Re: Adding weight


Judie wrote:
> Eileen Morgan wrote:
> > On 16 Sep 2005 07:25:25 -0700, "Judie" <jmstanle2002@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >
> > >
> > >Eileen, I think that hay flakes really vary. When I was at my aunt's
> > >barn they had very small flakes but the ones we got in CA were huge.
> >
> > I bet you 1,000 that I feed more than 2x the amount of hay you do by
> > weight/volume.
> >
> > Eileen Morgan
> > The Mare's Nest
> > http://www.eimorgan.com
>
> Yes you are right! You feed 2x more because your bales weigh 1/2 mine.
> (or what I used to have).

Judie, I'm in CA, near Sacramento. Our bales typically weigh 90 to 110
pounds, alfalfa or rye grass or orchard grass. The alfalfa bales in
particular are very heavy - one flake is so heavy it's like a brick or
a stepping stone. I can toss it over the fence and when it hits the
ground it barely sheds fibers as it's so dense and tight... I will
feed 18 full size horses and 4 weanlings at most 4 bales per day (if
that's all they are eating, which isn't the case here since I feed a
hay pellet too - but if I did only feed hay, that's how much it would
be - I feed a bit over 1 bale once per day and hay pellets twice per
day now.)

Hearing what your barn manager feeds didn't surprise me or sound like
too little for what I'm used to. Without weighing flakes, there is no
way to know for sure.

In CA you basically have your "regular" bales, 90 to 110 pounds, three
strings, rectangular in shape, and then you have your dairy bales,
almost always alfalfa and huge, you need a forklift to move them and
they aren't for sale at the normal feed stores and I've never seen any
horse place using them, and that's it. I have never seen round bales
in this part of CA although I know they exist! I saw an ad once for
"small square" bales for "horse people" that weigh no more than 50
pounds each, but that was last summer and I haven't seen anything like
that before or since. I have several hay fields near me and most are
baled into the regular rectangular bales but about a fourth become the
large dairy bales.

If you buy regular bales at the feed store and they weigh less than 90
pounds each, they will disclose that to you, apologetically, and charge
less. It is very rare though. I pay between $9 and $11 per bale for
rye grass, orchard grass, or alfalfa, and grassy alfalfa is usually $12
per bale. This is from a hay dealer/feed store type place. Buying
from the farmer can be a bit cheaper but the hay usually sucks - dusty,
dry, shatters when you touch it, and full of eukalyptus (sp?) leaves or
corn stalks.

We just had our back 10 acres hayed, and we got 890 bales of mixed
grass hay. It's good for munching on but doesn't have much protein.
Now, these bales weigh a LOT less and I do wind up feeding 1 bale per
three horses once per day plus their hay pellets. If this was what I
was feeding exclusively, I can certainly see feeding many many more
bales per day, but that's because I can practically lift a whole bale
with my pinky finger! :-) This is not the case with the nice hay that
you can buy from the bigger hay dealers or feed stores.

cindi

.

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