Horse People Are Just So Nice!

Last week I bemoaned the fact that I had to pay $11.99 for hay. Today, I'm very happy to report that an unknown source (at his request as he is having to turn down customers delivered 50 bales of Coastal Bermuda at $7.00 per bale. I hope that will get us through to first cutting because this is all he can give me.

This doesn't look like much, but here's my new 50 bales stashed away behind the hot-wired gate. Yahoo! (Click on all photos to enlarge, though I can't imagine why you'd want to.)

Horse people are so nice. Many thanks to you who offered to help me find hay and those who offered moral support, Mrs. Mom, Mikael, jdp who's paying $16!!!, and photogchic, to name a few.

And, because Lucy is in rehab, my hay supplier also offered me a gelding or six to ride in the meantime. I can keep one (or six) here or I can go to his place, (and bring Lily and her horse, Buddy), and we can trail ride there on Sunday afternoons. Horse people are so very nice.

For the folks Googling for photos of Coastal Bermuda hay (again, click to enlarge), I tried to take a close up for you. It would have been prettier in September but here's what it looks like in March.

My hay man and friend warned me that even with rain things aren't going to be great when buying hay in the summer because he's been told fertilizer prices may double. He thought he might try chicken manure instead, but there's a risk to the horses of getting salmonella with that. So it's back to fertilizer. (My father sometimes uses chicken manure for his garden. Once it came with a half-living chicken in it. And it smells so very, very bad.)

For any Googlers looking for photos of Timothy-grass-mix hay, here's one. Pretty -- but not sure it's $11.99 a bale pretty.  I don't know squat about hay. Coastal Bermuda is what grows best here so that's what I buy. One year I had to buy Orchard grass from  Michigan or somewhere and that stuff was gorgeous (and costly). The horses didn't like the expensive Timothy at first but  got over that in less than 120 seconds.

Comments

[risingrainbow]

I've heard that chicken manure makes hay too hot for horses. I don't know if that's true but I do know it's considered to be hotter than many fertilizers.

I'm glad you found some good hay to get you through. Although I won't tell you how long 50 bales would last around here. Just thinking about it makes me nervous.

And a gelding to ride, that sounds cool. I hope that works out too.

[Grey Horse Matters]

Horse people really are nice aren't they. How nice of your hay man to offer you a gelding or six.

[GP]

Yup... i'm seeing more and more ... horsey people are truly "horses of a different color"... To which i say amen :)

blessings
gp in montana

[Mrs Mom]

Anne- your hay man is spot on. Chicken manuer can be hazardous stuff to work with if you don't know what you are doing with it. Fertilizer costs are already on the rise. Also, the extreme drought you are still in, even with good rain, is going to keep the hay production rates LOW and the hay QUALITY much lower than normal. It can take several years for drought striken hay fields to come back to full production if they are not managed properly.

My advice to everyone- find a reliable hay supplier early on this year, get samples and dry matter analysis reports, and BUY EARLY. 2008- even with good rains in the south east, is STILL going to be a very hard hay year. BUY EARLY, so you can get as much as possible at the best prices. Also- keep in mind- if you buy from out of state, the cost to transport hay (or ANYTHING for that matter thanks to the oil prices,) is going to go up. Diesel is now at $4 per gallon here. (I wont go off on a tirade about that! lol) Shipping cost makes up over half the total load cost when you are shipping hay. (And that is generally with catching a "back haul", avoiding a truck having to run back empty. Very costly there!)

Again, if there is anything we can do to help, please do not hesitate to let me know! I am HAPPY to answer questions for folks too! ;)

Have a BLAST riding!!!! Trail rides with Lucy and Buddy sound HEAVENLY!

[jdp]

Hi Anne,

I've also heard that the price of hay will also be rising b/c many farmers are planting corn due to increasing demand for ethanol. It's hard to argue with that one, but still, I think that hay, like barley and hops, will become increasingly expensive. And of course, the rising price of gas ($3.54 here in CA) makes transportation another issue.

It's actually not me paying $16/bale - it's the trainers at the racetrack. But STILL! No wonder TBFriends is getting so many horses in off the track. They can't afford to keep them if they aren't racing. It's very sad.

[Mrs Mom]

Trivia-

Did you know that it takes 1.29 gallons of GAS to make ONE GALLON of ethanol? And that ethanol reduces the mielage oyu get? And that ethanol is actually BAD for your engine over time?

I found that info interesting..... Disheartening, but interesting.....