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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
   
Location: North Dakota | I board my horses and hay is provided for them. They have approximately 34589085 round bales stacked up around the property year round. Some of them have been decent, but lately I've been rather miffed with the hay. I have found mold, dust, HUGE poky weeds, and trash in them. I've noticed my horse snorting/coughing occasionally, not bad by any means, but I know this is not good and can't continue.
I'm happy to buy my own hay, but I can't buy round bales because a. I have no way to haul it and b. I have no place to store it. So I have no idea where to even start looking for someplace that sells square bales in small quantites. How do you guys find hay? I also realized I have no idea what the difference is between first cutting, second cutting, etc. Basically I know there's alfalfa or grass hay....that's it...so yeah...I could use some basic hay knowledge!
ETA- I have all the alfalfa cubes I could ever want so I'm going to supplement his diet with those as well (instead of the alfalfa pellets he currently gets), but obviously that's not nearly enough forage. He's also on a dry lot so he doesn't get any fresh grass unless I'm hand grazing him :(
Edited by cavyrunsbarrels 2015-02-06 7:32 PM
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Expert
Posts: 1280
Location: Texas | I buy from a local hay broker. I don't know if y'all have those up there, but you can't swing a cat without hittin' one around here. Try facebook horse groups in your area. Consistent quality, always available, and I can buy in small quantities. It's more expensive, but your are paying for quality & convenience. And if you only have 1 (or few), it's not a huge difference in your feed bill.
And a hay broker usually will educate you about hay if you ask some questions.
Edited by tracies 2015-02-06 7:43 PM
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | tracies - 2015-02-06 7:40 PM I buy from a local hay broker. Try facebook horse groups in your area. Consistent quality, always available, and I can buy in small quantities. It's more expensive, but your are paying for quality & convenience. And if you only have 1 (or few), it's not a huge difference in your feed bill.
I will definitely pay more if it means I can pick up a small number of good bales whenever I want. I'll check FB. If any Bismarck, ND peeps want to chime in that would be swell. |
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 Ms. Poutability
Posts: 2362
Location: In my own world | You could contact your local Coop or agricultural supply place where hay people would buy fertilizer and stuff. They could probably tell you people in your area that raise hay for sale. And if you know your Coop people well they could tell you who to buy from and who to stay away from |
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 The BHW Book Worm
Posts: 1768
| Bummer i know your struggle. After i left home and started my own family i now have to board
It was always a sign if the hay was horrible it was time to leave. I have been were im at now for going on 4 years and its great! My horses always look fantastic and they hay is always green and leafy. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | Thistle2011 - 2015-02-06 8:54 PM Bummer i know your struggle. After i left home and started my own family i now have to board It was always a sign if the hay was horrible it was time to leave. I have been were im at now for going on 4 years and its great! My horses always look fantastic and they hay is always green and leafy.
Everything else about my barn I love. The people are great, it's well maintained, and my weekly mounted shooting practice is there. But yeah, I don't know why they have such crappy hay, I mean the owner and managers horses are eating the stuff too. |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6437
Location: Montana | Seriously...I look on Craigslist, and the guy I currently buy hay from I found on there and it has been really nice hay...no mold, dust, no weeds (it is certified weed free). It costs me more than a round bale does, but I have no place and no way to haul round bales either, but I don't mind paying up for good hay. |
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 Tried and True
Posts: 21185
Location: Where I am happiest | search the local classifieds and local feed stores. Feed stores you will pay more typically then from a private individual but it's immediate supply while you look for a private supply. |
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 More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | We put up a lot of big rounds every year. We cut and bale everything possible. We keep track of what is more slough and ditch hay that goes to the cattle and the real good stuff that goes to my horses. Go to the stacks of hay and dig out hay from the big rounds. Stick your hand in and pull it out, smell it, see what pulls out, weeds or good smelling hay. I bet if you ask the owners they'll go out and get you good hay. If they're horse people they should understand. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | I miss my old feed store. They had nice hay, grass and alfalfa, in the front and it was reasonably priced. I seriously have no place to store more than a week's worth of hay. I'm hoping it was just a couple of bad bales. Most of has been ok. Nothing like the bales his old owner gave me when I brought him home. Holy cow I've never seen such beautiful hay. Everyone at the barn was even freaking out about it... |
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