziness.

I'd say we generally break even, so there's no real profit motive. We just love our land and we're proud of our hay.

 

[ultrarunner]

Great information from both sides of the issue. We are just getting into horses and have started searching for a source of hay. For now we will only be buying square bales since that's all we will be able to store. We don't know how many we will need or how much room we will have for storage, but we'll figure that out quickly enough.

For now, we are reading ads on Craigslist and hoping to find somebody close to us. Prices seem to range from $6 to $9 depending on things like picking it up in the field to them loading it for us and how many bales we buy.

Concord feed is selling bales at $23 and will help you load...

 

[farmer2009]

Eddie. Growing up I was always told you had 24 hours after bailing to move and stack small squares. Then don't touch then for 30 days. They would rot if moved in that window. Then at about days 40 they go through another heat but it's not as critical. Now this was from old timers. These guys are dead now and only had about 70 years on me then.

The heat is part of the curing process. You can actually smell it go through them. I know it will go through 2 heats but some times a third also.

 

[ultrarunner]

On Gramps dairy farm he would use a sickle mower and then scatter the hay maybe a couple of times depending on weather followed by making windrows and then collecting and transporting to the hay loft...

His small herd of dairy cows always seemed happy...

 

[Tx Jim]

The heat is part of the curing process. You can actually smell it go through them. I know it will go through 2 heats but some times a third also.

I've never heard before now that hay goes through more than one heat cycle. I agree the heat cycle is needed to give the hay it's appealing smell & better palatability(sp). I'd be curious to know what causes these 2nd & possible 3rd heat cycles that you mentioned?

 

[farmer2009]

I've never heard before now that hay goes through more than one heat cycle. I agree the heat cycle is needed to give the hay it's appealing smell & better palatability(sp). I'd be curious to know what causes these 2nd & possible 3rd heat cycles that you mentioned?

I'm not sure what causes it. But I have seen it. Each one is cooler than the first. Have felt them checking hay. Mainly in square bales is where I've seen it. It may be harder to detect on rounds do to their structure and not being compressed as tightly.

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie,

I get my square bales in Chandler from Terry Marshall. Excellent hay and he loads them with a grapple so it's easy hauling. He will load on Saturday mornings.

Hay For Sale in East Texas at The Forage Mart

Thank you Randy, I printed out his webpage and will contact him once I finish building my barn.

Eddie

 

[Bigfoot62]

Eddie,

I get my square bales in Chandler from Terry Marshall. Excellent hay and he loads them with a grapple so it's easy hauling. He will load on Saturday mornings.

Hay For Sale in East Texas at The Forage Mart

Randy, thanks for posting that link. I racked my old brain, trying to remember Terry's website, but could not.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Bigfoot, I like your attitude

I differ from you, in that I don't own the baling equipment. I've been fortunate to find a local customer who comes to cut and bale the hay - AND is respectful of my land. I sell to him at a bargain price because I trust him and hope to keep this relationship for some years.

My wife and I work very hard to keep our 110 acres of hay clean. We don't sell weeds and we don't want the neighbor's weeds invading our property. We've spent endless hours tackling thistle by hand, one plant at a time, in addition to some spraying. We've also found it necessary to report a neighbor to the Department of Agriculture - twice - for failure to control thistle on his property. This year, I suspect we'll do it again and I REALLY hope, this time, he gets hit with a major $$$$$$$$Fine$$$$$$$$$$. There's no excuse for his laziness.

I'd say we generally break even, so there's no real profit motive. We just love our land and we're proud of our hay.

:thumbsup: