backhoeboogie":25an5dx6 said:
1982vett":25an5dx6 said:
Always a skeptic I am about bale weights. How do you know that hay bale weighs 1200 lbs and not 1000 lbs.? Probably not to far off being pened up and allowing for some waste.
I have the pallet scales from when I was weighing pallets of patio stone and chopped stone. So the BS stops there.
If you know what your trailer and truck weighs, it is pretty easy to pull it across truck scales with hay on it. You just have to average the net over the 20 bales (or whatever it is) you're hauling. The gravel company here charges $10 to weigh you out if it is really that important.
A 975 pound bale of pure coastal hay at 15% protein is much better than an unfertilized 1200 pound bale of plain pasture hay. Just watch the cattle and observe the difference.
I think this issue of bale weight and quality is very important.
I have a True-Test platform scale in my alley just ahead of the chute that I use to take cattle weights. I took that out of the alley and up to the point up the hill where I store 5x6 round baled hay and weighed a sample of my bales to check weights. JUst set the 5x6 bales on it with the loader spear. I also purchased a hay testing auger for my electric drill and tested a number of bales.
That was very interesting! You could tell just by the degree of effort getting the bit into the bale and how hard the drill had to work that there was a big difference between the bales from two different groups.
The samples coming out were also interesting to look at - and surprisingly, the "greener" samples tend to be lower protein and generally lower quality hay (according to the analysis) than the more brown samples.
By the way, here is one of the hay test results I received. What do you think of this hay? Quality? This is primary winter feed for Hereford beef cattle from weaned calves to pregnant spring calving cows and heifers. This is also the first hay test I have done.
Don't mean to digress too far from the original topic. Thanks.
Jim