Scene Along the Road: Hay There!

I get great satisfaction from watching hay (or alfalfa) being cut, raked and baled as we travel along the highway. Perhaps it is because I live in an arid area where little hay is produced. The satisfaction may be a result of my constant concern about having enough hay for my horses in the past. Perhaps it has to do with 'bundling summer' in nice neat packages to be enjoyed by our animals in the cold, winter months.

Here are some scenes along the road in Montana, Idaho and Utah:

Crumby Hay

Hay prices continue to rise in our part of the country. We have had a significant drought for several years. Some farmers didn't get a second cutting and even their first cutting wasn't as productive as they had hoped. The hay produced in this area of the country is being purchased by ranchers in other hard hit areas, which is driving up prices for local folks. For perspective, last year at this time I  'topped off' my hay supply (so it would last until the 2nd cutting this year) at a cost of $10 per 55-65 pound bale. Recently I've heard that my friends have paid as much as $18.95 per bale!

Holy hay bale!

Ouch!

I saw a lot of hay in the field in the northwest this summer. Many times as we drove from one point to another, we could see farmers baling hay as we passed. I noticed that most of the bales were large round bales, or large rectangular bales measuring 3 or 4 feet square by 8 feet long. 

I guess one can't blame the farmers. It is much more economical to create large bales, requiring less time and less fuel to bale each acre of grass, hay or alfalfa, and also needing less man power (but more machine power) to handle the finished product. But most "backyard farmers" don't have the machine power to handle bales of hay that can weigh 1000 pounds or more. In response to their needs, companies that reprocess large hay bales have sprung up. They open the large bales and rebale them it into what we call "small squares" - the traditional hay bale size and shape. 

Some of the hay that I have been feeding the guest horses evidently has been reprocessed. It is very crumby!

Shyloh stood downwind when I tossed a flake of hay in the paddock,

and now she's wearing her dinner.

Since then I put it in a wheel barrow and distribute piles instead of tossing them.

This shows a flake of traditionally baled hay on the top of the photo.

The stems of grass are 10 - 14" in length.

The long stems hold the flakes of hay together

The flake of the crumby hay is shown on the bottom of the photo.

The 'stems' of grass are 2 - 4" in length,

and the flake falls apart in your hands.

But, the taste testers don't seem to care....

one way or another!

I don't particularly care for the rebaled hay. Besides the mess in trying to handle it, it serves no purpose putting the hay in a NibbleNet slow feeder - it sifts out onto the ground. It blows around easily in our wind. I wonder if the horses get has much chewing and reflecting time. I also don't like their increased exposure to the sand and dirt. At least with longer stalks of hay, the horses can easily 'lip up' a few stalks, without getting dirt, something like playing pick-up sticks. The reformatted hay seems to have much more chaff, and seed heads, which they love, but how much sand are they getting when they try to hoover up the little bits?

What are your thoughts? 

Have you had crumby hay?

Hay, Pippin & Doc!

Several of you have asked how Pippin and Doc are doing. In case you weren't 'in' on the beginning of this saga, I made the decision (hard decision) to sell my boys. I took them to a fellow who would 'tune' them up and then sell them for me. He sells horses at the Harley Troyer Auctions each year and is highly respected. (I bought the horses at this same Auction, three years ago.) I figure he would have a much better chance of selling them than I would, since everyone knows him and knows he is good for his word.

Although this is not actually a picture of Pippin and Doc, it could be! This is what Pippin and Doc were doing last week. It was time for the trainer to cut and bale hay, so, my boys were put to work pulling the hay rake. The trainer said they were working well as a team and he has been making use of the extra horsepower around his farm!

It still makes me sad, and tears well up in my eyes, but I do believe that this is what the boys were meant to do. They were meant to work and I was just not able to engage them at the level they needed. They are strong little guys with very busy minds. Their minds and their muscles need work.

Sheave Peeve

There was hay in Pippin's stall in the morning. 

Unheard of, absurd! 

Hay in a Haflinger's stall after twelve hours? 

Unthinkable! 

Who do you think you are? 

A Thoroughbred? 

Who do you think they are?

Arabians?*

Haflingers NEVER leave hay just standing around. They eat it all! But a few days before this one of the horses (they aren't talking) managed to pull down a few bales of hay from a stack in their run-in shed. The house sitter isn't quite sure how they did it - nor am I. The hay is stored about two feet away from fence panels. They'd have to climb up the fence (and it wasn't bent), push it in (it was still in place) or reach over the fence (with little Haflinger necks...are you kidding?!) Hmmm...maybe they enlisted the help of the pigeons!

I'm still not sure quite how they did it... but there was extra hay hanging around. My horses evidently ate, and ate, and ate some more. They were in Haflinger heaven! The house sitter would push it out of the way, and they would manage to retrieve it. By the time I got home they were either filled to the brim, or perhaps their jaws were tired from chewing! They weren't overly interested in more hay! This is probably a once in a lifetime experience! 

This brings to mind a pet peeve of mine....

Peeve #328: Listing 'flakes' of hay in a feeding chart. A flake, IMHO, is not an accurate measure of feed! 

Scene(sic) at a local barn:

I recommend that horse owners weigh the hay they feed their horses. If horses are being fed by different individuals, I think weight is a must.  I've had bales of hay where a flake weighs under 3 pounds and bales where a flake weighs 7.5 pounds. That's a huge difference! 

I weigh hay daily, either using the basket

or hanging their NibbleNets on the scale.

As a baseline horses should eat approximately 1 1/2% - 2% of their weight in roughage daily. That translates to about 16 pounds for my boys...each! This needs to be adjusted for each horse based on their level of fitness, their usage, other feed they receive and their access to pasture.  Over time, owners have a good feeling for what amount works for their horses, but in a stable, where different folks might be feeding the horses, they may not get the appropriate amount. 

Despite getting on my soapbox about feeding 'flakes' of hay, I couldn't help but chuckle at this little fella's feed chart!

Oh, you poor little thing. 

I know how you feel. I'm an 'easy keeper' too!

*This was an attempt to play off of Tevye's monologue from "Fiddler on the Roof"....  just in case you didn't catch the subtlety of it!

Home

We're home!

Our Christmas visit went well. It was nice to see

Our niece and nephew and the whole family.

We talked and we ate, and we ate a bit more

I'm amazed that I fit through as I went out the door.

We're home!

It took forever, the flight was delayed
They put us on another towing the first one away.
But we got a free drink and extra snacks, too
To make us feel better 'bout what we went through.

We're home!

The horses didn't whinny, they didn't even neigh
Somehow they gorged on a whole bale of hay.
We're doing some extra walking and close watching too
To make certain that roughage makes its way through.

We're home!

Tucker is tuckered. For five nights and days
He played hard with his friends while we were away.
Our wonderful dog sitter dropped him off at our home
He may actually be relieved to be all alone!

We're home!

It's time to unpack and do laundry too.
Traveling is always such a fun thing to do!
I have to catch up on mail and read things online,
But, we're home!
In our house!
And I think that's just fine!

Haffie Heaven

Mmmmm.....

Extra hay.

Sunny day.

Haffie Heaven!

One Hundred Bales of Hay...

One hundred bales of hay on the wall.

A hundred bales of hay!

Take one down

Feed it around

Ninety-nine bales of hay on the wall!

We had 44 more bales of hay delivered and stacked :) a few weeks ago. We now have 100 bales...well, OK, I took one down and opened it...so 99 bales in the garage end of the barn. 

We have another 106 bales in the run-in... under our lovely Lumber Liquidator's tarp. I bet the neighbors are happy that we moved the pile off of the trailer where the lovely tarp was visible by all!

That ought to last until first cutting - 10.3 months! It is a nice feeling to know that I have the basics for my boys for that long. 

Hay is going crazy around here. I overheard one of the Amish horse traders at the auction asking about hay. There is no hay available where he lives - none of the farmers in that area were able to hay their fields at all; fields that usually produce three cuttings of high quality grass hay. Much of the hay that has been cut in our area is heading to Texas. The northeast lost hay due to flooding and rain. It's going to be a scary year. The horse traders at the auction have noticed a drop in sales of horses and mules as folks consider the difficulty of feeding another mouth. 

Our farrier has gone into the hay business. He is concerned that his clients will forego trimming to feed their horses. Or worse, sell their horses because they can't get hay. Or 'worsetest', starve their horses. He arranged for several truck loads of hay and has resold it to his clients. Smart move! Take care of the clients, and make a bit on the hay besides!

Where In The World Has Dreaming Been Hiding?

Not hiding... just busy.

First my brother and sister came to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday and his giving a commitment ring to his 'girlfriend'!

Then, I dropped my sister off at the airport and picked up a friend of old. Marjie has come to visit for a week. Marjie and I met when our oldest boys were three and attended the same preschool. Our children were practically raised at each other's houses. On any given weekend either Marjie's kids or my kids would wake up at the "other mother's" house.

So what has kept us so busy?

Marjie on a not-so-fiery steed!

 At the Brats, Beer and Bands festival.

 A mountain view from horseback.

 The garage gets organized.

We have also:

• gone to a friend's house to dig up daisies, day lilies, lavender, grape hyacinth, blue delphinium, roses and bee balm from her garden. Then we found places to plant them at my house. I'm so hopeful that we have enough nice weather for the plants to acclimate and then make it through the winter. But... if not, my friend has invited me back to get more in the spring!
• been letter boxing! It took some doing, but I found my stamp and journal. I found clues to two boxes to show Marjie how it works.
• found Denver Fabrics - a discounted fabric warehouse. We took home some samples and returned to purchase yardage for my dining room chairs and an upholstered bench the next day. I also bought some sheer fabric that will find a home in the living room. 
• eaten! We have gone out to dinner and we've eaten lunches out. We have indulged in some of comfort foods that we both love. We visited Ikea for Swedish Meatballs and returned home with goodies for breakfast and dessert. 
• driven through the mountains with a few other leaf-lookers. The aspens are turning and the leaves look like gold medallions.  
• visited a Beer, Brats and Bands festival. We enjoyed a brat and some beer while listening to a delightful duo sing songs from my younger days.
• had hay delivered. It was so much fun to see the men hauling and stacking the hay instead of wrestling with it myself!
• caught up on all of the essential, and some of the non-essential, details of the lives of our children, their friends, our friends and family.

We have a few more days...oh, what more shall we do?!

Labor Day... You Better Believe It!

We labored on Labor Day. Actually, we labored most of the weekend. I haven't felt this utterly, bone-weary, foot-tired, sore-muscled in a while. It actually is a very satisfying feeling! I know I have accomplished something!

It began innocently enough on Saturday. We went to a food festival. Nothing tough about that. But, on the way home I called a farmer whose number I had found on Craig's list. He had hay in the field, ready for pick up. We stopped by and loaded 22 bales on our truck, and made arrangements to return the next day with our flatbed. So, our warm-up for Labor Day consisted of unloading and stacking the 22 bales.

Sunday dawned cool and sunny. A beautiful day to head back to the hay field - but this time we loaded 85 bales. Oh, and did I mention that the bales weigh about 60 pounds, on average? That's 2 1/2 tons!! Thank heavens the farmer helped us load and stack the trailer! Our barn doesn't have enough storage space the way it is currently configured so we put a series of tarps over the hay, leaving it on the trailer. That was mildly entertaining for the neighbors as there was a nice breeze which tried its best to make kites out of the tarps! We finally got them tied down.... and then I began to worry. Are the tarps too tight? Will the hay sweat? Will we lose some of our precious commodity to water damage or mold? Is the moisture content of the hay too high? Will it spontaneously combust? Dear hubby, by this time, was working on our fencing - trying to undo some damage caused by Pippin. (uh...sorry about that..) I wandered over and mentioned my concerns. He sat back and thought for a moment. We had talked about building a 10' X 12' storage building.... but no, he decided. That really isn't the solution to our hay storage issues. He packed up the fence tools and headed to the barn. "Let's put in the doors to the stalls. Then we can use part of the run-in area for hay storage."

This is the barn layout as it currently exists. The garage area is used for some hay storage (62 bales at the moment), grain bins, tack, harnesses, a carriage and a forecart, our tractor, various odds and ends, Mama Boots and her bowls and litter box, some bedding, and snow tires. It is a catch all and has caught a lot of stuff in the few months we have lived here!

The run-in area has a sandy floor. This opens into the boys' paddock. They can go in and out at will. We did wire a panel with a gate into the doorway so we can hold the horses inside if needed. The horses share this area with 2 pigeon families. We hope they don't have to share next year!!

The stalls are not very user friendly in their existing state, at least not the way I keep my horses. The stalls have dutch doors which we can see from our house. The stall on the right does have a window. The stall on the left has a bit of translucent fiberglass paneling high on the wall which allows limited light from the garage to enter the stall. The stalls are totally lined with plywood. They are basically plywood boxes inside.

The dutch doors open onto a 4' concrete 'sidewalk' and from that, onto a gravel driveway to the garage. We really can't put runs in as we wouldn't have access to the garage or to a paddock area beyond. If I stalled my horses for part of the day or night, I could lead them from their paddock into their stalls, but there is no way to give them access to go in and out at will. This is something they were used to at their former barn. The horses were used to stalls with bars on two sides. They could see what was going on around them. They could see each other. Not so with our new barn.

So, we began to execute our plan to put a door from the back of each stall into the run-in area. Let the labor begin!

First we had to take off a 4' X 8' X 3/4" piece of plywood. That's when we discovered that the barn had better construction than the house! There were 40 loooonnnnnggggg nails holding the piece of plywood in place. Uh... no, the horse won't be able to pull this off! Then we discovered, and cut out, 6" thick insulation. Oh... do you want to know about the mouse/rat tunnels and/or the mouse skull I discovered in the insulation? Didn't think so!

On the run-in side, we had some pretty decent , heavy gauge tin we had to take off, then another sheet of plywood with more than enough nails holding it up.

Here Mr. Hubby is cutting the last 2" X 6" cross beam. 

This is a rare shot of Dreaming! I am screwing pieces of 2" X 6" boards in the spaces between the wall.

"Pippin, what is this? I don't remember a doorway here... do you?

There was a lot of snorting when the boys came up for dinner! They don't know what to make of the changes! The water that you see in the foreground is from the automatic waterer that is accessible from either stall. I used my magic toilet brush to swish the waterer and then had to let the water flood out of the drain plug. That was just about the most disgusting, stomach churning thing I've done in a long time. The waterer had black, yucky stuff in it. It smelled. I believe the yucky stuff may have been hay that fell into the waterer when last used over 5 years ago. Bleech! I let the waterer fill and dumped it 2 more times.... flooding both stalls. Then, I stopped the waterer from filling completely and added a little bleach. It sat over night and was rinsed out and refilled the next day.

Finally it was Labor Day. Time for the work to really begin! First, I took one of those extra spreaders we found in the barn and spread some grass seed in a sparse area of the pasture. Then, I spread the hay chaff that I collected at our old barn over the seed. (I had been storing 6 lawn and leaf bags of hay chaff in the stalls. That was one thing I could dispense with and not have to store.)  I put up two strands of electric wire to keep the boys out.  Sadly, the 6 bags didn't cover as much area as I hoped. But... we will have better grass in a teeny tiny bit of our pasture next year! I spread out a hose and let our 'rain train' go to work. I had to rescue it twice when it got bogged down in the clay.

Then, hubby and I set out to get yet another truck load of hay from our new-found farmer friend. So, we loaded another 22 bales and off loaded it and stacked it in the garage part of the barn. Then we began working on the door for the second stall. By COB (Close of Business) at the end of labor day, we had removed the plywood from both sides of the opening, as well as the tin. Tomorrow we'll be ready to cut the 2X6 cross beams and put 2X6 pieces in the sides. We have headers to construct and some more 2X6 pieces to install under them.

Eventually we'll build sliding doors for the new stall doors. We are going to build doors to shut the end of the run in area. We'll use some extra panels to block off an area in the run-in for storage... and my 85 bales will have a safe, secure and dry area to hang in.

Whew... it's been quite a weekend...and we still have a ways to go. But... it's so exciting to see the changes!

Discovery

Yesterday I cleaned the hay area of the old barn. I lifted up pallets and pulled hay chaff out. I raked hay and chaff into piles. I stuffed 6 large garbage bags with hay... and chaff... and dirt.

I made a discovery...

The allergies that used to cripple me as a teen are still there, lurking below the surface, waiting for allergen overload! My lymphocytes did a marvelous job of detecting foreign bodies. OK, so they know hay... and dust.... intimately! They see it every day. But with the numbers they were encountering they must have figured that things had gone haywire and that their little world was under invasion by little microsopic terrorists.  Red Alert! Call out the National Guard. Call out the Marines. Call out the Army.

Emergency! 

Emergency! 

Emergency! 

Call out every able-bodied white cell. Heck... better make more. Sirens are blaring in my body. Messages are moving swiftly through my blood stream. Crank up the factories. Get those Immunoglobulens coming. We need them badly and we need them now. We need more... and more... and more. 

Quick! Attack! Kill the enemy! Show no mercy!

My body won the battle over the terorrist hay and dust particles ... at my expense.

I hab neber been tho mitherable in by life!

Hay, I Have a Question

Yesterday we loaded the last bales of hay from our old barn and brought them up to our new barn. Our hay has been stored on pallets, which had plywood on top. But, there is still an amazing collection of hay chaff and seed heads that became packed into the pallets. I had to pull the clumped chaff out of pallets in moving them. The pile of chaff smells like good hay. It doesn't appear to be dusty. I didn't see any evidence of mice. So I'm wondering if this chaff could be used to supplement the feed for my guys, or whether I should simply spread it on the pasture hoping some of the seed will produce lovely new grass. With the cost of hay rising..... a person wonders!