[AT] Cattle farmers

[Indiana Robinson]

I wouldn't know why it wouldn't be OK. As a late first cutting it will
naturally be a little stemy but it will still be hay. I have seen beef
cattle in particular winter through on some remarkably rough hay. Much of
what is feedable is often just the perception by people of what is good
hay. I've seen people that would turn up their noses at decent hay on a
good hay year but in a shortage of hay year (or a tight wallet year) they
would feed thistles and scrub brush and be glad to get it. Son Scott once
had a girlfriend that kept her horses here. I knew money was tight so I
offered to give her some fairly decent hay I still had in the loft. She
turned it down saying that her primary horse was a show horse and he
couldn't eat that rough hay. I pointed over to the corner of the fence line
and said "He ate that damned gate"...  :-)
Our own little private herd of 7 useless but loved equine creatures (mostly
rescues) normally winter over just running about 65 acres of corn stalks
and soybean stubble and usually get fat on them. When the weather gets
really bad we do usually stick in a round bale, often something son Scott
didn't try to sell because it didn't tie right or was miss-shaped.
Most of the time if the world is encased in ice or deep snow we feed a few
alfalfa cubes. About a pound per horse, hand-fed like treats late in the
day seems to make a good difference in keeping them warm overnight. They
have shelter but seldom use it. A couple of semi-recent old and starved
rescues do get special feeding. They are getting pretty slick looking now.
To be on topic... Any time I take an old tractor out in the pastures they
all have to gather around it and study it carefully. Not sure why, none of
them know how to drive...


On Sun, Aug 29, 2021 at 11:52 PM Mike M <meulenms at gmx.com> wrote:

> Hi all, I have a question. I have a guy that bales my field, for his
> cattle. I just give it to him, because it saves me the trouble of brush
> hogging it, and it doesn't go to waste. It's  been so wet in SE
> Michigan, he hasn't been able to get on it it yet, He's only baled 40 of
> the 200 acres he normally bales. At this point of the year, is the hay
> even any good?
>
> Thanks,
> Mike M
>
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-- 
-- 

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com
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