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Elite Veteran
Posts: 863
  
| I'm having a hard time finding hay locally since my supplier retired last year...unfortunetly we will be out of our small bales by the end of this month! Feeding 5 horses, only 3 are riding horses, I've been looking into the 50lb bales of hay Standlee makes but wow at my Tractor Supply I'm looking at $15/bale.. Anyone feed this once in awhile? How do you know how much to feed being it's so compact? |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
 
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | That is alot of money for a bale of hay. Have you looked into feeding round bales? Are check with your feed stores in your area if they carry square bales, if not maybe they can help you find some square bales.
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| Really??!!?? Out here in CA I’m paying 19 a bale for alfalfa and 30 a bale for Timothy. 15 isint all that bad. Lol |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 863
| FLITASTIC - 2018-02-03 5:50 PM
Really??!!?? Out here in CA I’m paying 19 a bale for alfalfa and 30 a bale for Timothy. 15 isint all that bad. Lol
OMG!!!! How in the heck can you afford horses lol, I would never be able to at that rate |
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| I feed them because in Oklahoma it’s hard to find alfalfa without the worries of blister beetles. If you open them and bust the straps they usually expand within a few hours. And they flake off in nice size flakes. |
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Expert
Posts: 1409
Location: Oklahoma | okbarrelracer - 2018-02-04 12:49 PM
I feed them because in Oklahoma it’s hard to find alfalfa without the worries of blister beetles. If you open them and bust the straps they usually expand within a few hours. And they flake off in nice size flakes.
How far are you from Henryetta? Dr. Collett gets alfalfa from Arizona and is priced right and you can get from him. I bought Timonthy compressed from TSC never again and glad I only bought one bale it was full of sticks! Not just a little bit but full! I wish we could get timonthy hay around here. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| Turnburnsis - 2018-02-04 1:35 PM
okbarrelracer - 2018-02-04 12:49 PM
I feed them because in Oklahoma it’s hard to find alfalfa without the worries of blister beetles. If you open them and bust the straps they usually expand within a few hours. And they flake off in nice size flakes.
How far are you from Henryetta? Dr. Collett gets alfalfa from Arizona and is priced right and you can get from him. I bought Timonthy compressed from TSC never again and glad I only bought one bale it was full of sticks! Not just a little bit but full! I wish we could get timonthy hay around here.
Does Arizona not have to worry about blister beetles? |
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| Henryetta is almost 3 hours from me. I’m on I35 almost to the Kansas line. I got the alfalfa/Timothy mix once from Standlee and it was very sticky! Never had a issue with the alfalfa except one time it was a little dusty but I haven’t got another like that. I usually go through 5-6 a month. |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| I have fed the Standlee hay and was very pleased. It is extremely compressed so looks small. I think those bales are a little over 50 pounds. If that is what you have to get just bite the bullet and get it. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 477
Location: Lost in the swamps | I'm in South Louisiana and baled alfalfa is 19-22 bucks.
I......... get the pellets  |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
Location: Ohio girl moved to PA | Wild1 - 2018-02-03 8:21 PM FLITASTIC - 2018-02-03 5:50 PM Really??!!?? Out here in CA I’m paying 19 a bale for alfalfa and 30 a bale for Timothy. 15 isint all that bad. Lol OMG!!!! How in the heck can you afford horses lol, I would never be able to at that rate
WOW! im spoiled here in Ohio, 1st cut of pure alfalfa is normally $6 a bale. Even 3rd cutting is still only $8. Timothy is even cheaper! |
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 Just a Yankee
Posts: 1237
Location: Some where I haven't left yet | Nope... Dirty, Dusty and Horrible customer service. Try leaving a message and NEVER getting called back. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | If you just need a few, then they are a good and handy option. $15 for 50lb bales is on the expensive side, long term. I would imagine you can find good alfalfa in your area for less. Also, you might consider a good cube. There are quite a few out there. I have a great alfalfa cube and can ship, if that is something that might interest you. Another option is to feed a pelleted concentrate with an alfalfa base. This kills two birds with one stone and works very well when feeding with grass hay. |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | FLITASTIC - 2018-02-03 5:50 PM Really??!!?? Out here in CA I’m paying 19 a bale for alfalfa and 30 a bale for Timothy. 15 isint all that bad. Lol
How much does each bale weigh?
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I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | Wild1 - 2018-02-03 2:44 PM I'm having a hard time finding hay locally since my supplier retired last year...unfortunetly we will be out of our small bales by the end of this month! Feeding 5 horses, only 3 are riding horses, I've been looking into the 50lb bales of hay Standlee makes but wow at my Tractor Supply I'm looking at $15/bale.. Anyone feed this once in awhile? How do you know how much to feed being it's so compact?
I fed the Standlee compressed bales of hay and they were dusty and stalky. Never again. I took pictures of how nasty they were when I opened them up and I was shocked as they looked good on the outside. I'll see if I can find my pictures. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 863
| Well I bit the bullet and bought 2 bales of this that's the timothy/alfalfa...broke it open, no stalks it's real tender hay but kinda dusty. I am hoping to find a hay supplier real soon by me. I can see how these bales come in handy when traveling but I just can't get over the price |
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Veteran
Posts: 286
| I drive to Gainesville, TX (from South of OKC) to buy the bales of alfalfa from Arizona.
I buy the Standlee alfalfa bales in a pinch but I think they are too "powdery" and stemmy. You should see what the horses have left in their feeders after I give them a flake off the Standlee bales. Yikes!!
I feel there is less waste when I buy the Standlee alfalfa cubes...and my horses love those. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 863
| BFN - 2018-02-07 9:16 PM
I drive to Gainesville, TX (from South of OKC) to buy the bales of alfalfa from Arizona.
I buy the Standlee alfalfa bales in a pinch but I think they are too "powdery" and stemmy. You should see what the horses have left in their feeders after I give them a flake off the Standlee bales. Yikes!!
I feel there is less waste when I buy the Standlee alfalfa cubes...and my horses love those.
I was hoping to find an alfalfa cube that's not so "hard"? I bought one bag of standlee cubes they were really hard to break apart. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| Wild1 - 2018-02-07 9:35 PM
BFN - 2018-02-07 9:16 PM
I drive to Gainesville, TX (from South of OKC) to buy the bales of alfalfa from Arizona.
I buy the Standlee alfalfa bales in a pinch but I think they are too "powdery" and stemmy. You should see what the horses have left in their feeders after I give them a flake off the Standlee bales. Yikes!!
I feel there is less waste when I buy the Standlee alfalfa cubes...and my horses love those.
I was hoping to find an alfalfa cube that's not so "hard"? I bought one bag of standlee cubes they were really hard to break apart.
The only alfalfa cubes I have found that are NOT hard are the Danco Cubes. They make the Mustang Sally, Omni and Omega cubes. I have tried Standlee, Hayrite and Top of the Rockies, etc. |
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  Champ
Posts: 19623
Location: Peg-Leg Julia Grimm | Right now I'm buying Standlee orchard grass pellets to soak for my stud who is 23 and missing some teeth. I think the quality is good. The only reason I don't feed him our baled hay is he's wasting a bunch. The pellets are no waste. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| OregonBR - 2018-02-08 10:16 AM
Right now I'm buying Standlee orchard grass pellets to soak for my stud who is 23 and missing some teeth. I think the quality is good. The only reason I don't feed him our baled hay is he's wasting a bunch. The pellets are no waste.
I wish our TSC would sell the orchard grass pellets. When we had a bad drought, the feed store shipped in some orchard grass hay and the horses LOVED it. It was so expensive, but at the time any hay was expensive. |
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 The One
Posts: 7997
Location: South Georgia | Here in Georgia, a 2 strand bale of alfalfa is $30 (about 100 lbs). So, the price you named does not seem all that absurd to me. Thankfully, we also have perennial peanut hay in this region which is comparable in nutritional makeup to alfalfa, if not better, and $10 per bale. It's softer, much more leafy, and when placed side by side with alfalfa, they always pick the PP first.
I got off track. LOL No, I have not used one of the compressed bales. The alfalfa that we can buy for $30/bale however, is Standlee, just shipped in from out West.
Edited by horsegirl 2018-02-08 12:57 PM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 460
| I don't generally feed the Standlee bales...but I do feed compressed alfalfa from a private local farmer. Hay quality is GREAT, and can't beat the price for an 80lb compressed bale at 10 bucks a bale!! Comp bales are always dusty, that's really the only downfall. But I've never found the dust to be from dirt or mold, just from how tight the bales are packed, the alfalfa dust stays in until opened up or soaked. Love comp bales! So easy to move around and store also =] |
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Anyone feed Standlee compressed hay?