Thats a real disappointment when surprised like that. I can appreciate the fussing with the fields like you and James have posted photos of here, it all starts with a nice stand of hay grasses. Though its not easy work, I still did not mind putting up a limited amount of small squares, like I was doing a few years back. Had I the ability on my own, I'd still do it, really something to appreciate when you feed it, in our case, with all that these horses do put up with, nice to give them something they really like. Between the weather and other situations, it can be a struggle to get that done, and secure it.
One barn is old and though still in use, part of it rebuilt, toss up between maintaining it given the old roof that likes to leak and or demolishing it, start over, just out of the budget I am sure. The other is a large arena, good roof, much newer than the other. They put a vapor barrier down, then pallets, it has 2 large doors at each end. The arena footing material has to be kept moist enough to not make dust, between that and I'll say moisture in general, it too was not a good place to store hay. I did 400 bales of nice 2nd cut, with lots of clover, even the regular hay guy said that is nice stuff. They put a few thousand in there, with room on top, I brought up an elevator and put all that nice 2nd cut up high on top. I still lost some of that and it was dry from the field, I baled it and stacked it twice, you could tell, the up side on bales on top were dusting, molding, only on that side, with the work I put into delivering this, very frustrating indeed. Knowing better than to even try to salvage any questionable bale, with what could be lethal to a horse, I did put it aside and used it for mulch when I replanted a small pasture, + the garden, no weed seed in it, so all was not lost. Frustrating enough to get that nice hay into a wagon and off the field only to have that happen. No safe place to store larger quantities without significant loss, and my biggest problem, which was if any of it got past hired help, whom was educated in detail about it, horses are fussy, good chance they won't eat it, but that mold dust is not so good either. The only time we could store it is when mold can't grow, like now, bitter cold. When we had horses here, barns had good roof's hay mow above the stall areas, never recall this problem ever, inspecting and sorting through compromised hay. It also made a lot of extra work.
That's a good solution, I have re-directed water and protected that vapor condensation away from stacks of hay from the underside of the roof. The stack does make it easy to do that, you are right up close to the underside of the roof.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Harvestin Corn in Southern Wisconsin: The Early Years - by Pat Browning. In this area of Wisconsin, most crops are raised to support livestock production or dairy herds in various forms. Corn products were harvested for grain, and for ensilage (we always just called it 'silage'). Silo Filling Time On dairy farms back in the 30's and into the first half of the 40's, making of corn silage was done with horses pulling a corn binder producing tied bundles of fresh, sweet-smelling corn plants, nice green leaves with ear; the
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
2022 John Deere 5045E, 4wd, front end loader and 3rd function with grapple. 120 hrs, 55k new, must sell
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.