# What would you do? - Hay Question



## vermillionoaks (Aug 6, 2012)

This is our second year owning goats.  We have been buying hay a few bales at a time from the feed store because we didn't really have anywhere to store large quantities of hay.  It was getting really expensive really quickly.  So my hubby built a storage shed for hay and feed.  We found a local guy selling hay for half the price we had been paying.  We talked to him on Friday and he said he had just baled some hay the day before.  On Sat. we picked up two bales as "test bales" to make sure the goats liked it and to check the quality.  On Monday (today) my hubby loaded up 45 bales all by himself and stocked our shed.

Here is where the problem comes in.  The guy was never home when we picked up hay.   When we picked up the "test bales" he told us to leave the cash on the passenger seat of his car.  Then, today, he calls and says he can't find the cash my husband left for the 45 bales.  My husband tried to describe where he left it and what the cash was in but the guy just quickly said he always gets screwed and not to worry about it.  We weren't too crazy about picking it up without the owner there but by the time we went on Sat. he had sold over 200 of the 300 bales he made.  I was worried we would miss out waiting for our schedules to match up.  We have never bought directly from a farmer before and were not really sure how it was normally handled.  We don't want the guy to get burned but not sure if we should have to double pay for the hay.  What would you do?  How do you normally stock up on hay?


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## SheepGirl (Aug 6, 2012)

I've been getting round bales ($25 for 400 lbs of hay), so I've been needing my hay guy there to load it in the back of my truck, so I am always there to give him the money. So I'm not really sure what I would do in your situation. :/

Is it possible someone else who came to pick up hay stole the money? Or that your hay guy is being dishonest?


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## vermillionoaks (Aug 6, 2012)

My husband thinks the hay guy was "testing the waters" to see if we will pay double. The guy said no one else picked up hay today.  He didn't seem very interested in looking again for the money and got pretty upset saying he always gets ripped off when my husband started describing where he put it.  The guy said not to worry about it but I feel pretty bad about it.


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## Baymule (Aug 6, 2012)

You paid for the hay. If he didn't get the money, that is a messed up deal. So, do you like the hay and do you want to buy from him again? or is there someone else in the area that bales hay that you can buy from nest year? Good hay contacts are important. I have never left cash for someone to "find" and it sounds like a screwy way to do business. And this guy says he always gets screwed? He don't sound too smart do he? I think if I were him I would think of a better way to transact business. You paid once, durned if I would pay twice.


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## vermillionoaks (Aug 6, 2012)

I doubt my husband would do business with him again.  He feels like if the guy actually didn't get the money he would have made a bigger effort to collect (go look again after talking to my husband or try to find something they would agree on).

There were only a few people selling hay nearby right now but everyone kept saying it was a "bonus"  cutting.  We picked him because he was closest.  I have no experience with hay-making but it sounded like we pretty much missed the main hay cuttings and were just lucky some of the hay guys had extra cuttings that didn't go to their regulars. (Another reason we wanted to pick up the hay today)  I'm not sure we would be able to buy from him again if we wanted to because we are not a regular and just happened upon "extras."

I just really feel dumb with this whole hay mess.  I wanted to stock up for the winter when I know hay would skyrocket in price (it almost doubled last year at the feed store) and be harder to get.  I thought it was early enough to have a large supply available.  Do yall just buy as you go or do yall stock up at a certain time of year?  How did yall find your "hay guy?"


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## SheepGirl (Aug 6, 2012)

Right now I've been buying as I go. As to how I found my hay guy...we always have to drive by his farm whenever we would go to Thurmont to go out to eat, and I always saw his sign 'All Types of Hay - Straw for Sale' -- so when my sheep were put on a dry lot I drove there and picked up a round bale. When they ran out I went to go get another bale. So far that's all I've gotten but the hay is really great quality (good color, odor, etc) and I've been happy and my sheep like the hay, too. We will be putting up a fence in mid August probably so my sheep will be put back out on pasture. I should have enough to last me through winter with this current hay bale (my sheep eat grass even when there is snow on the ground and hay available) so I may not buy any more hay (then again there were 9 sheep on 18 acres so there was plenty of grass through winter, so I don't know how my 2-3 acres fenced will do with 4-6 sheep on it). But I'm real happy with my hay guy because he's really nice (and he gives me a discount--what for, I'm not sure, but he said he normally sells his round bales for $30-$40) and he has a cute son 

There are plenty of hay producers close to me (some even on my road), and I've gotten a couple square bales from when I would take my sheep to the fair, but the quality of the hay just wasn't there (it was yellowing even in the center of the bale). My hay guy is a 10-15 min drive and the quality of the hay is worth it to drive the extra 10 minutes.

Especially since your hay guy wasn't too keen on going back and looking for the money (and also because he 'didn't learn from his mistakes' from being screwed over), I would try to find someone new to buy hay from. He sounds like he doesn't have sound business practices (and may not care about the quality of the hay). I would try getting hay from someone else...you can look in the classified section of your newspaper under 'Farm Items' and see if anyone has hay listed there.


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## poorboys (Aug 7, 2012)

wev'e been very lucky, we are in a share with another guy on pastures, we have known each other since high=school, so him and another guy bale, and we pay half of the expenses which leads us to only paying $2.00 a bale. HE stores it in his barn and we go get it when were ready for some, we can store 40 bales at a time here. If it wasn't for him, we'd be out of business cause dh would not pay these high prices for hay. But I have bought hay in previous years were the guy told me to live it Money in his truck and never had any problems. all of these people have been local, but no-ones every said they did'nt recieve their money.


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## Hillsvale (Aug 7, 2012)

Our hay guy delivers 60 bales at a time (the perfect amount to fill our little hay shed) and we pay him when we have off loaded so there has never been an issue; also he could drop off the hay and we could run the money over later or we could ick a few bales up with no issue but its all about the relationship building.

The only time I have ever left money was when we went to a local guy who was sawing lumber in his yard, we wanted the shim wood but when we went back with the trailer there was no one to be found. I left the money on the seat of his tractor which I figured would be the easiest option for him finding it... but it made me uneasy!

I would find a new supplier... he sounds a little bit "off", whether someone else took the money or he was trying to scam you no one needs that.


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## Pearce Pastures (Aug 7, 2012)

I agree with your husband.  Let's just say it was the other way around.  You asked someone to leave money and pick up some hay when you weren't home (not something I think most of us would do anyway).  If you came home and found no money, how would you react?  I'd probably call up and much more sheepishly say, "How is they hay?  Um, did you maybe forget to leave a payment because I can't find it?'  I sure wouldn't be jumping in and accuse the customer of being one of many to screw me over.

Furthermore, he is the one who created the terms of the contract (leave the money on his seat and take the hay) and he is bound by that.  You completed your part of the contract and even if someone took the money, you did no wrong.  But I am sure he got his money.


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## Teeah3612 (Aug 7, 2012)

I would find someone else to buy hay from in the future. Leaving cash for someone is never a good idea. I always hand them the money directly. It just saves on problems later.


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## 20kidsonhill (Aug 8, 2012)

I wouldn't repay them.  And clearly doing business with them again is going to be awkward.


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## ksalvagno (Aug 8, 2012)

If the hay guy is "always getting screwed" and continuing to allow people to just pick up the hay and leave the money, that is a problem.  That doesn't even make good business sense and why would you continue to do something that is making you lose money. Sounds like he is a bit fishy and you need to find another hay guy.


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## Alice Acres (Aug 8, 2012)

We used to bale our own, but now our hay fields are in crops. So we are buying hay.

We have several neighbors (we live in MN, in the southern part - all farm country) who bale, so we get hay from them. We've got about 300 bales now in the loft.
We always write checks for the hay - so we have a record of spending for tax purposes. It also eliminates the issue of someone coming back and saying they never got the money


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## vermillionoaks (Aug 8, 2012)

Thanks for the comments everyone.  We will be looking for a new hay guy next time.  I was just really looking forward to having another goat-related contact.  It made such a huge difference when we finally found a vet that worked out and we have a good working relationship with.  I was really hoping to have a single contact for hay instead of rolling the dice with a new newspaper add each time we need more hay.  Lesson learned!


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## 20kidsonhill (Aug 8, 2012)

vermillionoaks said:
			
		

> Thanks for the comments everyone.  We will be looking for a new hay guy next time.  I was just really looking forward to having another goat-related contact.  It made such a huge difference when we finally found a vet that worked out and we have a good working relationship with.  I was really hoping to have a single contact for hay instead of rolling the dice with a new newspaper add each time we need more hay.  Lesson learned!


Have you considered advertising for someone in the area on craiglist?  Ad could read: Looking for a local hay person to provide us small square bales of hay for our goats. I would mention about how much hay you go through. That you can pick it up. and the kind of hay you want. Would prefer to work with someone who has growing and selling hay.


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