A few weeks ago, our horse friends, the Watsons, told us they had a source for hay. We were pretty excited, because east Tennessee and everywhere around it has been in the grip of a major drought for months, so hay is getting to be alarmingly scarce, and expensive when you can find it. Jeff Watson knew someone at work who was cutting hay for the first time (the VERY first time) and would let us pick it up in the field for $2 a bale! There were wildly varying estimates of how much hay would be available, from about 250 bales to about 1,000 bales. The fact that the hayfield owner couldn’t narrow it down to within 750 bales should have been a red flag, I guess. Shari asked Jeff to make sure that the hay was good stuff; Jeff was assured that it was. So after a couple of weeks of scheduling problems, we finally made it out there about a month ago.
It was about an hour from our house. We brought 3 trailers in case the 1,000-bale estimate was closest. When we got to the field, it was about half the size of, and as hilly as, our own pasture. That is to say, maybe 3 acres with very rolling hills. What we could see looked to be about 150 bales. And the parts that weren’t mowed yet were just as brushy and weedy as our pasture, too.
An hour later, we had 189 bales and were glad there weren’t more. This hay is full of goodness-knows-what. There’s some good hay in there, but there are sticks and twigs and spiky stuff too. And something that we guess is poison ivy, because poor Bill ended up with a rash wherever he wasn’t covered, and I didn’t – it seems that I’m one of those lucky people who aren’t sensitive to poison oak or poison ivy, because whenever Bill, the Kid and I have accidentally blundered into a patch of either one, only Bill suffers (a little bit of trivia: we’re told that Native Americans are naturally resistant to poison oak and poison ivy, and I’m part Cherokee and Osage – as is the Kid, since he’s my…kid).
Anyway…so we have 99 bales of $2 hay, and we may have overpaid. Our barn is full (of hay that only I can touch), and the horses have been eating it for about a month now with no ill effects, but we are definitely going to look elsewhere for good hay for the winter, when their nutritional needs are so dependent on the forage we provide.
I just want to be clear, though – we are VERY glad to have this hay, despite the problems, and relieved that we have some when so many people are having to sell their horses because they can’t find or buy hay. But, as is the case most of the time, you get what you pay for.
Good price for ‘hay’. Wish it had been better for you and the horses, though. We just filled up our barn (just for our llamas) with 40 bales of orchard grass hay, for about $8.00 a bale here in NM.
Interesting info shared about Native Americans’ immunity to Poison plants. My husband is part Choctaw and he is not affected by Poison Ivy, either. When my twins were 2 yrs old they had a great time pulling leaves off of a vine and laying them all over my legs to ‘cover’ me up.
Turns out it was poison ivy and I broke out terribly 3 days later. My sons never even got a bump!
$8.00 a bale! Ouch! We have timothy/orchard grass mix selling here for about $7.50 a bale. I shudder to think what it will be in January.
Bill had a good laugh at your poison ivy story. Trust me, he was laughing with you, not at you! The three of us went hiking one day – looking out for poison oak, because we’d been warned that it was in the area – and all hiked through the same exact places. The next day, he had rashes on his arms and legs. It lasted for about 2 weeks, and nothing he tried brought much relief. The Kid and I – not a mark on us.
We’re not willing to test it by rubbing poison oak or ivy all over us though. Just in case.
We’ve gone that route where we thought we were going to get a deal and it only turned out to be a mess. Sorry this didn’t work out better for you. If you’ve been feeding it that long with no weight loss to the horses, you’re doing good.
Hay here is through the roof. It is well over what you are paying there. The last load I got was about $11 a bale and it seems to go up each load. I’ts going to be a long winter.
That is a good deal for hay. There was this one place selling it for $10 per bale. I can not believe you got it for $2. It must be your lucky day. I have been so busy so sorry this is a late comment. I am usually checking your blog every day. How are Valentine and Moonshine?
$10+ a bale…ouch. I know people around here are hurting and hay is about $8 a bale (50-50 pounds). I heard a story the other day about horses being left behind at auction. People take them to auction to sell them and if they don’t sell, they leave them tied up…abandoning them. Apparently it’s pretty common this year. I hope next year is better for everyone. Until then, we’ll feed our poison oak hay, which the horses don’t seem to mind.