rockridgecattle
Well-known member
So here we are again trying and i stress trying to make hay.
First was the crappy cold damp spring. Nites close to freezing in May and June. The alfalfa did little growing. The pastures were slow.
Second, it was the lagus bug and the alfalfa weavels eating the alfalfa down to the stock.
Out came the matador $600 and hiring a guy to spray for $500. the guy did a good job, those GPS's in the sprayers saved alot of $. Anyhow we justified the cost of spraying cause you can barely get a load of hay, good hay in the yard for $1000.00 by they time you add in freight. Then the blooms on the alfalfa came nice. They are big, the plants have lots and leaves. Spraying paid off big time.
Now the rains. Dang it all to heck if it does not rain sometimes just enough to shut down the equipement. Then it dries up enough to bale, make 1-5 blaes and another shower hits. Wait for it to dry, start again, another shower hits. And on it goes. We get one or two days of drying weather then 5-7 days of rain or clound and cold, nothing drying down. As a norm, we do not hay on Sunday's. But for the third Sunday in a row hubby is out baling. I would be there to help too, but F-I-L baler has been down for weeks. Works a few bales then fixes and so on.
We need a warm dry August. A touch of rain once week for the pasture. But dang it we need heat. We are usually done the tame hay by now, and we have barely made 200 bales.
And if that did not beat all, the foot rot cases this year. Last year deluges of rain, no foot rot. This year cool and damp not alot of rain to speak of, just little showers, but we have had 6 cases of foot rot. We added a pile of salt to the mineral they decided not to eat, added more iodine for good measures...hope to get the problem under control, as well as treating the lame. Foot rot has been so rare these last 7 years that this just plain dumb luck. A calf got it of all things...ugg.
Postive thinking....warm August, warm August warm August....dang storm coming in, hubby off to bale what he can before it hits.
First was the crappy cold damp spring. Nites close to freezing in May and June. The alfalfa did little growing. The pastures were slow.
Second, it was the lagus bug and the alfalfa weavels eating the alfalfa down to the stock.
Out came the matador $600 and hiring a guy to spray for $500. the guy did a good job, those GPS's in the sprayers saved alot of $. Anyhow we justified the cost of spraying cause you can barely get a load of hay, good hay in the yard for $1000.00 by they time you add in freight. Then the blooms on the alfalfa came nice. They are big, the plants have lots and leaves. Spraying paid off big time.
Now the rains. Dang it all to heck if it does not rain sometimes just enough to shut down the equipement. Then it dries up enough to bale, make 1-5 blaes and another shower hits. Wait for it to dry, start again, another shower hits. And on it goes. We get one or two days of drying weather then 5-7 days of rain or clound and cold, nothing drying down. As a norm, we do not hay on Sunday's. But for the third Sunday in a row hubby is out baling. I would be there to help too, but F-I-L baler has been down for weeks. Works a few bales then fixes and so on.
We need a warm dry August. A touch of rain once week for the pasture. But dang it we need heat. We are usually done the tame hay by now, and we have barely made 200 bales.
And if that did not beat all, the foot rot cases this year. Last year deluges of rain, no foot rot. This year cool and damp not alot of rain to speak of, just little showers, but we have had 6 cases of foot rot. We added a pile of salt to the mineral they decided not to eat, added more iodine for good measures...hope to get the problem under control, as well as treating the lame. Foot rot has been so rare these last 7 years that this just plain dumb luck. A calf got it of all things...ugg.
Postive thinking....warm August, warm August warm August....dang storm coming in, hubby off to bale what he can before it hits.
