D2 Cat

If you need hay and can get it at a good price, buy it and set it aside for your needs.

I just finished reading a article in "Farm Industry News", July/Aug. 2006 edition, Fertilizer: Book Ahead Or Miss Out. Since fertilizer prices follow natural gas cost, it's just going up and therefore hay will only be higher. Dealers are caught in the middle between manufacturers and distributors on one side and growers on the other. What's new is the grower is going to have to pre order and pre pay. If you don't it may not be available for you. You can't just go to the coop and order what you need for that day. It isn't happening yet, but wer're in changing times!

As fuel and fertilizer cost go up, so will cost to consumer. And then add not enough rain, you've got more problems.

crobtex

Look at your profile..... BearKiller

BearKiller

Man, I am glad you brought that to my attention.

I got it all straightened out, now.

Can't have people thinking I run around in a sissy pink truck.

Thanks.

crobtex

No problem. We can't let people get the wrong idea about folks on this site.

mcoleman

Had a buddy that bought one of the purple 3500 Rams and he caught holey heck for it. He now has as white one. Sounds like it's time to revert back to the times of my ancestors and buy a manure spreader for fertilizing the hay fields. Start recycling the old fashioned way.

dodgeguy71

I don't get the amount of hay some of you guys do, have a small goat farm.......I know....GOATS!!! Anyhow, been buying the small rounds, outside kept and weighing around 1000 pounds. The small squares around here are around 50 pounds, so that's like 20 squares. Goat ate everybit of it. Then in January I got a large round bale, 1800 pounds, fella said it was like 55 square bales. It was freakin HUGE!! Our tiny farm ain't big enough for a tractor, so me, wife, and three kids all busted our tails pushing this thing off the back of the trailer. It lasted for 3 months before the grass started growing good and did not need to feed them as much hay anymore. Cost of the small rounds was $12 each, large round was $30 and it is dry and kept in a barn. Wish I had a better way to move them large rounds.

mcoleman

Buy yourself a bed mounted bale spike and a small winch. Drop the spike, back into the bale then winch it up off the ground and drive away.

http://www.washburncompany.com/hay_handling.htm



For a more economical unit we have a pickup unit with a 2 speed hand winch for $495 cable not shown but included

ajpulley

We have canine teeth for a reason.

Beef, it's what's for dinner.

D2 Cat

Dodgeguy,
I built a hyd. over elec. bale spike for my ford diesel. I gathered the componets over time, including the hyd. cyl over the internet. I bought the spike from a local guy, but you can get them from any hyd. repair shop. They scrap out alot of cylinders and the ram is all you need. I built the frame, and have less then $500 in it total.

But you can get the hyd. lifts off of a truck lift gate for about $75. They only have power going up, the weight of the metal returns them down. You'd have to have a big Russian woman to hang on to the spike to return it back down!!

Probably no more hay then you move either paying a little extra to have someone else do it, or your family manpower would work.

Can't you get a rope, come-a-long, chain or something around one of those big bales and pull it off your truck, or trailer with another vehicle, or wrap the rope around a tree and drive off? Those babys get a flat spot from setting and you're defying gravity moving it that way!!

Chrisreyn

Interesting thread...........
Rob, as to your original question, figure about a 20% waste factor on your big round bales if they are stored outside.( If string tied, Net-wrapped will have about 7-8% waste.)
I haven't heard much about the Big squares, they're not used much around here, I think because everyone already has the equipment for the big rounds..
So out of a 1200# round bale, after it has sat in the rain and snow etc., it will yield an average of 960 lbs of good hay. Divide that by your cost per bale and you get your cost per pound, that will allow you to compare it accurately to the squares available in your area.

This year I am paying $25 for 1200# rounds of fertilized Brome, $18 for Prairie Grass. Small squares(65-70#) are averaging $2.95. It definitely more economical for me to feed rounds than squares. If you plan to keep small squares, you have the additional expense of a place to store them dry, and the added risk of fire and rodents.

A round feeder is a MUST. Mike is right about the excessive waste feeding without one.
If you are going to roll a big bale, its easier to roll it onto a rope or chain and then drag it, tho you can tear the bale up that way.

BTW, Brome hay is a good median between Alfalfa and mixed grasses for a feed. The horse love it and it is a medium protein, highly digestible feed. It will grow just about anywhere, I never understood why more folks outside the Midwest dont grow it....

mcoleman

I never have liked the idea of feeding straight alfalfa. It's just to much protein unless your really working the horse hard. I don't like a horse that hot and since we are usually working 2 year olds for people I really don't want them hot at all.

crobtex

Really good info here. I'd like to find some of the fertilized Brome to try. Neither of my ponies are worked hard, so this sounds like a good mix form them. Also, I agree with the alfalfa being way too hot for most horse, especially in my part of the country. My friends in Colorado use it all winter. I learned my lesson last year about storing hay outside. I stored 40 square bales on a raised floor with a tarp over it and still lost about 25% of it to mold.

Don M

That is a strange site Crob, to see the corn stalks being bailed that is.

Two weeks ago they harvested the corn and a few days later they were rolling the stalks.

We have been lucky, got rain Friday and Saturday in Anna. Lots of it. The yard is coming around again (:

BearKiller

I just found this ad in a farm paper that I get.

2000 square bales of BROME hay

$1 per bale

Telephone number

Elwood, IN

That sounds like a deal to me, if it is of decent quality.

We have hay, around here, coming out our ears; but, you can't buy anything for less than $2.50/bale, and that would be pretty sorry Fescue and weeds.

crobtex

A lot of the farmers didn't even harvest the corn, just bailed it all. A lot of the fields have a few rows left standing as failed crop proof for insurance, taxes, etc. Cows will eat it, but it has virtually no nutritional value.

We got some rain over at Sedalia too. I didn't know you were so close.