1 Round Bale = XX Square Bales
#31
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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.
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.
#32
Chapter President
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by BearKiller
Where on earth would you get such a horrid idea??
I ain't no lipstick saleslady.
#33
Registered User
Originally Posted by crobtex
Look at your profile..... 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.
#34
Chapter President
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by 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.
#35
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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.
#36
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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.
#37
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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
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
#38
Originally Posted by 4x4dually
I second the motion!
This is a little off the subject, but while in Virginia Beach today I saw a bumper sticker that said "Meat is Murder". I wish I had my truck and not this stupid imported retal car...I would have had a serious attach of SMOKE right in front of those stupid 's. Sorry, had to vent. I raise cattle.
This is a little off the subject, but while in Virginia Beach today I saw a bumper sticker that said "Meat is Murder". I wish I had my truck and not this stupid imported retal car...I would have had a serious attach of SMOKE right in front of those stupid 's. Sorry, had to vent. I raise cattle.
Beef, it's what's for dinner.
#39
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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!!
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!!
#40
DTR's Night Watchman & Poet Laureate
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....
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....
#41
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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.
#42
Chapter President
Thread Starter
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.
#43
DTR Advertiser
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 (:
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 (:
#44
Registered User
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.
#45
Chapter President
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by 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 (:
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 (:
We got some rain over at Sedalia too. I didn't know you were so close.