Well, wuz yer hay worth bragging about

Hay is in short supply here due to the crazy weather we've been having. I couldn't even GET a bale of grass/alfalfa for my goats today. I had to buy straight alfalfa and be glad that I got THAT!!!! I had to pay $25.90 for TWO bales!!!! My little goat field is totally dried up now - that usually doesn't occur until the end of August. ALTHOUGH we have just had 2 days with rain...FINALLY!!!

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Eternal Optimist

Its been a mixed bag where we are at too. Our first cutting was pretty good quality (mixed grass, lespedeza, clover mix) but we literally got 2/3rds what we got last year. We had a grossly wet spring and then jumped right in to blazing hot with little rain. Our pasture now seems to be fairing pretty well even with the drought conditions because we were in a little bubble and got rain for several days so it looks like we will get another cutting but I seriously doubt we will get a third cutting which we usually do.

Its very localized here, you can go 10 miles one way and the hay is doing great and 10 miles the other and some farmers arent even bothering to cut it.

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www.salmonslayer-simplelife.blogspot.com

My fields look great. It's been raining here for the last week or so, which never happens this time of year. Combine that with the cool, long, wet spring and you can see why we're on our 3rd cutting already. Of course it's not anything special, just clover and native grasses. Oddly enough I can't keep any around, as everyone and his brother wants it.

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Know why the middle class is screwed? 3 classes, 2 parties...

To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself. ~ Einstein

Beautiful hay in the Potomac Highlands if West Virginia. Best hay we've ever had. Looks like the next cutting will be even better if these rains keep up like they've been doing for the past couple of weeks. But last year was our worst, it burned up so bad, we had to buy in.

Keep your hopes up, maybe next year will be better for you.

Hard to get hay around here this year, so much rain and muddy fields, there will be a lot of straw!!!

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I see a very dark cloud on America's horizon,
and that cloud is coming from Rome.
- Abraham Lincoln

Just talked to a guy from texas. We sold him several tractor trailer loads of square bales a few years back. He wants everything we can put on the ground. Good, better, and best. Said he would like to start with 900 rolls. We are cutting our worst pastures for him. The ones we were going to busch hog and spray this year.

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Chris
http://aberryvinefarm.blogspot.com/

Same here. We had an extremely wet spring last year, then it turned extremely dry and hot. Horrible season.

This year we've had rain on a consistent schedule interspersed with stretches of dry sunny days. Should be getting a second cut any day and I expect a good third cut, too. It'll be the first time we get a second cut in the last 6 seasons.

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Beth ~ Old Church, VA
3 Nigerian Dwarf goats, 4 cats, 3 Pekin ducks and 7 chickens. One very patient husband~

First cutting was really thick - didn't dry well and with rain, neighbor who cuts it agreed to take most of it for silage. Second cutting of the alfalfa/grass mix field is on the ground, looks good to get it dry and in. Should get a second cutting on the grass fields and maybe a third on the alfalfa, but we'll have to wait and see on that.

We don't need much for our use, and actually have enough in storage to get through the next winter already. It's always nice to have extra on hand as we occasionally do have bad seasons where we get almost nothing.

In southern Oklahoma if there is sufficient rain through the spring, you get 2 cutttings and sometimes 3. People around here are selling cattle left and right. Some have grass but no water, we have water but no grass. We have so far 1 cutting and it was awful. We were still feeding in April and almost to May. It was already hot in April. I went with my dad feeding and his theory was you shouldn't still be winter feeding needing the air conditioner. We've had precious little rain here. We moved here in 1966 and I've never seen the ponds so low. By ponds, I'm talking 5, 7, and 20 acre ponds that my dad has built. Some of the hayfields will have no cutting this year and several thousand dollars worth of fertilizer was put on. We have neighbors who have NO water in their ponds. Hay will be very pricey here. We usually sold a lot of our hay to horse owners. The pond in front of my dad's house is about 7 acres, he is in about the middle of it length ways. Right now, you could walk across one end of the pond (which is really almost the middle of the 7 acre pond) and never get your feet wet. A lot of people around here are watering their cattle and horses with their water wells.

Nothing to brag about here.

After an extremely wet spring, we took a first cutting from our main field at the beginning of June and it was immediately rained upon by an unexpected downpour. Not just a sprinkle, but a drencher. The hay never really dried out after that and we rushed to bale what we could later to avoid another storm but it wasn't good stuff. Some we had to just bale up as junk and put it off to the side of the field to rot.

After that it was so wet we couldn't put together a dry spell long enough to do our first cutting in our other field until July. We got that in, but by then the grass was pretty stalky and the sheep will waste a lot of it.

We're hoping for a second cutting from the first field at least but we haven't had more than a quarter inch of rain all July and so everything is bone dry and we may not get enough growth to make a second cutting possible before the weather cools off and the days get too short.

As I said, no bragging here.

I hope some of the ranchers in TX/OK will think and be abkle to afford to have their ponds deepened and the berms raised while it is dried out. Hopefully, they will get some rain come fall and winter.

I would do all I could to increase water storage now, and make the most of a difficult situation.

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We will meet in the golden city, called the New Jerusalem,
All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....

Good year here - we've had three farmers knock on our door wondering if we want hay, they got so much!! There are probably 100 acres of land within 5 miles of us that didn't (or just haven't) gotten cut this year. Seems such a shame for it to all go to waste. We bought a bit extra this year just incase next year is bad..you never know - I don't mind stocking up!!

Not a horrible hay year, it was very wet early and the hay slightly over when we finally got it in, but not without decent nutritional value. If fall doesn't come too early, and we get some decent rain soon, we'll get a good second cutting.

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People say I can't multi-task. Well, I can tick you off and amuse myself at the same time.

Finally got good haymaking weather here and the hay has gone so far backwards is nothing but mulch hay.The second cutting, what there is of it, looks good though. Like the old farmer said , it looks green enough when you throw it down on the snow!

Like my dad said so many times, It beat eateing snowballs