What to do with rained on hay?

[mysaygrace]

I'm hoping to get some ideas as to what to do with 430 bales of hay we baled from our fields that my horses won't eat :no:. Unfortunately it rained on our first cutting & the horses want nothing to do with it :( . We pay the neighbor $1.30 a bale to bale our fields and I was wondering if anyone has any ideas/suggestions on how to make some money on this hay so we don't take a total lost on this, we spent $559 to have this baled not to mention we pay teenage boys $10/a wagon to help unload & stack the bales then take them out for a nice dinner. I'm probably going to have to suck it up and count it as a lost but I'm sure others have encountered this problem too and wondered if they've been able to "make lemonade from lemons" so to speak. Thank you for your time, Lisa

P.S. I'm just praying we don't lose the second cutting too. And I just gave away 85 bales to a friend in need, guess it didn't pay to be nice, just kidding!

[MunchkinsMom]

I would try to sell it as "mulch" hay, landscapers often need it when reseeding a lawn. Maybe take out an ad in Craigslist or something.

[kmp2707]

I know the feeling. We just lost 18 acres worth of good hay to pop up thunderstorms. It would have been 1500+ bales:no: Fortunately it wasn't baled yet and we borrowed a chopper to chop it back onto the field.

What we have done in the past with crap/rained on hay is give it to a local farmer friend of ours (for cows/steer) and in trade we pretty much can borrow any of his equipment that we need (as in the chopper used recently).

Not sure if this is any help, but maybe try to barter with someone that would be able to use it for something you need.

[JoZ]

'Round here, we find cows to give it to. I'm talking smaller quantities (up to 750 lbs. which is about $80 worth)... if I had a larger quantity I'd try to sell it, again for cows.

[Nes]

I would try the cows as well.

I'm a little suprised your horses are being that picky, is some of it a little moldy maybe? Other then a little dust it should be ok, just feed it outside and tell the princess to get off their high hooves! :D

GL

[bludejavu]

Landscapers can use it if you contact some of them, or put it on Craigslist as landscaping/mulch hay. It usually sells around here for $1.00 to $1.50/bale.

[shakeytails]

Or you buy a couple of steers and feed that hay.... value added!

With our yucky hay, I just just throw it out to the mare herd in the winter (they don't get/need hay in the summer) and let them pick through it, or if it's really bad, I throw it in one of the ditches to slow erosion. I don't have the right set-up for a couple of cows now, or I'd get a couple to feed and put in the freezer. When I did have a small herd of cattle, they were pastured with the horses and they'd eat any hay that the horses wouldn't. The cows would eat around the horse poop piles, and the horses would eat around the cow poop. It worked out great.

[greysandbays]

If you can find out who supplies mulch hay to your state highway department, they might buy it to resell. At one time (in this area), the state was paying more for mulch hay than "good hay" was selling for.

[Equibrit]

Sell it to somebody who seeds/hydroseeds grass. try putting it on here; http://www.hayexchange.com/

[kookicat]

Random question- Is it safe to feed hay that's been rained on? Vet says no, trainer says yes... I'm not sure who to believe.

(I'm very lucky because I have a great big hay barn where all of mine is stored. :) )

[harveyhorses]

From my expierience if it is just wet, no problem, but bales rarely 'dry' inside without molding. Moldy hay=bad, not just breathing the mold dust, but they would be eating mold. If they would eat it at all. I guess it would depend on how much it got rained on, just damp on the outside, maybe get awy with it, soaked to the center not so much.
Just my .02. or maybe .002

[Tamara in TN]

Random question- Is it safe to feed hay that's been rained on? Vet says no, trainer says yes... I'm not sure who to believe.

)

the key to rained on hay in the field is, that once it is made wet, it must then be made dry again...thru tedders and re raking and then baling...

it is possible to do this as a salvage only operation to think about the grass underneath the now rained on windrows...your volume loss is nearly 30% and the nutrition value makes the retail next to nil...so you hope it pays the fuel...


best

[JoZ]

Random question- Is it safe to feed hay that's been rained on? Vet says no, trainer says yes... I'm not sure who to believe.

It depends on what you mean by "rained on". The OP said it rained on her first cutting, which I took to mean that it was lying in the field to dry, and... didn't. And that it was made into bales in its damp or wet state. That is no good. If it is damp inside when it is baled, it will mold inside. It is also a big fire hazard. When our landlord has hay like this he will OPEN THE BALES and strew it around the cow pens.

On the other hand -- I have had bales that are perfectly dry get rained on or even sit in standing water. If the bales are packed tightly enough, only the exterior will get wet. This could cause mold on the outside -- or, if the weather clears up quickly and the bales have air circulation -- the outsides might dry out again just fine.

I get 750-lb rectangular bales and sometimes will have to remove the bottom 1/4 or 1/3 of the flakes if they have been sitting in water at the storage barn (out of my control). But the remaining hay is fine and there is no "inside mold".

[camohn]

can't help you with the money thing......as some folks have noted a big issue is HOW wet the hay got....sprinkled on or irrevocably ruined and musty/moldy.
Luckily we have not had too much rained on to dispose of....was giveaway for us...
We gave it to a farmer with dry cows (they are fussy what they feed the milkers/not so much the dry cows) and a local guy the had rodeo steer.We HAVE salvaged rained on hay that didn;t get very wet and air dried/came out OK in the end....only works if you have minimal rain followed by hot and sunny weather though.

[TrueColours]

We had about 30-35 round bales that the idiot that baled for us last year decided to leave in OUR fields (as per our agreement - this was HIS hay and not mine!) and despite 20-30-40 phone calls all last fall, winter and spring to come and get the damned things, they sat there and rotted and stunk

So - bingo! Came across a bison rancher just up the road. He was thrilled to get them. Came to pick them up and brought us some bison burgers and sausages in trade. I was thrilled and so was he

Win/win for both of us