The sight of good quality hay is a gorgeous thing. It is green, dry and well packed. It is strong but will burst open only when asked. It is a thing of beauty.
The smell of hay is difficult to described. Freshly bales hay has a sweet but earthy smell. It is one of the best smells I know.
The sound of hay is of solid thunks when it hits the floor or a dry crinkly sounds when it is grabbed. But the prominent sounds with putting up hay is the clattering and whining of our ancient hay elevator struggling to move the bales.
The feel of hay is the surprisingly sharp cut edges of the dried grass. I have learned that no matter how hot it is, to wear thick jeans, long sleeves, and leather gloves, but I still get all scratched up.
Then there’s the taste of hay. I personally do not like it, but the critters sure do. It must become sweeter when it is dried, because they prefer it to lush fresh grass in the pasture. The sheep approve of this year’s hay crop.
And the donkeys do too.
We need to get hay, too! Not sure where, looking into that this year. Don’t want to spend a fortune, so that is the hard part.
Now is the time but prices have gone up. We were only able to get 8 tons so need at least 6 more. But that gives us a little time to save our pennies.
It is the best feeling ever to get the barn full of hay!
I agree. Unfortunately we are not full yet so there will be some anxiety until we get another 6 tons in our barn. Then I will feel like we can make it through another winter.
John talked to his “hay guy” last week and he is holding one of his fields for us – likely about 120 bales – he holds it in his barn and John gets 10 bales (all we have storage room for) every couple of weeks. Kathy in Arizona is paying $20+ a bale – we are very lucky up here!
I know what you mean about mean chickens – they can really be brutal – I have liked the temperament of our Americaunas – and they live a long time.
Good work on your farmer’s market day 🙂 Take care – T.
That is great that you have your hay stored for you. We are paying $200 per ton for the first time, but Tom’s idea is we can drive it down to Arizona and make a profit of it!
I may add Americaunas on the list of chicks for next time. The ones I have had in the past have been mellow.
Thanks about the market. We went again yesterday, and both days I sold some roving. And I have spun quite a bit as well. So a win-win, I get paid to spin (not really there’s a lot of work and expenses in the products we are selling but it sure feels good to get a little money back!).
We paid $5/bale for ours, and it looks to be really nice stuff. The guy we got it from said he still had some other fields to do (that was last weekend). I’ll email you his name and #.
Thanks Denise!