[jmbnsyd]

I recently bought 30 bales of Teff Hay from a local farmer (maryland). I went and picked up 2 bales and brought it home to make sure my picky guy liked it before i bought a bigger load. The bales were green, nice smelling and he loved it. Hay was being stored in a tractor trailer and they had a fan running 24/7. I decided to go back and purchase more. The fan was no longer running in the trailer, but hay appeared the same.

I just opened the first bale and it was extremely hot and moist and had a smell. This bale was sitting on the ground. As soon as i get home today I am going to open up a couple more and if i find this to be consistent, i am going to call the farmer. Is it unreasonable to expect to be able to return the hay with a full refund? Has anyone returned hay before? I thought i was ok since i sampled it...

[spacehorse]

My dad has had quite the time with getting hay fit this year. Making the hay has been difficult (to say the least!) and when he did make it, he was still taking a big risk as far as it getting rained on, or not getting dry before he needed to get it up in fear of rain.

He has gladly taken back what was bad, and replaced it. If you are dealing with someone reputable, I would think for sure they would want you happy and would not have a problem with taking it back, refunding you or replacing what you brought back.

We are in SE PA, so you MDers are dealing with basically the same conditions!

[greysandbays]

A long time ago, my dad made a hay deal on my behalf. He looked at the hay, OK'ed it, and handed over the money for it. When he went to pick up the first load, the guy had a crew right there to throw it on without even wanting my dad to get out of the truck.

Got the load home and although it had been stacked in the same place as when my dad looked at, it was NOT the same hay my dad had OK'd. He went to the seller to tell him we wanted no more of it and wanted a refund. The load we'd gotten we'd pay for since it wasn't worth handling twice to bring it back.

My current hay guy has specifically said if I find any bad bales to bring them back and he'll replace them. I don't bother though, because it's never anything more than a flake or two in the middle of the rare bale. It's easier to just throw those flakes out than rebundle the bale and have them laying around until another load is hauled. But if it was a widespread problem that he was unaware of when he send me the load, there would be no problem with him taking it back, and my next loads would come from a different part of the stack or out of a different barn.

[Tamara in TN]

I recently bought 30 bales of Teff Hay from a local farmer (maryland). Is it unreasonable to expect to be able to return the hay with a full refund? Has anyone returned hay before? I thought i was ok since i sampled it...

hay ruined from the inside out is the responsibility of the farmer...and teff is a bitch to dry...worse even than wheat hay...more farmers will learn their lessons about this stuff this year for sure

[Katy Watts]

ALWAYS ask when you are making the deal 'can I exchange bad bales, and leave behind the top and bottom bales if they are bad?'. Some here will say of course, and others intend you to take everything from top to bottom. There is not set answer around here. Lots hay growers do not want to mess with fussy horse people and would rather just sell to cattle ranchers.

[pinkme]

I would call the farmer. I am in Maryland and I know they had ALOT of rain when it was time to bale it this year. I know ALOT of farmers who lost hole cuttings b/c of the rain. Most though, would not purpousfully try to sell you bad hay and for reputation sake, would replace it (provided you havent had it long and you are storeing it correctly)