Last Year's Hay

It is the middle of February and a week ago the cows ate all of the remaining inventory of hay.  I called the gentleman that sells us round bales and delivers it, but he happened to be offshore working.  He works 14 days out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.  We supplemented with the square bales of bermuda hay that we keep up in the loft.  When our hay man hit the beach, he called me with some bad news, "I'm completely out of the hay from this year that I have been selling you, Kyle."

He did have some good news, though.  He told me that he had started feeding his cows last year's hay.  Last year was a very good year for hay and he had some still stacked up in the back.  He said his cows were eating it and he'd sell it to me at a discount.  I asked him to bring me 8 round bales and he delivered them to the house and put one in the pasture.  With all the rain, I immediately covered the 7 bales with a billboard sign that we use as a tarpaulin.

The hay looked kind of "iffy," but once the weathered outer layer was removed, the inside of the bale was fresh and looked like it was baled yesterday.  The cows loved it and absolutely devoured the bale that was out in the pasture.  All's well that ends well.  There is only one little problem.  Since the round bales are last year's hay, they've settled and aren't round any more.  They are flat on the bottom and as a result, they won't roll.  I had Russ and Benjamin help me and we couldn't budge them.

But we're not quitters.  Though we can't roll the bale, we can unroll it and bring armfuls of hay to the cows.  That's exactly what we did.  Obviously this wouldn't work with a herd any bigger than ours, but with our little animal family, this will work.

They hay ring is only about 60 feet from where the hay is stacked, so we don't have far to carry it easily to them.  The cows are happy.  We are happy.

Daisy, Luna, and Rosie are thankful to have the all you can eat hay buffet open.  Clarabelle and the little bulls are still in the barn, but they'll all be here soon.

These 8 round (flattened) bales will last about 40 days.  We will purchase some square bales that a buddy has stored up to use after that to tide things over until the spring grasses come in.