Selling hay for the first time

[cowmomma]

We need to sell some hay and we have just received a good offer for all we can spare.

What I need help with is figuring how much to keep. We don't have our hay inside, so I'd rather feed it all than have any over for next year.

We are in SW MO. We have 1 bull, 11 cows (hopefully all pregnant!) 3 pregnant heifers and 11 calves almost yearlings.

We still have some forage...when I feed hay they don't run after the tractor like they did last year. Someone told me 3 bales a winter for a cow. I am hoping we are a 1/3 way through the winter.

Any help ciphering will be greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

[dun]

We need to sell some hay and we have just received a good offer for all we can spare.

What I need help with is figuring how much to keep. We don't have our hay inside, so I'd rather feed it all than have any over for next year.

We are in SW MO. We have 1 bull, 11 cows (hopefully all pregnant!) 3 pregnant heifers and 11 calves almost yearlings.

We still have some forage...when I feed hay they don't run after the tractor like they did last year. Someone told me 3 bales a winter for a cow. I am hoping we are a 1/3 way through the winter.

Any help ciphering will be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Depends on the size of the bales and the animls. For sfety if you figure 35 lbs a day per head. They may not be eating much now, but if winter ever gets here, and I'm sure it will, you'll be glad for the extra hay. We have a semit full that I feel is more then we'll be needing this winter but I'm holding it till march when our grass will really get going. There are enough people around that have their pastures grazed to the dirt that will be looking for hay in april that I'll sell it then

dun

 

[alabama]

It may not be a bad thing to have some hay left over just in case you have a very dry spring or summer. I have fed hay in July and it was dang hard to find. If I am getting some good early (April) growth on the hay fields I try to sell the last of the winter hay as I know I have skimming I can cut in the hay field.

 

[Aero]

dun:
when you say "We have a semit full", is that an enclosed semi-trailer full or something else i havent heard of? i assume you have square bales that fit in the trailer nicely? (and if square)do you use large or small square bales?

i havent thought of using a trailer for storge like that. i cant imagine how aggravated and hot somebody would be loading it.

anybody know how much old semi trailers go for?

 

[dj]

I'd have to agree with Dun. Sit on it. If we don't get some moisture your going to need it.

 

[dun]

dun:
when you say "We have a semit full", is that an enclosed semi-trailer full or something else i havent heard of? i assume you have square bales that fit in the trailer nicely? (and if square)do you use large or small square bales?

i havent thought of using a trailer for storge like that. i cant imagine how aggravated and hot somebody would be loading it.

anybody know how much old semi trailers go for?

It's one flat bed semi load that we bought in july when we were afraid we'ld be feeding hay most of the winter. We have another semi load that we'll hold onto and feed next year if we need to. Large round bales. 30 some odd bales per load

dun

 

[msscamp]

i havent thought of using a trailer for storge like that. i cant imagine how aggravated and hot somebody would be loading it.

It really isn't that big of a deal. We don't use a semi-trailer, but we do use an old 18' gooseneck stock trailer for hay storage (we have a horse-boarding business and the trailer provides extra hay storage when the sheds are full). Space is a bit cramped and you tend to stumble over each other, but the worst part is getting the top layer loaded - gets a bit interesting sometimes.

 

[El_Putzo]

It's one flat bed semi load that we bought in july when we were afraid we'ld be feeding hay most of the winter. We have another semi load that we'll hold onto and feed next year if we need to. Large round bales. 30 some odd bales per load

dun

Wow, you must have had a lot of stockpile fescue. We run a bit closer to our maximum stocking rate and have been feeding hay since about Thanksgiving. No worries though, I counted the bales this weekend and we've got about 200 4x5 rounds and probably around 3000 squares in the barns yet. Most of that is Timothy, Brome and alfalfa. About 30 round bales of fescue/OG mix that we are feeding now, 3 bales per day.

We are trying to set up an intense rotational grazing system for our pastures if we can get the water situation figured out. Hopefully this will provide more output from our pastures and allow us to not have to feed hay as early in a normal yr.

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but for you guys that use intense rotational grazing, how much extra output did you get when you switched? Extra pasture for a week, month, 2 months?

thanks,

 

[cowmomma]

anybody know how much old semi trailers go for?[/quote]

We are in SW MO. We needed a real nice looking used trailer and bought one for 800. If it didn't have to be pretty and road worthy I'm sure you'd find it for 1/2 of that or less.

 

[Aero]

anybody know how much old semi trailers go for?

We are in SW MO. We needed a real nice looking used trailer and bought one for 800. If it didn't have to be pretty and road worthy I'm sure you'd find it for 1/2 of that or less.

not too bad for stand-alone portable storage.

 

[dun]

It's one flat bed semi load that we bought in july when we were afraid we'ld be feeding hay most of the winter. We have another semi load that we'll hold onto and feed next year if we need to. Large round bales. 30 some odd bales per load

dun

Wow, you must have had a lot of stockpile fescue. We run a bit closer to our maximum stocking rate and have been feeding hay since about Thanksgiving. No worries though, I counted the bales this weekend and we've got about 200 4x5 rounds and probably around 3000 squares in the barns yet. Most of that is Timothy, Brome and alfalfa. About 30 round bales of fescue/OG mix that we are feeding now, 3 bales per day.

We are trying to set up an intense rotational grazing system for our pastures if we can get the water situation figured out. Hopefully this will provide more output from our pastures and allow us to not have to feed hay as early in a normal yr.

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but for you guys that use intense rotational grazing, how much extra output did you get when you switched? Extra pasture for a week, month, 2 months?

thanks,

We bought the 2 loads and before we fed any we got a couple of inches of rain, nothing since but we at least got that. The grass took off and we still have some left. One 15 acre pasture that we can;t graze now because of the water being supplied above ground, 1 7 acre that we'll move the girls into closer to the house for calving season and they're in a 5 acre pasture now that's about used up. Still have another 17 acre field that has some grazing left but not much. Been thinking of feeding hay for a month and then turning them into the calving pasture.
But yes, we do have a lot of stockpiled fescue. The previous drought did teach us a few things. The most important lesson was to understock and sell the surplus hay or lease out pastures in the spring when the flush gets going. Didn;t have a flush last year, but there is alwasy hope for next year.

dun