What Do You Feed Your Old Horse
Our old girl turned 35 this past January and she looks really, really good for her age. I've played with her diet some and have hit on the magic formula for her. She gets 16 pounds of sweet cob, 2 p...
Forum Discussion
This is where I learned that when they cut the hay to cure and it unfortunately rains 'many' unscrupulous farmers will douse the heck out of it with sodium to dry it to avoid the loss of a cut hay field with total disregard to what that could mean to the buyers animals.
Yes, this seems to be the way to bale the hay at a higher moisture content. I think mostly east of the Mississippi where they have a lot of moisture and very few days of drying time. In WY we have to irrigate to get any water to the fields. Although we do have rain once in a while on hay in the wind row it isn't a major problem because usually very little moisture as an ongoing thing. However, you are right. If it is green it must be good hay is a common attitude. We have people driving a couple of hundred miles to purchase our hay. We are usually sold out as soon as it gets stacked. We keep it covered with tarps and will hold for people at no extra charge. Some people just have no place to store the amount of hay they will need for the entire year. We don't make people take ground bales, then we discount those out to cow people.
Last year was the last hay year though. We just retired. Now that we have a farming contract the hay will be baled in the large 1 ton bales or plowed up for other more profitable crops. In the future it is going to be more and more difficult buying hay in the small 14 by 18 by 36 bales. Most of the poor quality hay goes to pellets and cubes which is why getting it analyzed is very important.
Yes, this seems to be the way to bale the hay at a higher moisture content. I think mostly east of the Mississippi where they have a lot of moisture and very few days of drying time. In WY we have to irrigate to get any water to the fields. Although we do have rain once in a while on hay in the wind row it isn't a major problem because usually very little moisture as an ongoing thing. However, you are right. If it is green it must be good hay is a common attitude. We have people driving a couple of hundred miles to purchase our hay. We are usually sold out as soon as it gets stacked. We keep it covered with tarps and will hold for people at no extra charge. Some people just have no place to store the amount of hay they will need for the entire year. We don't make people take ground bales, then we discount those out to cow people.
Last year was the last hay year though. We just retired. Now that we have a farming contract the hay will be baled in the large 1 ton bales or plowed up for other more profitable crops. In the future it is going to be more and more difficult buying hay in the small 14 by 18 by 36 bales. Most of the poor quality hay goes to pellets and cubes which is why getting it analyzed is very important.
