Hay?

S

sageadvice

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LAST EDITED ON Aug-11-15 AT 09:59AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Aug-11-15 AT 09:57?AM (MST)

Hay was a big part of my life in my younger years. My last two summers in high school and first two of college, i used skills acquired on our family ranch to get hired out to a hard working professional hay hauler as his loader, the guy on the semi and pull trailer stacking the bales. We mostly moved alfalfa from the Tracy Ca area to dairies, wherever it was needed 424 bales at a time. Squeeze machines had yet to be invented.

What's a bale of hay going for these days? a ton? 3 wire bales? are the 12" hay hooks still the style? Any stories, funny stuff from your days stacking a few bales? thanks!

Joey


"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
No bales for me Sage, I had it easy. We had 12 acres of almonds that I had to knock by hand onto sheets, then we shoved them into burlap sacks and took them to the hauler. It was a lot better in high school, gave me something to do between the 3 a days in football practice.
 
Paid $4/bale this summer for good grass hay. It's finally at and under $100/ton around here with all the rain we had this spring. 4 yrs ago in the heart of our drought I watched a fool pay $600/ton at auction. I don't think math was her strong point. Course then every hay farmer thought they should get $600 as well, jacked up our market. I'm sure it's much higher in yer neck of the woods with the drought yer dealin with.
 
Hay is waaaaayyyyy down.. Top dollar for milk cow hay is $160 ton. Alfalfa sudan mix can be had for $110 ton delivered.

Teff grass is high at $300 ton......horse guys are rich though......
 
100# sacks of potatoes for me. Now folks put the potatoes in a huge insulated and humidity controlled building, then use a skidsteer to put them in a hopper which dumps them in a reefer van and off to market.
 
Thanks for the replies guys!

Seems it was 2-3 years ago, a guy told me what a ton of alfalfa was going for and i couldn't believe it it was so high. Seems back in the early 70's when i was hauling all the time, good fine stem stuff was healthy under $100. @ ton and the average bale was about 140-150 pounds.

Early on my Grandfather would take me down the road to help a neighbor get his wheat hay in the barn. Those bales averaged 175-180 pounds, or more, Grandpa said they were so heavy because the guy had them full of dirt clods. :)

Later on, i help my best friend as a driver for Livermore Feed and Farm Supply. I'd be driving someplace to hand stack i think it was 10-12 ton of different kinds of feed on the bobtail but once a week or so i'd have to get a load of alfalfa. The stack i took the 100 bale load was full of black widows. One day. i had unloaded the truck and stacked it up 6 or 7 high on the loading dock, a customer come out from inside and freaks out at the big blackie crawling up the front of my shirt. as it was, they didn't bother me but now...

I shot my Calif Antelope that i drew a few years ago off a hay bale. Was a great rest. :)

Joey


"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
I've taken 4 bales (alfalfa) and 4 sacks of "all in one" to my honey hole every other friday..and toss them next to the salt licks and pile of apples..
must have put 40 pounds on them Bucks and Bears are looking pretty plump
jester
 
jester, I"M TELLIN!!!!!!!!:)

Eel

Guns are like parachutes. If you need one and don't have one you probably will never need one again.
 
I wonder how many Bales of SMACKDADDY Type of Hay SMACKDADDY has Consumed in his Day?




Go Ahead!

Make Me take it down!

9001hank2.jpg
 
eel. he sure likes to get people thinking that he's a poaching sob doesn't he. i know fer fact that at least 1 cali warden reads here daily.

on the ranch, we tried to make barley most years and always harvested at least enough of the best for future seed, maybe a little trading, and chicken feed. on the best years, perfect timing on the needed rain storms because we didn't irrigate, it could take a week to harvest the different fields but if the barley was poor, not so good heads and individual kernels, we'd get out the wheel tractors with the long side blades and cut it while high in sugar and still green. we had more hay years than good barley years. hay years took way longer, were less profit, and were a lot more work. the family got me to helping with the haying when i was very young and i always did like it even on the hottest days.

if we did have lots of barley to harvest, the harvester just takes the grain heads. after, we go in with the blades again and cut the stalks off close to the ground similar to haying but the heads are already gone. This byproduct we then baled up and sold as straw to the race tracks every year. I liked straw because the bales felt like they didn't weigh anything, easy to handle.

while at the feed store, i once won a bet that i couldn't take a 150 pound bale of alfalfa over my head and throw it up on a 13 foot high roof to stay there. funny how some take pride in the darnedest things but i was born country, still am.

Joey




"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
pictures to follow....
(nothing wrong or illegal about what am doing sage..) just putting some fat on the critters.. it will be 30 days gone by opening day!!
although the guzzlers will still be pleasantly full.. i think i pay 13 bucks a bale of alfalfa....
jester
 
Joey,
My hunting buddy is in the loading of trucks with hay and alfalfa etc. He has been loading by hand and squeeze for over 40 years and still plugging along. I will be talking with him in a day or two and will ask him what the cost is around his area, northern part of Sac Valley out of Woodland.
During the winters he drives truck and hauls to Oregon and Nev plus southern CA.

Brian
http://i44.tinypic.com/es7x8z.jpg[/IMG]
 
That would be great Kilo. My old boss is still running hay trucks out of the central valley, Creedon trucking.

I didn't look much because there just wasn't time but i liked loading nice straight clean looking loads with no bales sticking out or leaning at all.

Joey


"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
Our first and third cuttings usually go from central nv to Modesto or Turlock. Sold first for 220 a ton. Selling second cutting horse hay for 200 a ton. The timothy here is what brings the big bucks. It's going for 350 a ton, mostly goes back east to the tracks or over seas.
 
Thanks nvthrt! What is Timothy? Seems i've heard of it but don't know what kind of hay that is.

Feeding cattle in the winter. My Grandpa never let his sections get too down in feed so the cattle always had plenty to eat but he'd still feed the cattle every day weather permitting. We'd load up 5-6 bales from the barn and i'd fork out charges from the back of the truck while gramps would drive in granny gear around a big circle. Some of the cows would run to each charge as it hit the ground , smell it, then run to the next charge on the ground as if there was something better in it.

After all the hay was out, gramps would often turn off the truck and talk to me about which cow came from other cows and which cow threw the best calves. He knew all his cows and their offspring when they all just looked like a bunch of cattle to me.

Joey

"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
Timothy is High in Fiber & the Bunnies Like it!

Don't see it Grown around here much!




Go Ahead!

Make Me take it down!

9001hank2.jpg
 
We just bought 12 ton for our Remuda and are 2 strand bales of excellent Wyoming meadow hay and paid 125.00 a ton, the bales average 85-90 pounds..since I don't have nothing to do in the winter we feed in morning and evening....always buy some extra in case of bad winters but the last 3 winters have been pretty mild...usually don't start feeding until end of Oct or middle of November and then by end of April our meadows are growing again.
My brother and I made damn good money in the early 70's hauling hay for the local ranchers we got 15 cents a bale...5 for him 5 for me and 5 for our hay truck exspense...we tried to haul at least 1000 bales a day...
 
Here in the Gunnison Basin we plan on 150 to 160 days on feed.
Thanksgiving to May? figure each beating heart you winter will eat 2.7% of their body weight each day. Be ready to chop a lot of ice so they can drink evey day.

When I was 7 I had one job. One round on each land with a side delivery rake to keep the 32 foot dump rake out of the fences and ditches. Then I could run wild catching frogs and fish. Pre building muskrat and mink sets on Tomichi Creek!

Then all the high school kids went to foot ball practice, Dad took a buck rake to the shop and welded a 6 inch bolt to the gas pedal and wired 6 inches of 4 by 4 to the clutch..My child hood was over.

We put up 1400 ton of "LOOSE" old school stacks with buck rakes dump rakes and a hydra fork for the next 30 years?

Gave up on the public land ranch gig and got a town job.
I now only have ground for 140 ton of small squares. I feed 60-65 ton of it peddle the rest. 2014 I sold it standing in the field for 55$ a ton. trying to find some one to put 70 ton up this year for 20$ a ton. If no takers I will leave it standing and turn the cows in. for 40 years I couldn't hunt in September because of a hay field.. Being in the woods in September is worth more then selling every straw for top $. I'd be mowing right now but it rained 3/10ths last night....
 
Timothy doesn't grow well in the arid intermountain west. Too much alkalinity and heat. The higher locations can grow it OK.
 
Thanks again guys!

Well i finally looked up Timothy hay and see that it's like a cattail. Hard for me to figure, doesn't seem like something that would be worth baling but i guess it high in this or that and some animals prefer or do good on the stuff so why not?

We used to have one field that several years in a row, we got a major crop of red oat hay from. Before it was cut, prettiest crop you'd want to see but once baled, it was just another unit to be shoved up to the barn's roof!

The barn above our ranch house held hay for the dozen or so horses that we used the most and any Cows that needed keeping a closer eye on. There was a nice older set of corrals and gates around and up against the barn, could be used to let animals feed in the well filled mangers on one side of the barn yet be able to turn the animals out to any of the several fields around it.

Somebody's birthday, big party at the Ranch as usual, getting on in the day, and grandpa told me to go up and feed the horses. A older cousin happened to come along with me. I rolled a bale over above the mangers, then used a hatchet to cut, bust thru the 3 wire bale and dish out the charges below us into the mangers. My cousin saw me use the hatchet and he wanted to try it. He liked it, thought it was neat the way they popped open like they did. Later on that day, he went back there alone and busted, cut open every wire on every bale that he could see or dig out. The next day was the first time i ever saw my Grandpa really, really pissed off and i told all i knew. That cousin of mine, on my Mom's side, was in hot water, should have known better, but i guess he had his fun. :)

Joey




"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
Joey...just talked with my buddy after he finished loading a few trucks with the squeeze.
Horse Hay.....$180-215 per TON 3 wire bales.
Cow Hay.......$140-180 same
A BALE IS AROUND $1.85 EACH

Like you he started loading at a young age using 12" hooks too.

You and Bob would get along really good IF you like to jabber along...LOL

Brian
http://i44.tinypic.com/es7x8z.jpg[/IMG]
 
Thanks Brian, good stuff. That must have been, average bale 185 pounds.

Talking about hay hooks, there are many different ones out there and once i started hauling with the Pro, we used nothing but the 12" long style. Some at the time, called them Okie hooks. I don't know but once a guy gets the nick-knack of using them, he doesn't want to go back to the much shorter shanked regular length hooks.

On the ranch, short hay hooks were all we had and we put those to good use. Grandpa's hook's were a nice piece of work and i wish i had them now. His had a leather guard fitted in on the T handles and it was also fastened up the shank. A guy could use them and the leather would provide protection from abrasions to the knuckles or fingers during use.

Joey


"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
>Joey...just talked with my buddy after
>he finished loading a few
>trucks with the squeeze.
>Horse Hay.....$180-215 per TON 3 wire
>bales.
>Cow Hay.......$140-180 same
>A BALE IS AROUND $1.85 EACH
>
>
>Like you he started loading at
>a young age using 12"
>hooks too.
>
>You and Bob would get along
>really good IF you like
>to jabber along...LOL
>
>Brian
>http://i44.tinypic.com/es7x8z.jpg[/IMG]

Hay kilo!:D (Get it?'Hay':D)

Can you get me some of them 1.85 Bales of Hay to go with them 90,000 Mile Tires?:D


Go Ahead!

Make Me take it down!

9001hank2.jpg
 
...was thinking the same thing bess....lmao...I think kilo got his dot in the wrong place.....
 
Sorry to not get back soon enough! Seems like ya got it figured out sage. Its a high value crop in this valley, high tonnage cuttings. They only get two timothy cuttings here, first is the money crop and second is not worth as much and we get three alfalfa cuttings. Funny story bout picking up hay. The couple years ago I got a big baler, puts out 1500 pound bales. I run a couple bales through it the first night and jump out, walk back to the bale and try and pick it up like I've done millions of times with the 3 twines to see if they are heavy enough lol. Felt like a damn idiot lol old habits are hard to break.
 
found a pic to share...this is myself and our Hay hauling truck..we overloaded this one time because we didn't want to go into the ranchers field again for a half load...usually only stacked 5 bales high...my old 59 chevy in the background..this was 1974..we had an elevator that attached to the driver side of the truck and one person drove while the other stacked and then onloaded into a ranchers barn and stacked it inside...I was 190lbs then and all muscle...my brother weighed 200 and all muscle..we were pretty much bullet proof back then...HEHEHE
9210image7.jpg
 
Bessy....when my friend was quoting prices etc. he said 185 then I lost his signal. Hell maybe he started to say 185# bales I don't know. Who cares what it is per bale he gave me the prices per tonage, how big the bales are I don't know.

Brian
http://i44.tinypic.com/es7x8z.jpg[/IMG]
 
>Bessy....when my friend was quoting prices
>etc. he said 185 then
>I lost his signal.
>Hell maybe he started to
>say 185# bales I don't
>know. Who cares what
>it is per bale he
>gave me the prices per
>tonage, how big the bales
>are I don't know.
>
>Brian
>http://i44.tinypic.com/es7x8z.jpg[/IMG]


EASY kilo!

You know I'm Only RAZZIN You!:D





Go Ahead!

Make Me take it down!

9001hank2.jpg
 
longun, Nice Pic! Wish i had one to share!!

Yep, hauling that stuff and filling up barns will no doubt get a guy in top shape. i mixed hauling with long distance running and then putting on the miles hunting bucks.

Our ranch rig was very similar to yours though instead of a elevator, ours was called a jackrabbit. The driver, good bud at the time, would steer the truck so it would hit a trip on the machine. Once tripped, this claw like thing would grab on the far side of the bale and it then would rise according to the spin of the tire. The rabbit would raise the bale way up then let it go to roll off on the truck side.

When i was standing on the bed, i had to reach way up and get a hook in it to guide it as it dropped. When standing on 5 or 6 rows, i had to reach down and pull the last row up.

We too, each got a nickle a bale, 100 bales loaded then stacked up to the very roof of the barns got us each $5. Our best day was a 1000 bales. Summer of 1970 i bought my first deer rifle, Rem 700 in 25-06 w/ Redfield 6X widefield, all paid for a nickle at a time. :)

Joey

"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 

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