Passed 1000

[Jason]

With 151 bales today I passed the 1000 mark.

I still have 145 acres to go. Have covered 370.

Then greenfeed starts. Might be 300 acres plus.

I still have 200 bales of silage feed to haul that I traded bulls for last year.

Cows will eat good this winter.

 

[Soapweed]

Jason, sounds like your hay is adding up pretty well. That is good, as it might be worth its weight in gold in the droughted out areas.

Our hay crop looks to be about half of average. We have lived on this place for over twenty years, and this is the 21st year we have hayed it. I baled out of a swampy corner today, that has never been dry enough to hay in those 21 summers. There was no danger of getting stuck today, as the tractor tires didn't even show any dampness. The swamp grass makes poor quality hay, but like I've heard so many times through the years, "it beats a snowbank." Amazingly enough, cattle eat that old mossy stuff pretty well on a cold winter day. They stay in good condition eating it, as long as they get a protein supplement along with the bull rushes.

 

[Tap]

We passed the 1000 bales today too, but the acres harvested is about the same. We have maybe 150 acres of crested wheatgrass left to cut, but it is about the same color as the sun.

 

[Rowdy Ranch]

Here in Central KS-1st and 2nd cutting of alfalfa aboyt 2/3 or normal and brome and prairie about 1/2,but am thankful for we have gotten. THink the calves will go to town earlier than usual and cows can graze some rougher country w/ supplement until they calf. There are lots of part of the country that did not even get hay equipment out. Like Soapweed said-hay will be priceless :!:

 

[jigs]

father in law in Marion county has cut nothing since a pathetic 1st crop.... I gave him some corn seed for silage, now he hopes that will fill out enough to chop!

I am itching to sell him a load or two of hay !!!! that will be an all out haggle war! his Mennonite herritage really makes him a tight @$$

 

[Faster horses]

There is hay for sale in our country if anyone is interested.

I was suprised, but a customer called here to tell us he had some
extra.

We put up 500 bales. Probably Mr. FH was too picky and left some
stand that he could have cut and baled. It was so borderline worth it
that when he considered the price of fuel, he decided to leave it.
Plus, it was drying out really fast.

We are hauling in every morning now. Don't want to be out there in the heat of the day. Might catch something on fire.

 

[Turkey Track Bar]

The hay count here is 0 bales over all of our acres

Faster Horses...we may be in need of hay, would you please PM your clients phone number?

Thanks, and I'm glad some have hay. Our turn will come!

Cheers---

TTB :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

I really thought there was going to be lots of hay around here-- but now I'm hearing of people scrambling to get some...Lot of those that count on CRP hay can't find it to cut this year-- and the normal dryland grass hay is cooked...Even our irrigated was affected by this prolonged heat and is not yielding as much as usual...We sold 40 acres in the field the other day to a neighbor that thinks hay will be short ( we swathed- he baled with his baler, and hauled)...He sounds like he may be interested in some of the second cutting too...

I'm still hearing there is quite a bit of hay available in southern Saskatchewan (Assiniboia area)

 

[Manitoba_Rancher]

Any of you folks that are really dried out Im sure we could hook you up with some hay up here there is lots kickig around. The way things are drying out there might not be much of a second cut. Big rounds are priced around $15-$20.

 

[Jake]

we don't have any extra but will have enough after all the straw is baled to get us through. Don't think with feed costs that I'll be buying any cows this winter. Had a bunch of guys call with cows of the New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona mountains wanting me to take cows but dont' know if there is any money in them this time around. First cuttin wasn't too bad, second cutting is just now gettin there.

Out at work our second cutting hay was like 4th cuttin hay, just nothing there and it wasn't worth two squirts.

 

[Jason]

To put my 1000 in perspective, I run a 91 model 660 and the bales weigh 1500 pounds. Dad swaths and I bale, no other help, no newer equipment.

I usually only get 300-500 hay bales done in a year, but I am finding hay lease and grass lease easier since BSE weeded out some guys.

There will be hay for sale here, but freight is a killer. It looks like 18 cents per ton per mile.

Most of you are 300 plus miles away or $72 a ton in freight.

I made money hauling hay 500 miles in 2000 and 2001, not any more.

Soap, keep baleing anything that will bale. I have fed straw and any kind of swamp grass is equal to or better than that. Soymeal and corn is cheaper to feed than hauling in hay at $150 a ton.

 

[Anonymous]

Grandma and I stopped in for afterchurch brunch this morning and I heard that some around here are getting their wheat fields totaled out by the insurance so they can at least salvage some hay out of it....I don't think ours is tall enough to even cut in most areas :roll: ....