About half of this bale is moldy. It is an expensive bale, being $50 for 600 pounds of hay. I am not sure my neighbour realizes how bad this hay is. I took the photos to show him, but it would be better if he came over to see.
Part of winter watering is thick ice in the rubber buckets which must be hammered out daily. I have a 5 pound sledge hammer, not a big one, but big enough to crack the ice. It is quite a process to get it out of the buckets.
Hay this year was crazy expensive. Last year I paid $25 for bales this size, not from the neighbour. They were terrible though, just cut too late so the hay was mostly coarse stems. This year, the hay is moldy. That is the worst scenario for sheep and goats. Cows tend to tolerate a little mold and can seem to eat around it better, but the goats and sheep smell it and will not eat the hay. Then if they are hungry enough and do eat it, they can get quite sick and do poorly as a result.
I got 60 bales of this hay and every one I have opened has been the same, some worse than others. There is mold right through the rounds. As the hay was wound into the bale, for some reason the last 2 feet of a 3 foot bale must have exposed to dampness, the boon of stored grass. Immediately it begins to mold and then can heat up and compost even. I am peeling back a third to half of the bale at this point to find decent hay that has no mold, at least no visible mold.
I included a photo of a bucket of ice. Every day, the ice in the rubber buckets has to be hammered out. I have a sledge hammer, just a small one , and crack the ice all around and at the bottom, then pound until it is released. It takes time and is not in the least bit a fun activity. But, it has to be done. Sheep and goats do not like cold water, especially goats. They would prefer if I warmed the water to bath temperature in the winter!
And that is just another day on the farm, sigh.
I got 60 bales of this hay and every one I have opened has been the same, some worse than others. There is mold right through the rounds. As the hay was wound into the bale, for some reason the last 2 feet of a 3 foot bale must have exposed to dampness, the boon of stored grass. Immediately it begins to mold and then can heat up and compost even. I am peeling back a third to half of the bale at this point to find decent hay that has no mold, at least no visible mold.
I included a photo of a bucket of ice. Every day, the ice in the rubber buckets has to be hammered out. I have a sledge hammer, just a small one , and crack the ice all around and at the bottom, then pound until it is released. It takes time and is not in the least bit a fun activity. But, it has to be done. Sheep and goats do not like cold water, especially goats. They would prefer if I warmed the water to bath temperature in the winter!
And that is just another day on the farm, sigh.
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