How To Make Hay Stretch

[rachels.haven]

Id check with them first, obviously. Find a good one and let them talk about hay (I LOVE hay) and how the growing conditions were compared to normal, and the drought. If you have any storage space, feel free to put some up while the putting is good if you're planning on getting goating soon. It's not Feb yet!

 

[Baymule]

For square bales, I have never had delivery, we just hitch up the trailer and go get them. If there was no hay available locally, an hour and half would be nothing. In the 2011 drought, we drove several hours to get square bales.

 

[Mini Horses]

Me too. I pick up 99% of the time. Many years back I had a load delivered & they unloaded!! Since it was 300 or so bales it was worth the little they charged. That option became very costly as their fees increased. Come to think about it -- it was also THE most beautiful hay I've ever been able to buy. Orchard from out west, green and wonderful. After that year there was an economy issue for years, gas almost $5 a gal and so on. I still dream about that hay! now I don't buy that much at a time.

Reminds me, need to ask if/when they are getting those big squares....like 700#. I don't even take those off the trailer, unless I break them up first. Easier to dole out than pulling from a round.

 

[Nao57]

So I'm curious...

The original post said that his hay guy was out already for the year.

They don't normally run out do they? And if they did when would they normally run out compared to where they ran out in this case?

And are other guys going out also?

And... this is somewhat related but last year when the Midwest flooding flushed Nebraska and Iowa down the toilet hay prices sky rocketed then also. I remember seeing ads for people selling bales of hay in Ohio for over 75 bucks. (I don't remember if that was the price for the big ones or the small ones.)

Anyway...where I'm going with this is that there has been a few near misses already.

But i have to tell you the biggest problem with this is that people are going to end up colliding with each other if there's really food and agriculture food shortages. People in this country have never really known going without before, and they are too used to the idea of 'I can be the one that wins' to cooperate with others. If you actually told them that they would rather conquer than fight because society is so weaponized.

And one aspect of this is that people don't trust the Communist run UN (ran by China behind the scenes) in what the UN has been saying about food shortages.

 

[Nao57]

So ...something else about this topic. Not everyone reading this is used to storing hay.

Please be careful about fire risks on storing hay.

I have relatives that work in moving and storing hay and the irony is that the company they were working with has had fires from the hay storage...but not from heat; rather from the chemical reaction of moisture getting in hay.

 

[rachels.haven]

Yes, hay guy is out of hay for the year. He doesn't usually run out of first cutting ever, but everyone bought that up not long after it was cut because of the drought. Second doesn't typically run out with him until December or so, but this year it was out even sooner after it was cut, literally fresh off the field. My local craigslist doesn't have much hay on it either, so yes, it is in scant supply. The few ads that are there are disappearing fast. The feed stores are doing good business right now with resale, but I get the impression they will run out very soon. They are usually out of second in January.

In the meantime, I found a feed store a bit farther away that is bigger but always tries to have hay to the point of trucking it from all over. Pricier, and not my favorite mix, but we will use it for now and leave the loft hay alone. It is very dry and ventilated up there so I am not very worried about fire. The hay was also checked one bale at a time for dryness, mold, and no uncommon heaviness before being pulled up. It's also stacked as correctly as I know how so there is plenty of ventilation.

 

[Mini Horses]

The original post said that his hay guy was out already for the year.

They don't normally run out do they? And if they did when would they normally run out compared to where they ran out in this case?

And are other guys going out also?

One of the issues for all farmers --- WEATHER!

May get one cutting, or three. May get late cut, not great hay. Flood, drought, equipment issues, etc. So you do not know what you will get UNTIL you get it. Then, soon as hay buyers hear of the problems of harvest, they buy what is out there.

So this should answer all the questions for you......it's a crap shoot.

 

[rachels.haven]

Yep, that's farming for you.

 

[farmerjan]

I cringe to tell you that we are going to bush hog one place we would normally make hay on because we have way more than we can use.... and because we don't know if there will be enough of a "window" of weather, to make much more.
It is really all due to the weather.
And fires in hay start because there is moisture in a bale because the grass is not cured enough to be baled. The hay gets compressed hard and that causes heating. If it is "green enough" it will cause it to smolder and ignite. It will not catch fire if it gets wet from rain type moisture... it has to be the grass was not dried down to a point where it will not cause it to heat. Sometimes it will just get moldy, but a few "green damp" bales stacked tightly in storage, will cause a fire from the heating of the hay. We have seen some of big round bales "get hot " and actually catch on fire too.

 

[rachels.haven]

Aw, don't cringe too much. Hay is one of those things that needs to be where it is needed. It's bulky to ship and store and costs gas and labor all along the way. Fire is serious, not just for bales compressed and put into storage, but for hay left in the field if it can't be cut. Bush hogging for next year's quality as well as this year's fire safety is not a bad thing.

That's still really unfortunate though. Darn cold, wet weather. It sounds like you'll be all tight and set up yourself though.