This is rained on hay. The colour and nutrient are leached from the hay and though it is not mouldy, it is only a filler with poor protein and nutrition. I had 30 bales of this. The first 19 bales from the farmer were excellent hay for sheep and goats. Then they shipped me their poor quality rained on hay. The excuse was that they do not keep track of the hay in the field. I don't believe that. They know exactly which came from where. I do in my little farm.
This is the new expensive second cut hay. Although they eat it more readily, there are already two huge drawbacks. One is that is falls apart, fractures and the other is the small bits are deadly for fibre animals. Plus it is chemcially fertilized.
The wind caught the small bits and blew them over the animals. The worst nightmare for fibre …
Pygora goat fibre getting ruined fast. Yesterday I thought I had found an answer to the hay problem and fibre animals. But today, what I observed was hardly different than the previous days. There was not as much waste, but the stems were not eaten. The farmer assured me the animals would clean up every morsel because on second cut, fertilized hay, the stems were soft and easy to digest. That did not happen with the sheep and goats and most of the coarse stems were still there in the feeder and had to be taken out.
But a new problem was discovered with the premium second cut hay. The smalls, that is leaf bits, had fallen apart, fractured, and were at the bottom of the bale as I unraveled and loosened the hay. Feedlot farmers would not notice this of course, because the bales go into large grinder mixer machines and the farmer really does not see or handle the hay beyond that. The machines even take the bale twine off the bales nowl. The small bits are deadly to fibre animals, working their way down into the fleece and then become embedded and impossible to remove without many passes over the wool and extra work.
This is the dilemma that set me off to create the best feeding system to alleviate hay on the backs of the animals. Today there was wind and as I was loading feeders, the fine bits were blowing down on the animals, who of course, were directly under the feeder with their heads already stuck through, anticipating tasty hay.
I need to find a way to feed the animals with good quality hay that does not get into their fibres. I need to find good quality hay that is not falling apart. I need farmers who provide the same quality hay on the reorder, not send me their rained on crap. Is this impossible here? Booooo!
But a new problem was discovered with the premium second cut hay. The smalls, that is leaf bits, had fallen apart, fractured, and were at the bottom of the bale as I unraveled and loosened the hay. Feedlot farmers would not notice this of course, because the bales go into large grinder mixer machines and the farmer really does not see or handle the hay beyond that. The machines even take the bale twine off the bales nowl. The small bits are deadly to fibre animals, working their way down into the fleece and then become embedded and impossible to remove without many passes over the wool and extra work.
This is the dilemma that set me off to create the best feeding system to alleviate hay on the backs of the animals. Today there was wind and as I was loading feeders, the fine bits were blowing down on the animals, who of course, were directly under the feeder with their heads already stuck through, anticipating tasty hay.
I need to find a way to feed the animals with good quality hay that does not get into their fibres. I need to find good quality hay that is not falling apart. I need farmers who provide the same quality hay on the reorder, not send me their rained on crap. Is this impossible here? Booooo!
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