Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Getting Hay....


Time to get Hay again. I buy hay every 2 weeks or so, I am spoiled because I live only a mile from the local dairy that is also my hay supplier. I went down this morning, but they were out of grass hay, but they told me that they would have a load in tonight around 6pm, and they did. I went over at 6:30 and he was parked here in front of the hay barns.

Here is their fairly new truck, they have had her for 4-5 years. Gary makes 2-3 trips a week with the big tailer and a pup. You can see one of the hay barns behind, there are 3 huge barns and a small one in the middle.


This is the main house where the Patriarch of the family lives, and his wife, there are 3 generations still running this farm.



Sorry I snapped this pic as I drove by, the upper most door opens and man this old barn has history, I have seen pictures of them haying with horses and taking loaded wagons full of hay up a long bridge/ramp into the barn! It is such a cool picture! This barn is directly across the road from the main house in the above picture and the ramp went from this door to about where the tractor is sitting in the previous picture, I would guess it was a couple hundred feet long!Can you
imagine growing up and playing in these barns full of straw and barn cats and the forts you could build! LOL LOL I think this barn has three stories and lots of bays, I havnt been in it myself, I have always wanted to take a tour though!
One for the bucket list!

Some of the girls napping in the heat.

And my load of Hay, grass/alfalfa about 90lb bales, $10.50 a bale this time. I bought 6 bales, that is enough to last about 2 weeks with my three girls.




And got most of them out of the truck, our old "farm" truck is full of garbage, getting ready to go to the dump, I hate hauling hay with a canopy on the truck!! it is a pain. With no canopy they just pick up 5 bales at a time and drop them in the bed, so much easier! But it doesnt help with the unloading LOL












From the back of the truck to here. All that loose hay on the right got fed tonight.






Easy had to come and see what was going on and tell me it was about dinner time! See that apple thing behind her, did anyone else try to give their horses these to play with? Mine ignored them until the treat molded and I had to throw them away, I still havnt taken them down LOL









Halfway there! I am so proud of myself, I think I can do it now! With all the kids gone now, I have to do all the work! It felt good to do it myself. Its been a long time.
About this time Meghan showed up and help move the last three bales. LOL








Last one. I forget how high up in the air this truck is, until you try to climb up on the tail gate, it hits me at just above waist level.












All unloaded, ready to make the mares happy for a couple weeks! It looks really similar to the last batch, probably from the same wholesaler, most all of their hay comes out of eastern Oregon. Well thats my hay getting trip!




7 comments:

  1. It must be that time of year when everyone is due for hay. I noticed that my hay farmer had made several trips with different loads past my house today. I should be due next week.

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  2. 90lb bales ! yeesh ,I whine about loading and stacking our 50 lb bales ! you are one tough cookie!

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  3. fernvalley, 90 lb.ers are light! usually we have to deal with the 3 string bales, they are @170lbs! We have to buy what he brings in, you should see my daughter whine when all they have in 3 stringers LOL. I dont pick them up any more we role them LOL that is another reason I only get a few at a time, I would love to have a barn full of this stuff!!

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  4. The hay is also a lot brighter green than it looks in these photos, the setting sun was washing everything out.

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  5. Yay for Hay!

    That old barn is so awesome. I'd love to go and explore it. The stories it could tell.
    I can't imagine trying to unload hay from a truck with a cap on it. Thank goodness they were jus the 2-string bales.
    I love the summertime because we can often get the 3-string bales...and they last longer. And right now they are only about $12.00 a bale. But I couldn't unload them now with my knee. Even my hubby and sons end up rolling them into the barn.

    ~Lisa

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  6. That is a good deal for that hay! Mine is 14.95 for similar hay/size bales, and has been as high as $22 in the winter. Right now I am mixing local grass hay too, it's around $7 a bale. The history of that old dairy barn is pretty cool! Oh, I gave my horse a treat ball a few months ago, he's almost gotten it gone. But my sister's mares would go through two a week if they let them. At $20 each, that would not be a good bargain!

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  7. Wow Pony Girl, hay is much more expensive up north! yeah the treat ball, Emma bats hers around and then gets pissed when it hits her LOL I cant believe none of them would try to lick them, I hung them like the instructions said, I guess I would have to put them where they can pin them against the wall.

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