Hay

[RanchRoper]

Always a good feeling having hay put up for winter. Delivered today.

[JEBar]

does your ranch raise its own hay

[RanchRoper]

No I purchase from a local guy for over 10 yrs now. Good quality, not the cheapest guy but I have well fed horses all winter.

[Shakey Jake]

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.

[RanchRoper]

We used to put up square bales but now I just feed rounds. Way easier.

[JEBar]

No I purchase from a local guy for over 10 yrs now. Good quality, not the cheapest guy but I have well fed horses all winter.

cutting and bailing hay is in full swing in the area around were we are camped in South Dakota .... from what we can tell, they've had a good year and are making a really good crop

[The Wiz]

Tell me, how do you take care of your hay over the winter? Just a city boy who wants to know.

[dave77]

Is that grass hay and is it just for your horses or for the cows too?

We just got our winter hay for the goats last week. 40 - 75 lb. bales, not nearly impressive as your round bales. Get it from a local guy. Certified weed free grass, he sells most of his hay to the Forest Service for their horses so it has to be weed free, a few weeds wouldn't bother the goats but he's close and gives us a good price for our small amount.



New goat photos,

Laia and Mom

Luke and Grandma

[PT7]

"Hay," RR,

Great picture of those round bales! Both your picture and JEBar's photo of the round-baled alfalfa harvest are about my favorite views of fields whenever I drive country roads. Years ago, my wife probably thought I was a little odd (she was right), but when we drove to work together in KS along those country roads, and then in later years during rural drives in WI, I used to stop alongside the road and take pictures of the bales just gathered in the fields. One late fall in KS after an early morning light snow, I remember how the field looked covered with frosted shredded wheat -- snow on the bales. I have quite a photo collection of hay bales stashed in my files. Yup, my wife surely knew that I was odd!

Thanks for this enjoyable thread about "hay"....again very nice, photos, and a lot of good comments by folk. Oh yes, you care for your horses quite well. I'm certain they are glad to be with you guys!
PT7

Always a good feeling having hay put up for winter. Delivered today.

[Mags]

Hay in your barn reminds me of the time I got into my grandads hay barn and had a blast tumbling down the bales from the stack. Awesome fun. Still think of it that way even though I got in huge trouble over it. If you have kids, grandkids or even nephews don't share this with them. They might decide to have some fun at your expense.

[Henry88]

Hay Hay Paula, I want to marry you................

[220]

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.

We used to put up square bales but now I just feed rounds. Way easier.

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.

Rounds or big squares that need to be handled with a tractor are so much easier on the back.

[RanchRoper]

Tell me, how do you take care of your hay over the winter? Just a city boy who wants to know.

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.

[dave77]

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.

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.

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.

[RanchRoper]

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.

[dave77]

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.

[RanchRoper]

Feeding 3. Generally Oct 1st to mid-may...

[dave77]

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.

[RanchRoper]

We had 4' of snow by Dec. Stayed until end of April pretty much. Heavy calf losses on some ranches up to 30%.

[Ozarkridgerunner]

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.