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Wow.. Thanks to everyone who replied to my post yesterday.  Everyone was to 
quote a famous President "feeling my pain".  So much support, encouragement and 
tips on how to make the hay better and what to do with it.  I think if some of 
you could, you would have come to Mo. to participate in a Royal A-- kicking! LOL

One thing I left out in my "poor me story" was that this man is well known in 
our horse community for custom baling and selling premium horse hay.
He is reasonable in his prices and ALWAYS has high quality hay.. Both Grass and 
Alfalfa.  I have bought hay from him for years before I had him bale my fields. 
I can swear that out of hundreds of bales that I might buy or have him cut 
that I will find only 1 bad moldy bale and never open up a bale that has what I 
call the "duty mold".  Never ever..  So he generally does a good job and is 
responsible.


OK I talked with Ray.. they hay guy last night.  I didn't yell or raise my 
voice.  I told him I was really worried about my hay and I reminded him at how 
surprised I was to find out he had cut the hay with a storm coming in.  I had 
talked to him as he was on my road, after he had cut the hay.
He was very apologetic and said that he had had an open afternoon and that his 
computer at home was down and he called his daughter who told him it wasn't 
going to rain until Wed.  I told him I had been watching the weather and I sure 
didn't know what website told her that.  He said well, she must have made a 
mistake.  

I was out riding that day, the sky was clear with nice fluffy clouds.  The rain 
came in from the north and the sky didn't cloud up until the storm started 
building which was almost 9 pm. So it wasn't like it looked like rain all day.
Rarely will we get a storm out of the north, and this one nearly missed us.. 
But it did find me and my hay!

When I talked to Ray he said he had a Tedder rake and he planned to come back 
on Thursday and use that rake.  He explained that it would fluff the hay and 
help it dry.  He didn't feel like the hay was ruined, unless we get more rain.. 
(possibility of more rain tonight and tomorrow, stay tuned)
He isn't planning on baling until Sat or Sunday. I think that's what he said.  
I said if it's ruined for the horses we could put it into round bales and I can 
sell it for cattle. He said he could do that but he didn't think we wouldn't 
need to unless it rains again.. like I said stay tuned!

Also, he custom bales at so much a bale.. so if we can bale it into round bales 
and I plan to sell it, I can make enough to pay him and have a little bit in my 
pocket.
Last year he charged 1.35 for a square bale and I think maybe 10 or 11 for a 
big bale.  The square bales I don't even have to touch at that price.  He puts 
them in the barn stacked on pallets,  The big bales he puts in a row and last 
year he even came over and helped the buyer load the big bales.
So he's a good guy.. and I hate to be really angry at him.  I still am 
disappointed in his decision making, but am right now hopeful that this hay can 
some way be saved and I can get rid of it if need be.
I do have somewhere to another 10-15 acres that will be cut, so I'm not 
entirely out of hay if this has to go into round bales.
It's a good lesson for me in the hard work farmers have to do, at such a higher 
level, worrying about their crops and their yields, as that's what keep food on 
the table for their families.  

I'll let you know the "rest of the story" once the baling commences.

Thanks again so much for all the support! God love ya!






Columbia, Missouri
 NATRC Region 6
 AERC # 65 
 AERC Central Region
 OCER member


     

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