a bunch of you got into the price of hay-- so let m e continue your education on the topic of hay.......
and this is from the north east observation... maybe idaho is different--
fact #1... you feed hay by the pound-- and a horse or mule...like mo... needs 20 pounds per day.
historically-- there were 3wire bails about 100 pounds and 2 wire bails 60-70 pounds...-- but someone found out that ( 40 years ago) more women than men were hoisting these bails so 3 wires were out-- and there were still 2 wire-- then started the process of setting the bailers to have 55 pounds then 50 pounds -- same as a 5 pound bag of sugar started having 4.65 pounds--- then wire was out.. and we started hay string...origionally hemp-- the brown scratchy kind... and now either blue or pink poly-something.
now comes the tricky part..these are listed at 49 pounds per bale--- i have not lifted any but i will stick my neck out and say they look like the usual 35-40 pound bails... i have to say...newly bailed hay-- even dried hay... has some moisture so a bail that was 49 pounds inthe field , willweigh less 6 months later as it is sold to me. all these numbers start to slide around..
2000 pounds of hay in 49 pound bails is 41 bails per ton ... at $380 a ton= $9.30 a bail....=19cents a pound.
unless---assuming perfect honesty by all...
they were bailed at 49 but dried to 40
2000 pounds at 40 pounds is 50 bails per ton.... at 380 a ton would be $7.60 a bail...= 19 cents a pound also.... woowoowooo
all well and good... except we are told 49 pounds at 9.30- and are getting 40 pound bails for the 9.30 which = 23 cemts a pound ---- or a 20 percent raise in price-- it is a semi honest mistake hay dealers have been making for centuries...
the only time you know what you are getting is when those huge trucks from canada cross teh border.. there is a weigh slip-- when i lived in lynnfield with all those 4H kids horses, i bought hay from "andre" because i got the name off the side of one of his trucks-- andre was an honest guy -- rather slight of build who would single handedly unload ands stack 30 tons of hay in the course of a day.. then he began to retire... and we had driver guy #345 who stacked the hay and left--- it was during the time when lynn cashman had her Quarterhorse at my barn.. lynn was an acomplished quarterhorse owner... but was often more known for her husband wayne cashman's hockey career with the bruins...... Waynes family in canada had a hay loft bigger thn our barn and arena compbined... i have been there.- wayne has a bunch of brothers- andgrtew up throwing hay around ... so i was not totally undone when wayne didn't approve of the way it was stacked in the loft, and proceeded to throwthe 30 tons out th ewindow.. where his brothers threw it ( by hand ) back up in the loft and stacked it the way it should be stacked..... cross hatch style.. to let air circulate...all in about 20 minutes.. they were s t r o n g.
then there was the day andre gave us a load that was not totally dry-- i was not comfortable when he unloaded it... and went up daily to check on it... and stick my arm deep between the bails --- sure enough .. it began to get hot so andre sent an empty truck round to take it all away before it caught fire...
my third hay story was again driver #345-- i just happened to go up in the loft to open the door for him.. and when i looked down onto the truck, the entire center was hollow-- from the ground it looked like a full load... with the weight stamp.... except he had unloaded almost 1/2 the load somewhere else- i called andre... we settled on a per bail price and that guy was never seen again..
when you are on a farm hay/feed/silage is a huge part of your existance... kind of like when the purina load arrives-- all activity stops til we get the food secured in place.
now --- those pink or blue hay strings and their use is a whole new topic..... later.....
