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The hay is dusty!

BarnyardEngineering

BarnyardEngineering

Well-known Member
Location
Rochester, NY
I've got 750 small squares of some of the nicest greenest cleanest 2nd cutting alfalfa mix hay we've ever put up. It was about a week or so late so a little coarser than typical, but this year getting that much hay not rained on was a miracle.

Been trying to sell it at $4 a bale. A bargain for the quality. The only serious bites we had were from one person raising Icelandic sheep, and another raising pygmy goats. Both committed to buying the hay but when each showed up they flaked out claiming the hay was "dusty." Horse people have given us the same complaint in the past.

What do they mean "dusty?" Hay *IS* dusty by nature unless you bale it up sopping wet. Dust is a sign of good dry hay.

I'm thinking these people were idiots and/or just trying to get something for nothing.

When the goat person flaked out I almost replied to her with a scathing email telling her where she could stuff it, but discretion being the better part of valor... I mean really, these animals they're raising lived on weeds and rocks and sticks and rusty tin cans in their natural habitat... yet this hay wasn't good enough for them???
 
Seen that before the complaints I mean, if its green dust like the hay,, like you said normal zero problems,, if I see white dust aka mold thats another issue,, but I am sure like you said put up right and fine,, problems come from what I see here with "dusty" hay is for some reason many horse ect people think they need to feed them in a tub instead of on the ground like critters have been eating since they came to be,, in the tub they have to breath the "dust" no matter if its normal hay dust or mold they inhale it,, but try explaining to them about the correct way to feed hay,, just as well talk to a post it will listen better,, that is just one of the reasons I sell hay for cow feed,, hope you find a better buyer for yours sounds like good hay to me
cnt
 
IMHO - if the hay emits a white, baby powder poof of dust when you smack it with your hand, drop the bale on the ground or cut it open - AND has a musty smell,
you've got mold dust. IMHO - that's cow hay at best, but none the less sale-able.

If it's mechanical dust, i.e. dry hay, baling chaff, etc, no problem - normal dust. I point some customers to my youtube videos of the baler doing it's thing
and the plume of dust coming off the hay is impressive - but IMHO, harmless. If that's what you've got - I would consider it normal and not even mention it.

IMHO - your price is much to low given the drought and hay shortage.

I need to talk to you - my email is open.

Thanks!
Bill
 
I've heard horse people don't like dust from anything as it bothers the horses respiratory system. I don't think goats and sheep are a problem. To me dust comes about when hay has molded and maybe that is why
people are walking away as they think it has molded. Pretty easy to tell if mold is present, especially in alfalfa. I've opened moldy bales of alfalfa and it looked like a snow storm coming out of it. I'm not
saying yours has molded, just what happens when it does. I have found a lot of people don't know much about buying hay, especially if they didn't grow up on a farm.
 
Like the others said green dust is usually fine. Anything else is not. Cut a bale open and smell for yourself. An animal has a different sense of what is not palatable than
a human so if any other smell is there besides alfalfa, clover, timothy, etc. it might be enough to bother livestock.
 
I've sold a lot of small squares over the last couple decades. Mostly to horse folk, some for goats. All hay is dusty. A lot of buyers do not understand this. Some will be educated, some will not. As others said, dust comes from the ground when baled and some comes from the leaf shatter. Neither of these is a big deal in normal quantities. What is a big deal is if you have an off odor, dust or not. When you crack a bale and stick your face between the flakes, it should smell like summer on the hayfield. A pleasant smell. Depending on age and tightness of bale,and assuming you are not spraying a preservative, there will be a least a hint of green color INSIDE the bale. If it smells like anything else...mold, etc...it is cattle feed and the price goes down. Around here there are people that send this to the auctions, but that is very dishonest. I test bales with my nose, not my eyes. I'm pretty sure livestock does the same.
 

I agree pretty much with the others except that good hay will have insignificant dust to it. relative to the volume of hay. The pick-up of my baler is not capable of picking up any quantity of dust. Color of dust is not significant. My test, if there is suspicion of dust, has always been to hit the surface of the bale hard with my closed fist. If a cloud of dust comes up the hay was too high in moisture when baled and has molded. Barnyard, I agree that you are pricing too low. My second cut grass this year was $7.00 off the ground.
 
$6 here this year due to the last two seasons being very wet. Dust from mold and you can smell it. ALL hay has some dust but if it laid wet for two days then tedded and dried well it will be dustier but OK to feed.
 
(quoted from post at 14:14:37 11/11/19) $6 here this year due to the last two seasons being very wet. Dust from mold and you can smell it. ALL hay has some dust but if it laid wet for two days then tedded and dried well it will be dustier but OK to feed.
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I have made hay since I can remember. Unfortunately my smaller doesn't work right anymore. I never has much problem feeding my own hay. The last few years I have bought hay. I started buying premium hay so they say. It looks good but my horses pick through it and dont eat some. I believe it was baled damp as the flakes are caked together. I haven't noticed mold or dust though. I have found it very hard to find quality hay. Yes, I am a picky horse person and I know how to make good hay.
 
(quoted from post at 14:14:37 11/11/19) $6 here this year due to the last two seasons being very wet. Dust from mold and you can smell it. ALL hay has some dust but if it laid wet for two days then tedded and dried well it will be dustier but OK to feed.
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Mike, that is an old wives tale. Hay that has been rained on CAN BE DRIED it has to be properly worked but it will dry. Dry hay will not mold and so there will be no mold spores. If it molds it simply was not dried.
 
Yeah, no mold on this hay. These people don't know the difference and you can't explain it to them. All dust is poison to all animals in their books.

I just don't know how you'd make non-dusty hay.

Around here $4 is premium price for hay. Everyone expects to pay $2 a bale and they'll complain and demand a further discount if it's not perfect. It really needs to get on a truck and headed out West where it will be appreciated.
 
I don't have a horse. I'm not sure that horses work very hard and thus are not overly hungry. I keep and feed some cattle and have and done so for more than a few years
and have baled for those years first small squares and now 5x5's. Grass packs tighter than the coarser legumes and can thus mould , I think, easier. I wonder what many
people are concerned for as dust is not pollen.
 
I grew up on a farm. We fed the good hay to the cattle and the
cheap stuff to the horses since they were just for pleasure rides.
How things have changed.
 
Dusty hay is basically slightly moldy. Moldy hay is very moldy. I sell all my hay to horse people. I
guarantee no dust when there isn?t any and sell it as dusty when there is. I can smell the difference
immediately. One of the challenges of trying to bale dry alfalfa hay and keep the leaves on.
cvphoto41775.jpg

Photo shows 1st cutting alfalfa grass hay this year. The dust is actually pollen. The hay was just dry
enough.
 
Dusty hay is like was mentioned before, slightly moldy. I put an application tank on my baler and spray prop ionic acid on wHen I think the hay isn't
quite dry enough. It's a good way to get exceptional quality while ensuring the hay won't be dusty.
 
Baled hay is dry matter. Some of it is inevitably going to crumble into fine particles, aka DUST, from handling, or even just sitting there. It's not mold. There's no mold in this hay:

mvphoto45195.jpg


I wouldn't mind hay buyers being stupid if they were the right kind of stupid. The kind of stupid where they pay too much for poor hay, and way too much for good hay.
 
If horses required perfect hay then hoe do the horses the Amish use for their living ever live let alone work.I have seen a lot of poor hay put up for the horses. And they do not have conditioners as they are not horse powered, only a hay rake and sometimes a tedder and most cut way past its prime for quality.
 
(quoted from post at 06:51:02 11/12/19) If horses required perfect hay then hoe do the horses the Amish use for their living ever live let alone work.I have seen a lot of poor hay put up for the horses. And they do not have conditioners as they are not horse powered, only a hay rake and sometimes a tedder and most cut way past its prime for quality.
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Leroy, I talked to a young Amish farmer a few years ago near Lancaster PA who was mowing with a New Holland moco. The seed heads on the grass that he was cutting were just coming out of the boot. Elegant looking.
 
(quoted from post at 06:51:02 11/12/19) If horses required perfect hay then hoe do the horses the Amish use for their living ever live let alone work.
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Yeah, we get it. They don't, and never will.

I really don't care as long as they pay for it.

They have no idea what good hay is. Any fine particulate, even the dust kicked up from dropping the bale 6ft off of the wagon on to a DRY DIRT FLOOR, makes the hay "dusty" and unsuitable for their precious little glue factories, sweater makers, and soap dispensers.
 
(quoted from post at 10:22:30 11/12/19)
(quoted from post at 06:51:02 11/12/19) If horses required perfect hay then hoe do the horses the Amish use for their living ever live let alone work.
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Yeah, we get it. They don't, and never will.

I really don't care as long as they pay for it.

They have no idea what good hay is. Any fine particulate, even the dust kicked up from dropping the bale 6ft off of the wagon on to a DRY DIRT FLOOR, makes the hay "dusty" and unsuitable for their precious little glue factories, sweater makers, and soap dispensers.
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ell them to simply vacuum the hay before feeding. :evil:
And act like they are dumb for not knowing that!
 
did that hay thing several years back and grew up working with it dusty hay will be a slight white dust, when broken open or just drop the bale, it has a different smell does not have the fresh hay smell. fat cattle feed only mixed in with other rations selling hay privately is one of worst things can get into as we did it here for close twenty years, I finally just took hay to auctions if I did not feed it out myself. selling straw thou that works 7 -10.00 bale all year long for several years but it went to grocery stores etc.i found my own markets and it was not other farmers, you will never get anywhere selling it that way. even now in my area you be lucky get 3.00 bale for hay glad that eras behind me now.
 
Ohoi and Indiana they do not use anything powered by a PTO. I have supplied them with horse powered machinery for I am guessing over 25 years now.
 
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