With the lack of rains in our area, we are finding it hard to locate good quality coastal bermuda hay for the horses and sheep.Our pastures have turned to dust and broomweeds so we know that we will need a lot of hay stored.
Bob was able to get a load of rounds brought in from east Texas. This was the first time we have ordered a semi truckload. Thankfully, I work for the manufacturer of material handling equipment. My boss let us move a new model out to the farm to lift the hay off the trailer. That is an MLT 735 model and it is specifically built to be an agricultural machine. It has a hay clamp attachment on it, but can also use a bucket, hay spear, silage facer, etc. to do work on dairy farms, feedlots and ranches. If anyone is interested I'd be glad to help you find a dealer in the U.S. (or world)!!!
It made things much easier, lifting two of the big round bales at a time.Later that day while taking some scrap metal to the recyclers, we found a field of square bales, freshly baled.
Bob was able to get 62 bales on the trailer which we happened to have with us. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time. While we were there several other people stopped to inquire about the hay. There will be a shortage this year.
We will need some more, but we feel much better with having this now stored.
I have my winter hay reserved, but not paid for yet, that will be the hurdle for me. I was afraid we would be short this year too, with all the rain we got thru the first part of the haying season, a lot of people lost cut hay to moisture, if its wet, it doesn't get baled. We took 4 lambs to the processor today, YAY! 4 less for me to feed :)
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