lastcowboy32
Well-known Member
Back when DHI (the Dairy Herd Improvement) organization started becoming common, my father got in the program. One of the things that they did when they came to the farm for the initial visit, was to have us weigh a few bales of hay and take forage samples.
That was eye-opening. As kids, we used to always talk about how heavy the bales were (they got really heavy on summer days when haying went to midnight).
But were they really? According to the DHI scales, they weighed about 38 pounds on average. Now, my brother who did the baling never made long, long bales; but they look not much different than what I see posted on Facebook groups by people selling horse hay.
The ads invariably say "65 pound bales" and "dry" and "mold free"
I really just want to go there with a spring scale and find out.
The last time that I bought hay myself, was by the ton. It was dairy grade alfalfa second cut. Bought it from a friend of the family. He weighed his tractor and wagon empty; then weighed them full on the way to my farm. He and I, out of curiosity did a little math on the weight and the number from his bale counter. Over 3000 bales of hay, we calculated an average of 46 pounds.
Now, I HAVE picked up some bales that we used to call "mud bales" that you get when you bale out some frog hole in the middle of the field. Those bales could honestly weigh 65 pounds, or even more.
I'm curious, has anyone here made true 65 pound bales of perfectly dry hay? If so, how long are those suckers? Because the pictures that I see in these Facebook ads don't show bales that look nearly long enough to be 65 pounds, unless they're made of cement.
That was eye-opening. As kids, we used to always talk about how heavy the bales were (they got really heavy on summer days when haying went to midnight).
But were they really? According to the DHI scales, they weighed about 38 pounds on average. Now, my brother who did the baling never made long, long bales; but they look not much different than what I see posted on Facebook groups by people selling horse hay.
The ads invariably say "65 pound bales" and "dry" and "mold free"
I really just want to go there with a spring scale and find out.
The last time that I bought hay myself, was by the ton. It was dairy grade alfalfa second cut. Bought it from a friend of the family. He weighed his tractor and wagon empty; then weighed them full on the way to my farm. He and I, out of curiosity did a little math on the weight and the number from his bale counter. Over 3000 bales of hay, we calculated an average of 46 pounds.
Now, I HAVE picked up some bales that we used to call "mud bales" that you get when you bale out some frog hole in the middle of the field. Those bales could honestly weigh 65 pounds, or even more.
I'm curious, has anyone here made true 65 pound bales of perfectly dry hay? If so, how long are those suckers? Because the pictures that I see in these Facebook ads don't show bales that look nearly long enough to be 65 pounds, unless they're made of cement.