Hay Day

[OneFineAcre]

Today was hay day for me, but an extra long one.

I made my once per month trip to get my two round bales of coastal bermuda.



Well, my father in law is 84 years old bless his heart and he does love his cows. Problem is he has way too many of them. He has been buying peanut hay for over a month to feed through the winter. He needed some help today loading and unloading.

He pays $20 per bale in the field. He has to load, and transport. He bought 360 bales.

For those of you not familiar with peanut hay, they grow tons of peanuts in Eastern NC. They hay is a byproduct of the peanuts. A very good by-product. It's not as good as Alfalfa hay, but better than any grass hay you can find, at least as far as protein and calcium.

This is what peanuts look like growing in the field. Got this picture off of the internet.

The peanuts are under the ground . When the foliage is still green, they turn them over with the peanuts on top of the foliage kind of like this.

After they dry, they go over with a peanut combine which seperates the peanuts and throws the foliage into windrows. Then you bail.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Here are some of his cows. He has a registered Black Angus bull. The cows are mixed breed Angus, Short Horned, and some Charloiss.

 

[OneFineAcre]

So, we feed our goats free choice grass hay. But, in the winter, I supplement with the peanut hay. If I had a big hay shelter I would really stock up on this instead of buying Alfalfa in the summer time. So, I got a bale for my efforts.

 

[bonbean01]

360 round bales???? Wow...that's a whole lot!!!! Here in northeast MS, farmers no longer grow peanuts or cotton...corn and soy beans now...and more turning completely to corn...all GMO no doubt. At least closer to the MS river they still grow sweet potatoes. The promise of corn wealth for ethanol was kind of wiped out when fertilizer for corn went sky high.

Thanks for the pics! We've grown peanuts just for ourselves in the garden and that was new to me...not a great crop of them, but may try again next year.

 

[OneFineAcre]

360 round bales???? Wow...that's a whole lot!!!! Here in northeast MS, farmers no longer grow peanuts or cotton...corn and soy beans now...and more turning completely to corn...all GMO no doubt. At least closer to the MS river they still grow sweet potatoes. The promise of corn wealth for ethanol was kind of wiped out when fertilizer for corn went sky high.

Thanks for the pics! We've grown peanuts just for ourselves in the garden and that was new to me...not a great crop of them, but may try again next year.

He had 70 cows, calves, and heifers this summer. I know he sold some, not sure exactly how many he has. He had to sell some to buy the hay.

 

[Southern by choice]

Great pics!
Can't even find it being shipped in anywhere.
LUCKY YOU!

Your father in law's cattle are beautiful! Such beautiful property too!

 

[OneFineAcre]

Great pics!
Can't even find it being shipped in anywhere.
LUCKY YOU!

Your father in law's cattle are beautiful! Such beautiful property too!

See the picture with the camper in the back ground? That's the camper I paid $600 for 15 years ago when I was a big time deer hunter. I stopped doing that about 9 years ago when Rachel came along. Guess what she wants to do? Wants me to take her hunting out at the farm.

I was afraid to even look in the camper. I bet it's a leaking mess.

 

[Southern by choice]

That is very cool. Very special too! Nothing like a daddy teaching his little girl!
The leaky camper is just another great adventure!

 

[OneFineAcre]

That is very cool. Very special too! Nothing like a daddy teaching his little girl!
The leaky camper is just another great adventure!

I'm afraid Rachel will struggle with two very important parts of hunting.
Staying still
Being quiet.

 

[Southern by choice]

My little one helps clean/gut the deer and the squirrels. The rule here is you want to hunt... you learn this first and whatever you hunt you eat. Except coons, possums, fox,coyote.

See if she is interested in the hunters safety course! LOL that's a good way to see how serious she is.