[AT] New 8N/Now hay, coastal bermuda

[Indiana Robinson]

> My belief is that prairie hay is what horses and bison grazed on for
> thousands of years here in the plains.  If it is original prairie like
> mine is, then it has all the nutrients that the animal needs from the
> multitude of different types of grasses in the prairie..  I get one
> cutting a year, and bale it within 12-24 hours of cutting.  I mow the
> pasture down in September to prevent fires and leave about a 1ft strip
> between swaths to catch the snow when the wind blows..  So far it has
> proved effective...  I also get a lot of directions on how to drive a
> tractor when the local farmers see the strips of grass left!!!!  I do
> not have any prairie hay left at the end of the feeding season...
>
> Cecil in OKla

=============================


Hi Cecil:

When I say that we are "horse people" I just mean that we keep horses,
we are not part of the show or race horse culture and it has been a
lot of years since I was a Yuppie.   :-)
I call our horses "lap horses". One of my hay customers was originally
from KY and he refers to his horses as as "plain old Kentucky horses"
that don't even know how to be fussy about their hay. As you say, it
just seems like a farm should have horses.
If I can train them to drive double maybe I can use them to pull my
non-running old tractors around the farm. I could sit on the seat
making putt, putt, putt noises. Or I could feed them a lot of extra
oats and let them make the noises.   ;-)
-
I often leave an occasional strip standing in my small (about 12
acres) field of orchard grass/timothy hay just so it reseeds itself
better.
-
I have found that there is a reasonable market here (25 miles south
east of Indy) for good horse pastures which seem to rent for up to
about $50 an acre per month (almost 4 times what I get for grain land
rent per year) and some would be renters will come in and build
electric fence at their cost for the privilege. Some want multi-year
leases. Of course you need at least a run-in shed. That seems like it
may be a better way to sell hay... Also they make a ready market for
the hay for the winter that you might have from other fields.


-- 
"farmer"

"Good clean muck never hurt nobody!!!"
Morris Moulterd


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Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com