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Hay Day
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Every summer there are two chores that hang over my head. One is buying hay for the horses and the other is buying firewood. Until those two things are done, I feel time racing by and winter closing in.
Thankfully, two neighbors, (both named Linda), were also hay shopping for their animals, and were looking for the same king of hay that I was. There are enough different kinds of hay to make your head spin. What kind of hay you get is dictated by what animals you’re feeding (horses, cattle, sheep, etc.) and what they’re doing (working, breeding, or, as in my case, being pasture ornaments). Then you have to also consider your budget, of course. As I said, it’s enough to make your head spin.
I was looking for grass hay, or a grass hay mix (I was looking for a mix with alfalfa). My horses don’t need much to keep them going, and the older, skinnier one gets supplemental feed to help her hold her weight. They also have acres of pasture to graze, but this time of year the pasture is pretty much gone – dry, dry, dry.
The Lindas proved to be excellent hay scouts. While I was busy rescuing animals with HSUS (Hawaiian Caper , Texas Tears) they were busy finding grain hay, grass hay, grassy alfalfa hay, straight alfalfa hay, and everything in between. I was hoping for a 70/30 mix (70% grass, 30% alfalfa), but settled for a 50/50 mix. The horses will prefer that – but it’s a little more expensive and a little richer than they need. When it’s the only thing available, you go with it.
Once you find it, you’d better buy it because it goes quickly. I ordered a “squeeze” from the hay distributor. Unless I wanted to haul it myself, which I didn’t, it was the minimum amount of hay I could get delivered. A squeeze picks up 88 bales at a time. I only really needed 55 bales (about 3 tons), but decided I would take the whole load and with the amount of hay I still had in our barn, try to stretch this hay to last us for two years.
The truck driver called me to tell me when he was getting close so I could be up at our barn to meet him.
I left the house and started up the hill to the barn. I was quickly distracted by several swallowtail butterflies darting among the phlox. I took about 40 pictures, and tried my best to get 2 butterflies in one picture, but that didn’t work out so well.
Out of all those pictures, this is the only one that’s worth a darn. I made it up to the barn just in time to hear the truck start down our driveway. That gave me just enough time to get the dogs rounded up and locked in the barn.
The dogs started going berserk, but they were safely tucked away so the driver wouldn’t have to worry about running over any of them.
He stopped the truck to talk to me.
“Who do you think is going to like this hay better, the moose or the elephant?” the driver asked. Oh, fine, I had a real joker on my hands.
“I’m betting the moose,” I replied, playing along.
“Wrong,” he said, “they like wet feed.”
“Well, heck, if you’re going to be a stickler about it,” I said, “allow me to point out that it’s not a real moose!” We both laughed.
“So where do you want me to set this down?” he asked.
I pointed out the chosen location and situated myself to be able to video-tape the action.
Whoever figured out the squeeze was a genius – talk about saving us a lot of work!
Now all I had to do was call the high school kids I had arranged to hire to move the hay into the barn and we were set. They accomplished that in 2 ½ hours. I kept them plied with root beer and Dryer’s Ice Cream Dibs. And money. They liked the money the best.
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