Makin' hay

[Denise]

Just got in our yearly supply of hay for the horses for next winter and I was wondering for how many other people makin' hay is a big part of this time of year. (It seems that if its hay you're makin', you gotta drop the g...) If you only have two horses, it doesn't take a huge amount of time to get all you need, even if you do feed for about the same amount of time as they graze. Today I found out that if it is 30+ C and you are picking and stacking - sorry, pickin' and stackin' - small square bales by hand under a burning sun, and you dump water on your husband's head, you get a "thank you" rather than retaliation.

So, how's your haying season going?

[superchute]

Haying here in South Dakota looking great. Making mostly round but the little squares are next week and we pick and stack with the bobcat make it faster and my back feels better. ON the other hand if I stacked them by and I would be in a lot better shape!

Some here this year running over 2 ton to the arce lots better then . 5 last year

Russ

[Randy Cornelius]

I am in the middle of hay season here in eastern Kansas. We put up 800 + small square bales this Tues. Thanks to my son Riley and his hay crew. He delevered 350 bales to area horse people. It is making real good this year got about 100 bales to the acre which is good for this county. I start on big bales next week if the rain will hold off. I have had to raise my prices this year but if I cannot make any money at it I might as well just quit. Fertilizer, chemicals and diesel fuel along with wire that we tie the bales with have doubled in price. We are delevering it for 6.50 a bale and letting them pick up out of the field for 4.50. We are selling good brome hay. Just wondering what people are paying in other parts of the county. I have raised the delevery charge because I was hoping people would quit having me delever but not the case! People what it stacked a certin way or the boys have to carry it a ways because they cannot get the trailer in close so that is why the delevered hay is so high. It takes 3 times as long to delever as if I would just put it in my barn.

Happy 4th of July

Randy

[Rayban]

We may be asked to move to an appropriate forum but...as long as you have asked....

I don't make hay, I buy it....last year hay was scarce around here (SE MICH) so it got up to $5 for a small square, some paid up to $7...usually $2.50/3.00 range......while hay is plentiful now, they still are getting $5....they are blaming the high cost of fuel....fuel is costing $2.00 per bale more???? I think not.

I also just paid $25 for 100 lbs. of crimmped oats....I'm thinking this horse has got to go.....

[ClayB]

Since I leased out my ranch a few years ago, I dont put up the hay myself anymore, but I sure feel bad for the guys around here that do this year. We had a dry winter and spring. Had a couple weeks of wet weather to make things green up in May, but then it got hot. A few days of mid 90's and things are really drying up fast. There wont be much hay around here and the crops are not looking good either. With the price of fuel, not sure too many people are going to be able to haul hay in. My 3 horses might end up going to town this fall too.

[Randy Cornelius]

Clay, just to give you a little perspective. 3 yeas ago diesel was 1.00 gal off road, fertilizer was 500.00 a ton and wire for the baler was 48.00 a roll. This year off road Diesel is 4.50 a gal and fertilizer was over 800.00 a ton and wire is now 70.00 per roll, weed control chemical went from 60.00 a gal to 120.00 a gal. I have put up a little over 1200 bales of hay so far and used over 200.00 worth of fuel. It cost 1.25 a bale just to have the hay crew pick it up and put it in the barn this year up from .60 a bale. I have crunched the numbers and I have 3.50 per bale invested and that does not include my time riding the tractor for hours on end and any repair bills. The brake job on my tractor last fall was 1800.00! So I am just like anyone else in business, I diserve to make a profit. If you are paying 5.00 a bale you better be thankful. Sorry but all these high prices have me fummed just like everyone else. You pass it along or go out of business.

Just to make this leather related, I got 2 hides from W&C yesterday and the shipping was almost 75.00. Used to get them for 25.00 shipping.

Randy

[Rayban]

Clay, just to give you a little perspective. 3 yeas ago diesel was 1.00 gal off road, fertilizer was 500.00 a ton and wire for the baler was 48.00 a roll. This year off road Diesel is 4.50 a gal and fertilizer was over 800.00 a ton and wire is now 70.00 per roll, weed control chemical went from 60.00 a gal to 120.00 a gal. I have put up a little over 1200 bales of hay so far and used over 200.00 worth of fuel. It cost 1.25 a bale just to have the hay crew pick it up and put it in the barn this year up from .60 a bale. I have crunched the numbers and I have 3.50 per bale invested and that does not include my time riding the tractor for hours on end and any repair bills. The brake job on my tractor last fall was 1800.00! So I am just like anyone else in business, I diserve to make a profit. If you are paying 5.00 a bale you better be thankful. Sorry but all these high prices have me fummed just like everyone else. You pass it along or go out of business.

Just to make this leather related, I got 2 hides from W&C yesterday and the shipping was almost 75.00. Used to get them for 25.00 shipping.

Randy

I've never had it broken down for me before like that ...but now that you do, it reinforces my thoughts....the horsie's gotta go...

[rawhide1]

Howdy everyone!!

I've been trying for a month now to get the hay down. But when it rains every three to four days it's kind of hard to do. So i'am not to sure how good or how stemy the brome will be when I do put it up. I've never had to wait this long to bale brome. I think it will take 3 to 4 days for the windrows to dry because the hay is so thick this year. But I guess the horse's can eat tuff hay or go hungry. Hay goes for 4.25 to 4.50 around here for good brome. It cost me 88.00 dollars a acre to fertilize, 10.00 a acre to have it swathed, .30 cents a bale to have my neighbor run his baler, and me and my brothers stack it on the trailer and put it in the barn. And then maybe 100.00 for pizza and beer. Have a Great 4th!!!!

Mike

[Hedge]

We loaded 300 grass squares yesterday. Looks like we'll be knocking some down this week and baling some rounds. Got a possible deal on 100 squares for $2.50 each and will be working shares for the rounds. I figure I'll need only 20-25 rounds for the winter and keep the squares for standby.

Hay season isn't what it was last year. Looks like it's going to be a might lean.

[roo4u]

well iwas paying 6.50 bale for teff(sp?) hay, which i had to load myself, but the idiot that grew it didnt stack it right and used a cheap tarp in a very wet year and his entire stack is now moldy...some gray mold, some black mold...and he doesnt care...so now i cant get small squares because almost nobody in this part of ne puts them up...too much work they say...and they dont do anything by hand here. saw some beautiful alfalfa the other day best ive seen since i left california but the ranch that grew it dont want to part with any of it. i dont like to buy big rounds because you cant tell what your getting...they dont knowhow to put up horse hay here...cut it and leave it inthe field until it is burnt to a crisp or gets rained on and molds. if i could pay 4.50 for brome id be a happy camper

[rgerbitz]

Here in Illinois there are still a few folks working on getting first crop up while others are on second crop. It was almost impossible to get dry hay made in may and the first part of June. Most guys who got a decent hay either chopped it or made balage. (Horses can eat balage to). We are having to pay from 3.00 to 3.50 straight out of the field for small squares. Which doesn't seem to bad I've heard of some boarding barns up by Chicago that are paying 8.00 for whatever they can get thier hands on. There is alot of hay around here there just isn't much for good hay, it is mostly just a bunch of brush. But when it is 20 degrees out in january I'm sure the horses will eat it.

Happy Hay Makin,

Rob Gerbitz

[superchute]

Well the biggest thing with selling old paint or buck is that with the horse market the way it is. cant Hardly give a horse a way 1 The next guy dont want to feed them eather but with gas prices you guy better just put up some hitching rails and get up early throw that saddle and ride and save gas. I do under stand most can not do this but when im working at the sale barn this summer im riding 6 miles each way. saves me gas works the horse and not pay for the 4 buck a gal gas

Russ

[bruce johnson]

We buy it here. We are in the middle of a strong dairy area, and that keeps the good hay prices up. It also insures there is some good hay grown or hauled into the area, so there is always some good hay around. There is a lot of good irrigated alfalfa raised in our area, and the production costs have gone up. Most all our hay is put up in 3 wire/string bales, and average about 16 bales to the ton. You don't ride the wagon behind the baler, and hand stack them and toss them around very easily like where I grew up. Most all the hay is mechanized - picked up, haro bed, stack runners, and "hay squeezes" (like a big forklift for hay). Last year we paid $170/ton of #1 dairy grade alfalfa. A ,lot harder to find anything under $200/ton right now. The rollup doors are about 2' short of the height needed to get the stack backed in, so we have hand labor is stacking it there. We had enough trading cattle, and a dry enough spring that we ran out and had to buy a little earlier this year. My son has some 400# traders and they're gaining well on what's growing. A few weeks ago we found some clean rye grass/alfalfa for $208/ton delivered and it is feeding well to the horses. Felt pretty lucky to get the hay bought right. We've had a dry year, and the guys running winter/spring cattle on the foothill and dry pasture sure had to stock light,feed some, or sell early.

[raftert]

I just cut 75 acres of haygrazer, but because of a dry spring I don't think I will get more than 3 round bales per acre. With the cost of fuel, fertalizer, seed,ect.. I caculate around 32.50 a bale. My costal patch I have already cut and round baled and got 2 bales per acre. I tried somthing diffrent the past 3 years and fertalized with turkey scratch, then I spray 3 gallons of feed molasses per acres. The yeilds are pretty good and cut fertalizer cost by 40%. I don't sell much hay because I feed so much of what I make.

Everybody have a great Fourth of July weekend

Tim

[Randy Cornelius]

We buy it here. We are in the middle of a strong dairy area, and that keeps the good hay prices up. It also insures there is some good hay grown or hauled into the area, so there is always some good hay around. There is a lot of good irrigated alfalfa raised in our area, and the production costs have gone up. Most all our hay is put up in 3 wire/string bales, and average about 16 bales to the ton. You don't ride the wagon behind the baler, and hand stack them and toss them around very easily like where I grew up. Most all the hay is mechanized - picked up, haro bed, stack runners, and "hay squeezes" (like a big forklift for hay). Last year we paid $170/ton of #1 dairy grade alfalfa. A ,lot harder to find anything under $200/ton right now. The rollup doors are about 2' short of the height needed to get the stack backed in, so we have hand labor is stacking it there. We had enough trading cattle, and a dry enough spring that we ran out and had to buy a little earlier this year. My son has some 400# traders and they're gaining well on what's growing. A few weeks ago we found some clean rye grass/alfalfa for $208/ton delivered and it is feeding well to the horses. Felt pretty lucky to get the hay bought right. We've had a dry year, and the guys running winter/spring cattle on the foothill and dry pasture sure had to stock light,feed some, or sell early.

Bruce, I have heard of the 3 string balers out west but have never seen one. I bale with 2-wire so I can crank it down and get 100# bales if I want but cannot get anyone to handle them so I just bale around 65# that way Riley can find other kids to help him put them in the barn. At your price of 208$ a ton that calculates to about 7.00 a bale at my weight. It seems that prices are fairly close all over give or take. I charge what I think the market will bear. Just like my leather goods. They cut the wheat last night so we will be baling wheat straw today. I have heard stories that some people out west are turning thier unwanted horses out with the wild horse herds on the BLM land because of the high grain and hay costs.

Take Care

Randy

[JRedding]

Here in our part of Utah last fall a lot of people turned horses out, we have a lot of wild horses here both BLM and Indian horses are all over the country south of here and a lot of horses got turned out with them. When hay prices last fall turned out to be so high some people who didn't have the heart to turn them out there to fend for themselves literally turned them in the street knowing the county would stray pen them, nobody brands horses here anymore so it was impossible to find the owners. They had so many they were boarding them at the fairgrounds last winter at the taxpayers expense. The last time the BLM gathered theirs here to check for disease they had several in the trap wearing halters. I've seen a lot of horses in with the wild horses near here with saddle marks and even a couple still wearing shoes once.

[rawhide1]

well we put the hay down today yea!!! I'am on duty but the wife said the windrows are 3 foot wide and probaly 3 1/2 to 4 foot tall should be alot of hay. It's probaly 95 out and windy so hopefully if I turn it tomrrow it will bale Monday evening. It's supposed to rain Monday night and Tuesday and plus I'am on duty Tue. So Monday is the day hopefully! I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th.

Mike

[ArtS]

With only 5 to feed and lots of pasture I haven't had to give them any hay in about 3 years except when we go camping with them. I have a guy cutting hay right now rather than bush hog it has I have the last couple of years. I tried to find someone to cut it for hay before but no one was interested. Glad I found this guy. He bales it into round bales. If I need any hay I will get it from him for free. I just came in from using the weed wacker around the gates and the road.

ArtS

Just got in our yearly supply of hay for the horses for next winter and I was wondering for how many other people makin' hay is a big part of this time of year. (It seems that if its hay you're makin', you gotta drop the g...) If you only have two horses, it doesn't take a huge amount of time to get all you need, even if you do feed for about the same amount of time as they graze. Today I found out that if it is 30+ C and you are picking and stacking - sorry, pickin' and stackin' - small square bales by hand under a burning sun, and you dump water on your husband's head, you get a "thank you" rather than retaliation.

So, how's your haying season going?

[Johanna]

Not trying to change the topic, but JRedding and others who mentioned turning horses loose- can a "pet" horse survive in a wild horse herd, or is it doomed from growing up domesticated? We have no wild horse herds here in Ohio, but I just wondered how the horse fares in a situation like that?

I asked a couple farmers here about hay and they said it's been too wet to get into the fields because the equipment sinks in the mud. Lots of untiled field flooded, and the corn and beans are ruined where there is standing water. One man said he might as well make the lower field a pond and be done with it.

Johanna

[JRedding]

Johanna, domesticated horses can survive on their own in wild horse country, it just depends on how good the feed and water are in a particular area as to how well they'll fare. Most of the wild horses in this part of the country never do well, the country their in is so poor with little feed and scarce water. They see very little green feed here. Most here cover a lot of country to make a living, they travel quite a ways everyday between feed and water. Most people in the general public have a pretty tainted view of what the life of a wild horse (at least one here) is really like. I've seen them so poor you wouldn't beleive their still standing, in this country when they become that hungry they'll start eating greasewood, if you're not familiar with what we call greasewood it's a scrubby bush that will grow where nothing else will, it's not thorny but it's said to be some of the nastiest brush outside of Texas, it's tough enough to puncture a radial tire. When horses eat greasewood it's so tough they can't chew it up and they wind up swallowing chunks that puncture their stomach causing their death. Every wild horse in this country has ticks just like every coyote has fleas, it's just a matter of how bad. I've seen horses on the tribal ground so tick infested they looked like a bag of marbles. It's a far cry from the majestic pictures of long manes and tails blowing in the wind while standing in knee high grass that people envision when they think wild horse. Just to stay on topic they sure could use some hay.

[tonyc1]

We may be asked to move to an appropriate forum but...as long as you have asked....

I don't make hay, I buy it....last year hay was scarce around here (SE MICH) so it got up to $5 for a small square, some paid up to $7...usually $2.50/3.00 range......while hay is plentiful now, they still are getting $5....they are blaming the high cost of fuel....fuel is costing $2.00 per bale more???? I think not.

I also just paid $25 for 100 lbs. of crimmped oats....I'm thinking this horse has got to go.....

We are paying $12.00 per bale for lucerne here in Tassy and it's cheaper than many others are charging.

Tony.

[jwwright]

Here in the Flint Hills country, we are fotuanate to have some of the best native grass in the world......big / little bluestem, some grama, etc. Native grass hay is being put up right now. Prices are about $125 per ton for small square bales, and $65 per ton on large round bales............in the field, not delivered. There will be a large amount of hay put up around here this year, and as usual, there will be a fair percentage that is shipped out to other parts of the country.

[rawhide1]

A day of hell in the hay field!!! well I put my hay down and it dried real nice. Real thick wind rows lots of hay. So we started baling and got two racks up and the baler shattered a gear so I borrowed a buddies baler and got one bale through it before it busted a needle. Well it was going to rain that night so my nieghbor said he would get his round baler and put it up so it wouldn't get wet. Well he got six bales rolled and his baler busted. And to top it off I had my head up my butt and pulled a rack under a tree and bent the heck out of it. What a day!! So needless to say I had pretty wet wind rows today. But I racked them over so maybe tommrow I can finish baling If I can find someone to bring a baler on this ground. I hope everyone had better luck than me.

Mike