Hay???

Hey folks,
Things are tuff for first cut in my area. I need 100 rolls (or the equivelant). Folks I usually get from are at about 60% of last year's yield. I made my rounds and flashed my people skills and came up with 48 and some leads. One guy expects a decent second cut since he fertilized after the 1st cut and right before it started raining. His fields look pretty good already. Anyway, the ??? is, since his 2nd cut seems to be getting (and will) get plenty of rain and has been fertilised, can I expect it to have the feed quality of the 1st cut stuff that didn't get the moisture and only produced half the yield? or do I need to keep begging for 1st cut? Feeding horses.

Dave

Sell half the horses.LOL

(quoted from post at 11:54:54 06/15/11) Sell half the horses.LOL

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Workin on it....Folks are funny......If it's sorrel or brown (they call bay brown also) it's "too common" and noone wants it. We sell all the babies before they are weaned usually. We are adjusting colors a little and working to get black, dun, grullo, and buckskin because they go quick for a good price.

Dave

The more moisture, the better, to a certain extent. If there is not much rain, you lose protein and other nutrients, because the hay goes into conservation mode. If there is too much rain, the hay will not be cut and will lay in the field losing protein. Also, the amount of nitrogen applied is also directly proportional to the amount of protein in the hay. More nitrogen = more protein, so, since this fellow fertilized, he should have pretty good quality feed.

SF

breed them pinto or paint

(quoted from post at 13:21:42 06/15/11) breed them pinto or paint

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Will have a paint baby ( B&W paint mare x our dun stallion) next year but the germans are in the cowboy mode right now.There are a few indians but there are plenty of pinto colored mutts around. A real QH or PH costs too much for them. Problem with trying to improve is you have to hold onto prospects to see how they turn out.

Around here horses are going begging. Can"t hardly give them away. Owners are looking at the expense of upkeep and feed, and deciding horses are a luxury they can"t afford anymore. "course the hay market is going to be depressed due to lack of demand.... Can"t win.

(quoted from post at 14:02:47 06/15/11) Around here horses are going begging. Can"t hardly give them away. Owners are looking at the expense of upkeep and feed, and deciding horses are a luxury they can"t afford anymore. "course the hay market is going to be depressed due to lack of demand.... Can"t win.

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One guy I talked to said he was going thinking about stopping with hay because customers are too picky. Sold me everything he had today and said he'd do what I need in the future or let me do it myself and him roll it. Horse folks really get on my nerves....... They get scared and sell for way too cheap which drives prices down. And they get scared and pay way too much for hay. Both ruin it for everyone else........ 3 years ago, we were getting 5000-7000 for a weanling and paying 18 bucks for a round bale. Now we are looking at 3500-5000 and paying 28 bucks a roll.

3500 to 5000 what, Euros? They're still more than a dollar each, right?

My advice, from 35 years in the horse business, is sell everything you got, at 3,500 Euros- As far as hard times are concerned, "you ain't seen nothin, yet." And this from someone who routinely sells registered Paso Finos for $4,000+.

And don't worry about whether hay is going to be good enough quality for horses. ANYTHING is good enough for horses- they're not ruminants, and need to push a lot of roughage through for everything to work right. Anything on the upside of straw will work fine for them.

I had a client some years back whose tenant claimed that my guy's septic effluent was contaminated with methyl mercury, and was making her horses lame. I went out and looked, and she was feeding them the tastiest looking alfalfa I had ever seen- I was tempted to pour some chocolate sauce over it and eat it myself.

I opined that they were foundering on the alfalfa. She said I was an idiot lawyer, knew nothing about horses, blah, blah. I offered to send out a vet to look it over, her choice, at my client's expense. We settled on Dr. X, a well known local horse expert.

Didn't hear anything for a couple months, so called Dr. X to see if he had gone out, and what he found. He said he told her she was foundering her horses on the alfalfa, and recommended she feed grass hay instead.

I never heard from her again. Gave Dr. X a little hug at his retirement party a couple years later, for getting her off my back.

5 to 7 grand for a weanling!!
Man, that's a lot of cash for a little hayburner that knows nothing yet.

i can get a well seasoned well trained roping horse for 1/2 that here

Where are you cheap hay guys ? Around here dairys are
contracting hay for 200 bucks a ton because they are afraid it
will go higher . This winter the cows got buy on rolled barley
and barley straw because hay was over 150 a ton and it was
250 miles round trip to get it

Where are you cheap hay guys ? Around here dairys are
contracting hay for 200 bucks a ton because they are afraid it
will go higher . This winter the cows got buy on rolled barley
and barley straw because hay was over 150 a ton and it was
250 miles round trip to get it