Round bales that have been hit by rain?

Obviously you are an expert at arguing. And I don't argue.

This just gets to me!

You're paying $90 for what? A ton of hay, a single round bale? What size of round bale: 4x5, 5x5, 5x6? What kind of hay?

This is not meant to critize 7thswan, just to illustrate the typical discussion about hay. Professional hay farmers sell and buy by weight, not the bale. There is just too much variation in what a "bale" could be.

In addition, the round bale in a typical year is not a package of hay commerce. They are difficult to load and ship, limit the weight on a trailer, and frankly can be dangerous for the trucker to handle.

Jim

Don't know.It's what my neighbor had to pay. We bought last years 1'st cutting, net wrap ,1200 lbs. for $25. Weight goes by experience(the buyer) and what the farmer tells the potential buyer. I don't know anything about professional hay buyers and there is noone to police any sales or buying. I am only trying to help the OP with my experience of buying hay for Pleasure Horses, Standardbred racehorses where I managed/trained/bred and the various farms We/I have had feeding Cattle and Sheep for over 40 yrs. We/I buy out of the field and I usually go to the auction on Mondays,and if it's a buy, I buy. My Dh is a truck driver/heavy mechanic, believe me has no problem hauling/loading hay. The Op's question was pretty simple and most of us here were only trying to be helpful,not get into a National Hay Technicality argument.

Sort of. But you don't have to spread fertilizer. Plant clover, alfalfa and such which suck down nitrogen and such from the sky. It's free. Might as well avail yourself of it.

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Really? Where ya going to get the P,K, and S from?

You have no point to argue.

The rounds we feed our horses weigh 1100-1200 lbs..we get them for $25.00 each. Mostly grass with some alfalfa mixed in. Not covered. Our horses do very well on it. And Texican is right...there is no waste!

You still didn't answer the question, what do you get in a $90 round? With your 40 years experience I am sure you can enlighten us the RFV, weight, CP content, and feeding attributes.

As I stated previously, I would not be afraid of the bales the OP asked about right NOW. However, if they sit there much longer I'd pass and let someone else deal with the DM loss and feeding waste.

Jim

Even if they eat it all there was still waste RFV. Why would anyone bother to cut rake and bale for $25? Straw is worth more.

That is less than $50 per ton, definitely not worth the time and effort to do the work. In just cutting and raking you have at least $20 per acre in equipment, labor, and fuel costs.

Selling hay this cheap when corn is selling for over $8/bushel is foolish, a good deal for the buyer, but a waste of time, effort and income.

Jim

Why does the concept of the location of the hay having a bearing on the cost continually escape you?
As you have yet to post your location your information is virtually useless for comparison.

With the exception of ONE drought year in the past ten or so, we have never paid over $25 for a covered bale and $15 for one in the open. Right now we're paying twenty bucks for fresh, sweet smelling orchard grass bales- 4x5 rolls. Put in a feeder they last five horses for six to eight days in the equivalent of a dry lot. When they are done there is perhaps a small handful of waste.
Our horses recieve no additional feed or supplements other than a trace mineral block.
They are all in good flesh (one bordering overweight) and range from seven to twenty two years old, from small draft to hard keeper walking horses.

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" It's better to ride even if you get thrown, than to wind up just wishin' ya had."

Chris Ledoux

You act as if you live on some island where hay is worth nothing and it can be made for free. You can not make/sell hay for $15 a bale. Or $20 Or $25. Why does that continually escape you? Diesel must be free on your little island?

We too have sold round bales that cheap.

Why?

1. The hay had been rained on too much and we still needed to get it rolled up and out of the way to keep the fields in good condition.

2. We didn't need the extra hay ourselves and times are tough and we know people that need cheap quality hay.

Now I am sure this will be a real shocker to you then....We sell our first cut hay to someone for only $1.00 a bale!!! (square bale) Yes, he does most of the work and yes we do use our tractor and fuel. Why, because we like helping people in need when we can and how we can.

Oh, nope I am not on an island either. Just simple farmers helping out others.

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Live Simply; Laugh Much

Hm. Perhaps you should ride your high horse on over to East Tennessee and tell the hundreds of guys doing just this that it's impossible and that they haven't been doing this for several years. I am sure they will be so enamored of your superior knowledge they will celebrate you heartily. Or something.

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" It's better to ride even if you get thrown, than to wind up just wishin' ya had."

Chris Ledoux

I said I don't know, my next door neighbor told my Dh when he asked her if she wanted to buy some of our regular bales we put up Tuesday. I'm not going to ask to see her hay, why would I be so rude.We don't test hay arround here,it's not like we are Nebraska with vast hay fields that go on forever. We have to rely on other sences besides sending hay samples to UofM.If people are going to be nasty and want to know specifics on each and every size,type of Hay here in Mich. go look at Craigslist-if you can find some. As I said, many areas are haveing an unusal drought.

in my area most people have only done one cutting, and it was much smaller than normal, but we have rain now so there is hope for a late fall cutting

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Brenda Groth
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/