finally got my hay delivered

unclejoe

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Quail_Antwerp said:
How much do the large round bales of hay normally go for?
Ours are $45 each. We only get 4 at a time because we don't have room to store more. Luckily the man we get it from has a huge barn that he sells from all winter. We go through about 1 a week for the horses, donkeys, and goats, from Nov. through Mar.
 

FarmerChick

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Pat that is a good price for delivery!

and aggrevation free! (mostly)! LOL
 

Quail_Antwerp

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Well, we were late in the year getting our goats so we didn't think to try to locate someone earlier to buy hay.

Now I am having a hard time finding anyone local to sell me a bale or two. Everyone keeps saying they had a bad crop and have to keep what they have for their own. I certainly don't want to take away what they need for their own livestock.

So Monday I'm heading to the auction to see what hay might be there. Maybe I can bid on some and bring a few bales home.
 

patandchickens

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Of course now I realize QA was asking about big ROUNDbales :p Bruce sold me two of them in place of one of my big squares (so horsesitter can come out just once a day, and weather isn't such an issue, when we go to Penna. for ten days next month). He sez they're about 400 lbs, and gave us two for the price of one big square i.e. $35 apiece.

I don't like feeding roundbales in the pasture though... there is a tremendous amount of waste. You can spend $500++ for a horse-safe roundbale feeder but they still waste a fair bit anyhow and in my experience NOTHING is really completely horse safe. I'd rather give the horses just what they need (as opposed to what the fat white pony WANTS) 2-4 times a day and hardly waste any of it :)

Pat
 

Quail_Antwerp

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Dh was talking to a local farmer last night about trying to get square bales. He said they are easier to store and feed for us anyway because of our set up. He said with the squares we can feed it a leaf at a time or something? That they are easier to break up and less waste.

Can you tell I haven't had anything before that I had to feed hay to? :/
 

patandchickens

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Quail_Antwerp said:
Dh was talking to a local farmer last night about trying to get square bales. He said they are easier to store and feed for us anyway because of our set up. He said with the squares we can feed it a leaf at a time or something? That they are easier to break up and less waste.
As long as you have a tractor to move 'em around, they do store easier (none of this unloading, carrying and stacking five hundred small squares by hand :p) and more compactly too -- the hay is generally packed tighter so you can store a larger weight of hay in a smaller storage area. I dunno about 'less waste'. They are sometimes dustier or slightly-moldy, depending on your hay guy and your season and your standards for such things.

They are just as easy to feed to several horses IMO as small squares. THey come apart into flakes just like small bales do only of course the flakes are bigger :) The flakes on ours usually run about 30 lbs apiece but it depends how your producer has his equipment adjusted. The flakes are kinda annoying to try to split into smaller quantities tho so if you feed, like, just 15 lbs of hay at a time, it will involve a certain amount of wrestling.

Have fun,

Pat
 

ldburton

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I just read local ads for hay-$200 a ton plus delivery charges. I don't use hay right now, so hadn't paid attention til this morning reading the paper. Amazing!!
 
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