| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Mar 07 2005 : 2:26:54 PM
I am about out of hay and found someone who had some nice small (65 lb) bales about 20 miles away. Unfortunatly my old truck has a short bed and step side and a tool box (cute but not very practical) and I was so afraid that I would drive all that way and be able to haul only 8 or 10 bales. The guy fit 20 of them on my truck...it was wonderful...and now that I know how he arranged them I think I could do it again. It was great! Saved me a whole trip up there. One more trip and I will be okay on hay until the local stuff is available again....the first cutting anyway. I go through more hay than I should..but I like my chubby little beasts!!
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
| 17 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| akcowgirl |
Posted - Apr 04 2006 : 09:02:41 AM
The PP was right where ther is a will there is a way. I had a 1986 subaru "three door" meaning it had a driver and a passanger door then a hatchback. I was desperate one day folded down the back seats and got 6, 65lbs bales or hay and 3, 50lbs bags of complete feed in the car with me and one other person. I am pretty sure I was over the load capacity of the car.
Valerie
Alaska Girl all the way
Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.
 |
| Rebekka Mae |
Posted - Apr 04 2006 : 08:38:33 AM
In the Backcountry Food issue there is a diagram for fitting 38 or 39 bales of hay or so in the back of a pickup truck. Sounds like useful information for many of you gals!!! |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Mar 28 2006 : 10:39:01 AM
Thats how I feel about straight alfalfa too...I don't think my hands could handle milking more than the 6 and 1/2 or so gallons a day I get now from Mona so I don't need more production..plus I feed the same hay to my sheep...who don't need to straight alfalfa (wool sheep not meat sheep) so it works out really well.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
| Horseyrider |
Posted - Mar 28 2006 : 05:21:21 AM
A lot of dairy folks around here use straight alfalfa for maximum production. We did that some years, because it was readily available and reasonably priced. But I'll never forget how the milk would come at us when she first freshened, relentlessly, day after day, with me making butter and cheese for the freezer and giving some to the pigs and STILL having to dump some down the drain twice a day! So maximum production wasn't really a necessity for me.
I'm so glad you have a good hay guy; that makes for huge peace of mind.
I have so much fun reading about you and Mona! While I'll probably never have another dairy cow, I sure had fun with the ones I had, and really enjoy remembering through your posts. Thanks so much for sharing her with us.  |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Mar 27 2006 : 11:29:29 AM
I do usually buy my hay from a local guy once a year and he makes several loads over to here..2 tons at a time of small bales and delivers them. We have a covered small "haybarn" ..thats what I call it..it was originally a little grainery and is connected to the back of the garage and has a cellar under it. I can fit 4 tons in there and then I try to stack another 2 tons behind it ..still very close to the little milk barn. This year we are in fine shape until June when we should be able to get some first cutting...your hay sounds like what I use. I do supplement with alfalfa pellets with her grain when I am milking ..calf manna too, since I am trying to get more weight on her after calving for Mona..I want her to have all she needs.
I ran out of hay last spring when this topic started since I had alot more sheep and goats and underestimated what I would need. I did better this year. We got really good hay this year, and then got a great deal on some oat hay that I use for bedding too..$1 a bale..no mold, but not alot of seed on it either...makes wonderful straw and if she wants to eat some it is nice for that too.
Lot of people grow hay around here..but I am sure sticking with our same guy..he is great!
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
| Horseyrider |
Posted - Mar 27 2006 : 04:03:04 AM
Aunt Jenny, I also have a shortbed pickup. I can comfortably fit in about thirty bales, if they're stacked correctly. Much more than that and you're going to lose some in transit.
This summer, though, you might consider buying a year's worth of hay at a time. If you buy during the growing season, you can generally get the best price. The easiest would be having it delivered and stacked for you, if you have storage. Some people borrow racks and stack it themselves. Others own their own racks, and pull them into corncribs or someplace to keep the weather off, and take what they need through the year. Still others rent loft space from a neighbor, sometimes for very little $$$, and put it up there. You'll need an elevator, or some way to get it up for you. Once we had a kid come out with his grandpa delivering hay. He chose to throw the bales in the loft by hand because he was trying out for the football team and wanted to be strong!
If you don't already know, I'd strongly encourage you to learn about different types of hays, different cuttings, and how to tell great hay from good hay, and good hay from poor hay. The production you get from any given cow is a combination of genetics and diet. You can't change the genetics, but a good diet means plenty of quality milk in the pail. And you'll laugh at how much more yellow your butter is once you can offer Mona some pasture!
We have horses, which are not ruminants. For this reason we can't use first cutting hay very well. So we get either second or third cutting orchardgrass/timothy/alfalfa mix. It's beautiful; no seed heads or blossoms, tender baby leaves, highly digestible and highly palatable. We get a year's worth at a time, and my hay guys will deliver and stack it in my loft for a fee. I adore my hay guys; they take great care of me. I tip them well at Christmas because if we have another drought year, I want to be at the top of their list of customers they call when they say "Hay's ready!" 
|
| JennyWren |
Posted - Mar 25 2006 : 10:24:52 PM
Where there is a will there is a way!
I have a Dodge Neon and I get 3 bales and 2 bags of feed in the back seat (what a mess) and 2 bags of chicken feed and 2 more bales in the trunk.. I didn't know it the last time but I had hay sticking out of the trunk.. Which would not be that big of a deal.. but I live in the city! ;)
Always give the neighbors "somethin' to talk about"..
Carla...
If you treat an individual as what he is, he will stay that way, but if you
treat him as if he were what he could be, he will become what he could be.
-- Goethe
www.jennywrensurbanhomestead.blogspot.com/ |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Jun 18 2005 : 4:52:25 PM
I used to haul my first dairy goat, Clara, years ago about 45 miles away to have her bred each fall, and would have her ride in the back seat of my toyota corolla. She would never lay down, so she rode with her head on my shoulder most of the way..talk about funny looks from folks on a calif freeway!! I always put down plastic, but usually found some goat "berries" next time I vacumed the car anyhow. We do have a pickup now..but the van would be cooler in summer. BUT..I do have my own buck now. I have hauled many a lamb and kid goat in big carriers in the mini van i drive.
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
| fiddlegirl |
Posted - Jun 18 2005 : 05:32:49 AM
LOL,the van is how I haul my hay and straw too. I take out the seats and just forget the plastic now (It doens't help me that much). I can haul 10 - 11 bales if they are put in right and packed tight. Usually the back hatch doesn't close but I just tie it with baler twine. I can also get an extra bale in the front passenger seat. Then when I'm done, I drive to the local car wash and sweep out the car. Great motivation for giving it a good cleaning:) Deb in PA (BTW I also haul my goats in the van but I DO line the van with lots of plastic when we do that. I have even gone through the drive in at a fast food place with the goats yelling for a piece of my salad in the back) |
| Jacqueline |
Posted - May 26 2005 : 7:48:44 PM
Oh Jenny! Right on, you go...One day you must tell me how the guy fit that many into your truck! |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Mar 15 2005 : 04:59:28 AM
Marlyn - that is hilarious! Now that is a real farm story from beginning to end!
jpbluesky |
| marlyn |
Posted - Mar 14 2005 : 06:42:33 AM
From experience here.
When the tractor broke down and rain was in the forcast we brought in the bails of hay off the field in a 1984 Ford 1/2 ton truck. We took turns to see how many each could get on. The trick is in the stacking and Seaven won with 58 bails brought completely from the field to the barn. Personally I feel comfortable with 48 stacked and driven by me over bumpy fields to the barn.
One year the truck was giving us trouble and a storm was heading in fast. To help out I took the 1994 Mazda MPV mini-van, took out the back seat and lined the cab with plastic, and went out into the field and brought in 18 bails at a time. We are still pulling hay out of the air vents!
Of course I was the talk of the community but didn't know about that till next hay season when the auto repair man asked me in the grocery store if I was going to us the Mazda aagin this year?
Life is full of surprises.
Simply Marlyn |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Mar 11 2005 : 4:55:54 PM
yep it is a 1/2 ton. It just has this silly small bed on it. I hate that! I have a hard time finding small bales here too.Especially this time of the year. In the summer I really stock up and one guy sells me all I need. My own bad math made me run out. It looked like enough...Oh well. I sure wish I had the land to make my own hay!
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
| prairiemaid |
Posted - Mar 11 2005 : 1:41:55 PM
Way to go! Is that a 1/2 ton? You should see how my girlfriend loads her 1/4 ton!! I find the smaller bales hard to find around here. Everyone is switching to the large square or round bales. I don't have a loader to move bales! Lucky we are still able to make our own hay. We often use our pick-up to bring the bales in off the field. But it's a 3/4 ton, we can fit A LOT on there, it sways! lol |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Mar 07 2005 : 8:09:48 PM
I used to drive a big old Ford country squire station wagon...for years and years and years. That poor old thing hauled many a bale of hay. One time one of sons noticed that there was hay growing on the back bumper from seeds that had falled I guess. It was oats. He was mortified. I thought it was funny. I could cram 3 100 lb bales in there.
An Escort....that WOULD be a trick!!
I found out when I moved here that they don't sell hay at the feed stores here. YOu have to buy it from the farmer. Which is great, but I was so used to buying a few bales at a time that it was a change for me. Now I can't imagine my old way of doing it.
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Mar 07 2005 : 5:34:42 PM
That's great Jenny! I once got 2 bales crammed into the back of a Ford Escort 15 years ago to feed my Nubian goats...I was desperate and had no pickup and went to our local Farm/Feed store to purchase the bales...I thought the guy was going to have a "cow" when I told him I had an Escort to load up. Amazing what farmgirls can do with their vehicles!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
| Kim |
Posted - Mar 07 2005 : 4:46:51 PM
You go girl!
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
