Spring has sprung. Get out and shoot your Henry
Hay
Re: Hay
Shakey Jake wrote:I grew up in rural Missouri and worked a dairy farm. It was hard work shucking hay bales. Don't miss it. Glad you got some up for the winter.
Yes and yes as a kid growing up on the family farm we used to make about 10,000 small squares a year for sale. Had to be picked up from the paddock, stacked in the hay shed and then loaded onto a truck when sold on top of that I spent most of my senior high school years working part time helping other farmers. Would hate to think how many bales I have handled.RanchRoper wrote:We used to put up square bales but now I just feed rounds. Way easier.
Rounds or big squares that need to be handled with a tractor are so much easier on the back.
2 x
- RanchRoper
- Forum Ambassador
- Posts: 12681
- Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:14 am
- Location: Land of Shining Mountains, Alberta
Re: Hay
Each round bale is wrapped in a nylon mesh that helps keep water or snow out, and also holds them tight together. I don't feed a whole bale, I have one horse that would eat until he exploded. So I remove the mesh and peel layers off, then fork some over the corral panels for them. That way I can control their daily intake.The Wiz wrote:Tell me, how do you take care of your hay over the winter? Just a city boy who wants to know.
4 x
1860 Colt SA Richards Conversion Revolver .45C
1860 Henry .45C
1885 High Wall .45C
1820-1840 Frontier Percussion .50
1790-1820 Frontier Flintlock .50
Ohkínohkomit - Shoot skillfully
1860 Henry .45C
1885 High Wall .45C
1820-1840 Frontier Percussion .50
1790-1820 Frontier Flintlock .50
Ohkínohkomit - Shoot skillfully
Re: Hay
Ruby was also like that, would eat all I'd give her. Her last few years she decided she didn't like grass hay so I started feeding her alfalfa. After awhile she wouldn't eat much of it either so I had to feed her mostly pellets to keep her weight up.RanchRoper wrote: Each round bale is wrapped in a nylon mesh that helps keep water or snow out, and also holds them tight together. I don't feed a whole bale, I have one horse that would eat until he exploded. So I remove the mesh and peel layers off, then fork some over the corral panels for them. That way I can control their daily intake.
Saw some people from up the canyon riding down the road a couple of days ago, made me think of how much I still miss her.
3 x
- RanchRoper
- Forum Ambassador
- Posts: 12681
- Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:14 am
- Location: Land of Shining Mountains, Alberta
Re: Hay
We feed mostly timothy hay with a little alfalfa. 1400 lb bales, just lined up 20 of them near the pen. Fed 20 last year with a bad winter so should be ok.
2 x
1860 Colt SA Richards Conversion Revolver .45C
1860 Henry .45C
1885 High Wall .45C
1820-1840 Frontier Percussion .50
1790-1820 Frontier Flintlock .50
Ohkínohkomit - Shoot skillfully
1860 Henry .45C
1885 High Wall .45C
1820-1840 Frontier Percussion .50
1790-1820 Frontier Flintlock .50
Ohkínohkomit - Shoot skillfully
Re: Hay
How many horses do you feed? I remember getting 2 tons to feed Ruby and a couple of Pygmy goats through the Winter. I had enough pasture for them for the rest of the year. I do know from your posts that your Winters are a lot longer and probably colder than mine.
0 x
- RanchRoper
- Forum Ambassador
- Posts: 12681
- Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:14 am
- Location: Land of Shining Mountains, Alberta
Re: Hay
Feeding 3. Generally Oct 1st to mid-may...
1 x
1860 Colt SA Richards Conversion Revolver .45C
1860 Henry .45C
1885 High Wall .45C
1820-1840 Frontier Percussion .50
1790-1820 Frontier Flintlock .50
Ohkínohkomit - Shoot skillfully
1860 Henry .45C
1885 High Wall .45C
1820-1840 Frontier Percussion .50
1790-1820 Frontier Flintlock .50
Ohkínohkomit - Shoot skillfully
Re: Hay
Unless we have an early winter here there is at least some pasture to supplement hay feeding until at least the end of Oct. Rarely have snow that stays until after Thanksgiving, in fact this last winter we only had 2 snowstorms and they were only an inch or two, luckily there was plenty of snow in the Cascades, so far the creek we get our irrigation water from is still running OK, although it can get pretty iffy in August.
Usually by mid April I can start weaning the critters off hay, although if the goats could talk they would say I'm starving them. They know they only get their grain ration once a day in the morning but anytime they see me near the grain barrel they come running.
Usually by mid April I can start weaning the critters off hay, although if the goats could talk they would say I'm starving them. They know they only get their grain ration once a day in the morning but anytime they see me near the grain barrel they come running.
0 x
- RanchRoper
- Forum Ambassador
- Posts: 12681
- Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:14 am
- Location: Land of Shining Mountains, Alberta
Re: Hay
We had 4' of snow by Dec. Stayed until end of April pretty much. Heavy calf losses on some ranches up to 30%.
1 x
1860 Colt SA Richards Conversion Revolver .45C
1860 Henry .45C
1885 High Wall .45C
1820-1840 Frontier Percussion .50
1790-1820 Frontier Flintlock .50
Ohkínohkomit - Shoot skillfully
1860 Henry .45C
1885 High Wall .45C
1820-1840 Frontier Percussion .50
1790-1820 Frontier Flintlock .50
Ohkínohkomit - Shoot skillfully
-
- Cowhand
- Posts: 238
- Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2018 12:14 am
- Location: Arkansas
Re: Hay
As you said sure feels good to have the years hay supply laid by. We are in a moderate to severe drought in most of our country. Hay production is running half of normal yields. The cattle business is our source of livelihood so it has been concerning. We did have a good carryover on hay from last year and that's saving us for now. Lot of folks in our area are feeding their winter supply now and many starting to sell their cow herds down or completely out. Pretty tough right now. We do normally get a second cutting sometimes in the late summer or early fall on our grass but looking pretty iffy. Praying for rain.
0 x