Welcome to JKs Rough String Ranch

Welcome to the Rough String, and thanks for stoppin' by!! Grab a hot cup of coffee and sit a spell!
10/22/18 You will see a name change on the blog. Lots of things have changed in my life in the past few years, and I feel compelled to share my story.

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Friday, July 30, 2010

Hay...Can You Ever Have Too Much Hay?!?

~I'm not an evil woman, but if you cross
my family or friends, you'll have
to reckon with me.~
~Sandra Wood 1904~


I answer that hay question with "Usually not!"

So, we're stacking another load. This load goes in what we call "The Mustang Barn." The spoiled Quarter Horses get stalls at the Big Barn, and the tough, sturdy mustangs and burros get the run-in shed (which they prefer anyhow).

This is the second bale wagon of grass hay...yes, we buy grass hay...and raise and sell alfalfa hay. I don't like feeding straight alfalfa. I feed my QH half and half. The mustangs and burros get wayyyyy too fat and only get grass. 

Hard Workin' Man
My Man is in charge of loading and stacking...as usual.

Forks on the Lil' Tractor
Instead of the bucket, My Man tried the forks (which are made to pick up the mid-sized alfalfa bales)...it worked much better. Anything to make the job easier!! 

Lil' Tractor Go!
Stack them on in threes, and I drive to the barn.

Hay!!! I Love Hay!
Helpers!!! They all wanted to help of course. Rohan was the most persistent.

Enjoying the Sunset
They finally gave it up and enjoyed the sunset as the day cooled off.

I'll Scratch Yours if You Scratch Mine
Stetson and Catnip definitely enjoyed each others scratchin'.

Stack it to the Roof!
Stuffed and stacked to the roof! We still need to add about 2 more ton in this barn.

Waiting for the Baler
And our alfalfa...as of right now, it's still in the field just like this...waiting for enough moisture to bale.
It's been very hot, and we're lacking moisture here on the High Desert to get the alfalfa in the bale. Hopefully we'll get some tonight...time will tell...


12 comments:

  1. Love the names of your burros LOL that cracked me up!!

    I dont feed alfalfa to my horses, unless there is nothing else available. They are just to fat LOL

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  2. We did that sweaty job last week....and they call them dumb animals....I don't see them stacking hay in the barn;)

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  3. That's a lot of hay! And no, you can never have too much hay :)

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  4. Love the hay! We just recently stocked up too. But we don't have as large a storage space as you! But we still bought 200 bales. We will stock up again in August. I also feed grass hay. The only one to get Alfalfa around here is Chance, she only gets one flake at night, along with lots of grass hay.
    Stacking hay is a lot of hard work!
    The donkeys are so darn cute!

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  5. Wow that hay sure looks nice. We are having the opposite moisture problem, every time we go to bale there is just enough rain to make it too wet!

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  6. Should be good dew tonight, this weekend is calling for low of 38, definitely enough dew then, but you'll need a scarf and mittens.

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  7. We buy hay from the neighbor boy and this time he brought the small squares of grass hay on a bale wagon and put it right where we wanted it. Love those bale wagons. I didn't have to stack anything.

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  8. I stumbled up on your blog through "Living a Dream".

    I thought how odd... "Waiting for moisture to bale" here in the midwest we have to wait until the moisture is low enough to bale... so had never head of "waiting for moisture but I do understand it. Baling hay is an art and science that's for sure.

    and NO never too much hay!

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  9. I think Rohan was just eyeballing the fresh hay..:-)

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  10. I'm with CCC on this, I love bale wagons- don't have to handle the bales at all until feeding time.

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  11. Shirley & CCC~I wish my barns were tall enough that we could unload the bale wagon in the barn...then we wouldn't have to handle them. But, I much rather have my hay inside than outside under a tarp! We all just gotta do what we gotta do!

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  12. Someone told me years ago; that it wasn't good for a horse to be fed straight alfalfa. That there's too much "heat" in the flakes and it'll ruin a horse's stomach? They said it was better to feed grass hay with a small flake of alfalfa rather than just a big flake. I wonder if there's truth in that...your expertise here would be helpful.

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