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hay alternative

6K views 37 replies 23 participants last post by  bsms 
#1 ·
this drought has gotten me very concerned, I have spent a lot of time tracking down hay. I have enough to get in to the winter but not through the winter. Is there any thing else that can be used if we run out?
what's the deal with beat pulp & alf cubes..I have never used either. making me nervous & I am a planner so I would like to be prepared
 
#5 ·
You are right to be concerned and it's good to be a planner and thinking ahead:)

If you have room, someplace that is temperature controlled and where the mice can't chew through the bags (I use the spare bedroom and have two cats in the house:lol:, you might consider buying up timothy/alfalfa cubes, timothy pellets, etc.

You could soak them and feed them, in a feed pan, in addition to your hay BUT cut your hay back a little bit, therefore stretching the hay a little further.

You'd have to sit down and do the math on how much of a trade-off the cubes or pellets are to replace a portion of the "real hay" so they still get enough forage into them.

I feed soaked timothy pellets mixed in with the supplements; none of my horses are on grain but they all get a vit/min supplement and two get things for insulin resistance.

It's going to be a really rocky ride not only for livestock owners this winter but humans as well.

Anyone can Google "United States drought map" and get their eyes opened pretty wide on any number of hits.

We're in a massive drought which, in turn means huge crop losses which, in turn means, rising prices if there's much of anything to raise the price on:-(
 
#8 ·
heading to the feed store now to see what they carry..gonna have to research how to combine but I am glad your kids did well
just bought 10 bales of alfalfa at $9/bale ..feed mill put a limit to prevent brokers from taking the lot...can get another 10 on Thursday...whew this is one not to procrastinate on..ready, set, go (trying to keep some sense of humor) and yes our fresh veggies/fruits are already so expensive..winter is going to be a bear..gulp!

if anyone else has any ideas..I'm listening :)
 
#6 ·
Hay last winter was terrible. $18 for a 100# bale... OUCH!
Luckily we're down to $12 for a 100# bale now, but if I were you I would stock up. Also invest in some Alfalfa Cubes, pellets, senior and beet pulp (not to be used as an alternative, but can replace up for 8lbs daily, I believe.) Stock up on as much feed as possible this way you always have a back up in case you run out. Maybe set up a plan now and start stocking up now so that you are prepared.
 
#7 ·
Last year when you paid $200 for a crappy round bale and were happy to get it, I was feeding Purina's Omolene 400 and rationing my hay. Omolene 400 is designed to be a 'complete feed' so they claim you don't have to feed hay, but I think that horses need some hay for their mental health if nothing else. So, I feed the 400 as their main diet and gave them hay at night and let them out on 'pasture' to eat the round bale for 4 hrs/day. They came through fat & sassy. This year I bought my small squares back in May and and my big rounds in June and got them for "ONLY" $85 for the big rounds. I buy the 400 by the pallet and I'm stocking up now. I buy 1.5 pallets everytime I buy feed and pretty soon I'll have enough to get me through winter, regardless of whether we have rain again or not, and at this point it's looking like not.
 
#9 ·
Figure out what you feed in a normal winter. What do you have squirreled away? how short are you? For every ton of hay you are short, you will need a ton of alfalfa or grass cubes or pellets, bp or other forage replacement. Doea your area grow barley? You can mix in barley straw, oat straw or hay, bagged chaffehay... Look are big bales and rounds.. Feed off the trailer if you can't move them. Start now to stretch the hay and make ot last until spring.
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#10 ·
Talk to your local farm supply store and see what they carry. If nothing else, 50 lb bags of alfalfa cubes store very well, and I fed them as a supplement to my not-so-good 2011 hay last winter.
I suggest that you start buying this NOW. My hay supplier is selling me 400 bales, 50-60-70 pound bales/alfalfa for $6.00/bale. Anybody who called after me is paying $8.00/bale, and it's expected to double by November.
IF you can get oat straw, your horses can eat that, too. A University of IL ag professor told me that his father would winter his Show Shires on this, so they can get enough nutrition from it. Hope this helps, and good luck! =D
 
#11 ·
Another thought--if you are able to mow, you could use a riding mower without a bagger, then sweep it up and feed that the next day, instead of feeding hay you have bought. We're expecting a few inches of rain today, and I'm feeding mine the next mowing, even though they are still staying heavy on whatever weeds are in their pastures. DON'T DO THIS IF YOU PUT PESTICIDES OR FERTILIZER ON YOUR LAWN!!! I do not, so I feed it.
 
#12 ·
Haunt Craigslist too!

I found someone who *wanted* to truck his hay elsewhere and charge a fortune for it but as it was about to rain and he had no way to get it out of the field and protected, he sold it at a reasonable price to anyone that wanted to come get it out of the field. My 11yr old drive the truck/trailer through the field as hubby grabbed them and I stacked them. We managed two trailer loads, had to tarp the 2nd one in my driveway though as the rain arrived!
 
#13 ·
Hi, I'm new to the forum..

I live in NW Arkansas I'm paying 80 dollars for 5x6 round bales and I'm using Tindle trails to stretch. I have 2 horses 14 and 15 years old and a new 6 month old buckskin. This drought is scary ,especially if you live ,breathe,love horses. I'm starting to stock pile and looking into hay from the NW area. It helps if you can get several friends together and invest in a semi load of good quality hay,of course do your home work and go with haulers that are well known. I'm praying for rain and this drought ends for all my equine buddies.
 
#14 ·
I've bought rained on hay before. It WILL work, BUT, you need to check EVERY BALE. Some of mine were too wet, so I had open those up to dry them. Some were just wet on one or two sides. I kept turning those, and dried them out that way. The reason people don't routinely buy hay this way is bc the wet hay starts decaying and the temperature inside the scrunched up grass gets well over 100 degrees F, and CAN start a fire.
 
#16 ·
Any farmers about who grow oats? You can feed oat straw as a hay stretcher. Horses love it, it provides needed roughage. You can feed about 1/4 of your usual hay ration. You might wish to get a small container of vitamins/minerals and add that a few times a week. To save money, while you are buying the oat straw, buy several hundred pounds of oats and switch your horse to that. Farmers sell oats much cheaper than the feed stores. They may have weed seeds but those are very high in protein so don't dismiss them. About a pound twice daily for fairly idle horses is plenty. They will find oats in the straw that the combine misses.
 
#17 ·
Personally, I fear that this winter will be far worse than last winter was as far as hay prices go. Last winter, hay was available from northern states and from Arkansas that had not had a drought - hay was plentiful in those regions last year. This year, the drought is more widespread, and areas that had plenty of hay last year don't have nearly as much this year.

Scary thought, huh?

Hopefully, we will get some rain this winter. Last fall, we planted some winter wheat and winter rye in the pasture as an experiment. It was just in a very small area, as we hadn't cleared out much. It came on like crazy, and we were able to stretch our hay out by letting the horses graze on it for a few hours every few days.

This fall, we will plant a MUCH larger area in hopes that we get some rain during the winter. Hopefully, that will let us get through the winter on what hay may be available.
 
#21 ·
where did you find winter seed? I would love to try some.
@ Lockwood & Corporal...great caution in feeding clippings from mowing..it is a high risk for founder

ugh..I've been so focused on stocking hay didn't think about grain taking a price hit...went up $3/50lbs over night :(
 
#18 ·
I second what Corporal mentioned above...

I’m not sure how popular this idea will be, but we have used it on ill horses who could not chew properly before and I’ve recently done it through hay pinches this year and last year.

Disclaimer: I’m organic and know exactly what is in my grass and pastures and don‘t use chemicals…. Don’t do this if you don’t know, or if you use chemicals.

Ok, I mow using one of several mowers- riding, push mower with bagger, or a brush hog/6’ cutter. . (depends on where I am mowing and how tall the grass is) and either it gets collected in the mower bag or I hand rake it up. I collect it using the front loader on the tractor or a huge wagon and move it to an open, airy area of my driveway that rarely gets used.
I spread it out thin to dry. If it isn’t really sunny that day, I’ll even turn it over halfway and fluff it through the drying process with a rake or pitch fork, just like a farmer does to a hay field.

Once it is VERY dry, I either bag it and put it up for storage/to feed later, or feed it as needed.

As I mentioned above I have used this for the horses, but also for my other farm animals and I do this for my garden and compost heaps. It works really well. Certainly time consuming…... but I have been able to supplement my horse hay with half clippings when needed as well as using for all of my forage needs for my alpacas and non-milking goats.

Happy mowing.
Start now as the grass has more nutritional value while it is still trying to grow/make it to seed. Once it seeds and the days really shorten the value isn't as high.
Oh yeah… another disclaimer… you kinda need a fair amount of grass to mow, which my grass seems to multiply like rabbits when we actually have rain.
 
#19 ·
Boy I can relate to worry. I set aside several hundred dollars and went to buy hay about a month ago at $6 a bale, being new to buying hay I wasn't really sure what to look for but the fellow selling it seemed nice so we paid and hauled away a flatbed trailer full.

A week later found out it was mostly straw, and has mold running all through it. :shock: I could have cried. Been trying to buy up what I can now, but the prices have gone way up and I don't have as much cash laying around right now.

Sometimes ya learn the heard way. How's that saying go? "Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, and the lesson afterwards." :?
 
#23 ·
we learned last year to ration our hay. We no longer roll a round bale out for 2 horses as they can go through it in a week and waste a lot of it. We unroll a portion twice a day and that is all they get. We are in the process of researching slow hay feeders and will be building one in the next few weeks. We will also add some alfalfa cubes to their daily feed once winter gets here. Our horses lost a little weight last winter but not much.
 
#24 ·
I have friends who unroll a round bale..they said it works great to prevent waste I haven't seen anyone use a slow feeder..please let me know what you find out!
My horses have never lost weight in the winter but I have always increased their hay as soon as the temp drops below 40degrees...not gonna have the liberty to do that this year so everyone is getting blanketed when it starts freezing
 
#27 ·
I count my flakes. I also rebuilt my shelter manger last November and there is very little waste. It's 18 ft. x 2 ft x 18" deep (from the rim) and holds about 2 bales. My horses are in good flesh, btw, and I always sweep up and feed any hay that drops from the flakes.
I just read this and thought I'd share the link. There are good ideas.

Hay Shortage from Horse&Rider | EquiSearch
 
#29 ·
I'm really stressing here, too. I have enough in the loft for January and February (roughly 120 bales), and enough on the ground and in three different trailers for September and October. I have yet to find anything for November, December, or the months in the spring before hay is cut.

The same hay that was sold for $3-3.50 last year is $10 this year, and that's if you can find it. Our farmers only got one cutting from the same fields they usually get two or three from. We're considering round bales, but my horses tear through those in no time and we have no room to store them. A very real possibility is traveling to one of our border states to bring it back on a flatbed, but most of the states around us were in drought for the growing season, too.

Of course, as I type this it's pouring rain outside, and has been for the past week. Too bad it couldn't have been like this in July!
 
#31 ·
Stressing here too. Only have about 35 square bales of hay left and two hard keepers to keep fat as well as a foal that isn't even here yet! Round bales here are $115-$125 already and squares are $10-$12. Goes up a couple bucks every month. I think this winter is going to be tougher than the last too.
I need to stock up more it's just hard getting the extra funds together.
Should have bought more when the hay was cheap, but didn't have a storage area until now:/
 
#32 ·
For those of you facing feed shortages, invest in small mesh hay nets. Your hay will last longer and the horse will better process it it because he can't chew wads of hay. If you can find oat straw in good clean condition you can feed each animal a flake of that per day to replace a flake of hay. Horses need roughage and the oat straw will provide that. This isn't the best diet for a hard working horse but it is sufficient for casual riding. If you've been feeding supplements from a bag, consider switching to oats for the protein. The oats will cost half of bagged feed. Oats aren't the devil everyone makes them out to be. They are the only thing that can help heal hind gut ulcers that medications don't even touch. Feeding round bales is very wasteful. It is no cheaper than going with square bales. At least you can control how much they eat and there's very little waste if any.
 
#33 ·
Oats here cost almost as much as bagged feed. If by "supplements from a bag" mean stuff like Purina Strategy. I think oats are around $17 a bag, and Strategy around $21.

I actually switched to rolled barley because it provides more phosphorous (if memory serves me correct) and is more digestible than oats (I have oats sprouting in the manure when I feed it) so I figure they will digest the barley better than oats and get more use out of it.

The reason I want a little phosphorous is because I am feeding straight alfalfa hay. I figure a little bit of barley is good to help balance the high calcium content. They only get maybe 1/4 lb of barley. On the mare I ride the most, I also give her 3-6 lbs of Strategy Healthy Edge a day depending on her exercise level.

Hay, well, it is $15.50 a bale here for alfalfa (100lb bales) and last winter it went over $20 a bale. I stocked up but what I can store still won't last an entire winter.

Living in Arizona I feed top dollar hay year round. :evil: Those of you with pasture consider yourselves blessed!
 
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