hay question

[holly heifer]

:x we are having a terrible hay shortage around here, THERE
IS NONE I did find some round bales that are 2 years old. ( stored outside) They are not rotten, except on the
usual outer layer.) The inside is not musty or brown( still quite
green) but the hay is dusty. i have fed alot of round bales and
have never seen such "dirty" hay. The cows are eating it fine.
should I worry about all the dust? They get a range block an
grain once a day. :lol:

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Shouldn't be a problem with cattle even though the protein level is probably low. Definitely wouldn't feed it to horses...

 

[jkwilson]

What part of Indiana has a hay shortage? I had two people call me late summer to see if I knew anybody who would want their fields for hay for free. Nobody wasting time cutting it because last two years have been good. I know of 70 acres of decent fescue/clover that was bushhogged.
Apologies to those of you out west who would kill for a good
year.

I wouldn't worry about 2 year old hay, they'll eat it and like it.

 

[holly heifer]

:roll: I am near Danville, illinois( right on the Indiana- Ill border) We had a bad drought spell, no second cutting hay
We got 3 bales off of a field that netted 40 bales first cut
:x ) I paid $5.00 per bale for my horses hay! :shock:
AND I have 10 horses!!! :shock: You are so right, they are
downing the "dirty' bale! ;-)

 

[badroute]

Jkwilson,


No apologies needed we finally had a good year out west(well at least in Montana). No hay shortages around here, cant even get rid of hay for $40/ton.

 

[jkwilson]

:roll: I am near Danville, illinois( right on the Indiana- Ill border) We had a bad drought spell, no second cutting hay
We got 3 bales off of a field that netted 40 bales first cut
:x ) I paid $5.00 per bale for my horses hay! :shock:
AND I have 10 horses!!! :shock: You are so right, they are
downing the "dirty' bale! ;-)

Yep, some of the rain skipped over Illinois on its way here. Apparently it didn't get started back up until it was past you.

 

[Oldtimer]

Jkwilson,


No apologies needed we finally had a good year out west(well at least in Montana). No hay shortages around here, cant even get rid of hay for $40/ton.

How right you are--Hay producer guys on the Missouri River bottomland are offering choice 1st, 2nd, or 3rd cutting at $40/Ton and can't get rid of it...But it is kind of good to have too much rather than the alternative we've seen before...

 

[badroute]

Oldtimer,

Up in your country you guys have had some pretty fair years recently, at least compared to us. Alot of guys from around here put up CRP hay in your country last year, no complaints other than that clown who heads that State Lands dept. is a real jerk to work with.

 

[Oldtimer]

Oldtimer,

Up in your country you guys have had some pretty fair years recently, at least compared to us. Alot of guys from around here put up CRP hay in your country last year, no complaints other than that clown who heads that State Lands dept. is a real jerk to work with.

Yeah , we been really lucky--We had so much hay this year after the first cutting that with the price of gas I didn't even put up much of the second- am grazing that now and just rolling out a few bales of last years hay on the 20 below days to fill them up better....There are still quite a few stacks of last years CRP hay sitting around- still not bad stuff- One guy was giving it away if you would haul it and clean up his lots so he wouldn't have to burn it.......Price of fuel really cut into the hay sales this year...