The Fat Ewe Farm and Bed and Breakfast
The Fat Ewe Farm and Moose Hills Inn
Organic Permaculture Farmin' for
the Lazy Ewes
  • The Fat Ewe Farm
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • The Fat Ewe Farm Store
  • Livestock Breeds (click here to see all the breeds)
    • Angora goats
    • Icelandic Sheep
    • Jacob sheep
    • Old English Southdown Babydoll Sheep >
      • Babydoll Sheep on the Fat Ewe Farm
  • Contact Us
    • Photo Gallery (click here for some awesome photos or watch the slideshow) >
      • Video Slide Show
    • Phone Number
    • Map
  • Sale Barn
  • Recipes From the Fat Ewe
    • Old Stuff
  • How Much Meat Do You Get?
  • Ukrainian Easter Eggs
  • Moose Hills Inn

Learning About Hay

11/19/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
The hay where the goats are was removed from their feeder. The stems are coarse and the goats, contrary to common belief, do not eat everything. They do not digest coarse material that well, so they pick the leaves from the grass and the stems are wasted.
Not all hay is the same. So I have been learning about hay and what it is. 

Farmers who grow hay usually plow up a field and then use a herbicide such as Round Up to kill the weeds and grass prior to planting the hay grasses that they desire. The most common mix in this area, which is for feeding cows over winter, is Timothy, Alfalfa and Brome, mostly done in three equal amounts. The seeds are driven into the ground with an air seed drill. Sometimes a chemcial fertilizer is used when the seedlings sprout. Occasionally, manure from cows is spread in the fall or spring first. 

Then the hay grows and hopefully will get to the stage where it can be cut. If it is left too long, the stems are coarse and the food value depletes. If it is cut too soon, the nutrition is not optimum. Timing is crucial, but then the weather has much to do with the curing process. If it rains on the cut hay, it leaches the goodness out and the hay is much less valuable than hay with no rain. If there is a lot of rain the hay has little food value left, can be subject to mould and is not worth much. 

The hay cut in a long fall season is a second cut and is usually the better of the two cuts. It is shorter and the stems are not developed so they are palatable. If the hay has been fertilized during initial growth and there has been sufficient rain, it is the most desireable hay, but again the weather makes a big difference. If the hay is too dry, the leaves of the alfalfa will fall off. If it is too moist, the hay will mould. It must reach a certain moisture level, which can be measured by a meter, before it can be baled. Usually it is cut then turned over once to ensure even drying. 

Then there is natural grass hay, that is hay that is not planted or has not been planted for quite a few years. There would be a variety of weeds in the hay, from dandelions and thistles to poplar saplings and wild roses. This is a very good hay for browsers like goats, which prefer to eat everything but grass. Many of the wild edibles have more food value and more minerals than the planted crops. But farmers don't like weeds and they tend not to allow this type of hay to grow. 

A farmer will also harvest grass in slough areas and ditches. Depending on the harvest, the hay can be great or terrible. Timing, again, is crucial. 

When ruminants are fed poor quality hay, the protein level is not adequate and the animals will lose weight. If they have enough variety of plants in the hay, they will do better and if the hay is optimum, premium hay, they will thrive. Finding that good hay is hard and when farmers have it, they do not want to part with it usually. Since I do not have equipment and machinery to plant or harvest hay, I must purchase it. 

So far this year, I have purchased hay from three different farmers and with two, some of the hay was good, and the rest is not. One of the farmers sold hay that the animals will not eat. It was expensive too, left too long in the field and harvested too dry so the nutrients are not present. I have found some good quality hay and am going to purchase it and sell some of the poor quality I was sold earlier, but not until March or so, when hay is hard to find. 

The sheep and goats are very fussy about their hay. They love the weeds and leaves and eat the grass, but not old grass with hard stems. More than 50% of the bad hay is wasted so cheap is not better in this case. Wasted hay means a lot of extra work, forking it both in, then out of the feeders and finally piling it to compost because the animals did not eat it. Good hay, on the other hand, is eaten and there is far less waste, far less work too, so it is worth the extra money. 

Now I know more about hay and how it is produced and why some is better than others, I have a better idea of how to shop for it. One thing though, the whole hay field may not be the same, as I have also discovered, so purchasing all of what is good at one time is best. Next year I will have so much more knowledge and be able to make better choices for feeding the animals at the Fat Ewe Farm. Whew!
1 Comment
Okanagan Arab Escorts link
10/15/2024 08:13:08 pm

Thanks for thee post

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Airstream Land Yacht 1964
    Alpacas
    Alpine Goats
    Ameraucana Chickens
    American Buff Geese
    Ancona Ducks
    Angora Goats
    Angora Goats
    Angora Rabbits.
    Babydoll Southdown Sheep
    Babydoll Southdown Sheep
    Bed And Breakfast
    Berkshire Pigs
    Blue Faced Leicester Sheep
    Blue Swedish Ducks
    Boer Goats
    Border Collie
    Border Collie
    Bronze Turkey Standard
    Bronze Turkey (Standard)
    Canadian Horses
    Canadian Horses
    Cats
    Chickens
    Cotswold Sheep
    Crafts And Hobbies
    Cream Legbar Chickens
    Dorset Sheep
    Ducks
    Embden Geese
    E'st A Laine Merino Sheep
    Farm Life
    Farm Life
    Farm Store
    Finnsheep
    Flemish Giant Rabbit
    Flowers
    French Lop Rabbit
    Galloway Cattles
    Gardening
    Gotland Sheep
    Guinea Fowl
    Herbs
    Holstein Steer
    Icelandic Sheep
    Jacob Sheep
    Japanese Bantam Chickens
    Jersey Cow
    Kahaki Campbell Ducks
    Karakul Sheep
    Kiko Goats
    Kilo Highland Cows
    Light Sussex Chicken
    Livestock Guardian Dogs
    Livestock Guardian Dogs
    Maremma Sheepdogs
    Maremma Sheepdogs
    Meishan Pigs
    Miniature Nigerian Dwarf Goats
    Moose Hills Inn
    Muscovy Ducks
    Norwegian Red Dairy Cow
    Nubian Goats
    Nygora Goat
    Ossabaw Hogs
    Partidge Chantecler Chickens
    Pekin Ducks
    Permaculture
    Pied Guinea Fowl
    Polish/Ameraucana Bantam Cross Chickens
    Polled Dorset Sheep
    Potbelly Pigs
    Pygmy Goats
    Recipes
    Rigit Galloway Cows.
    Romanov Sheep
    Romney Sheep
    Rouen Ducks
    Saddleback Pomeranican Geese
    Saxony Ducks
    Sebastopol Geese
    Sheep And Goats
    Shetland Sheep
    Silver Spangled Hamburg Chicken
    Soap And Hand Made Cosmetics
    Standard Jack Donkey
    Sustainability
    Swiss Blackneck Goats
    The Llamas
    The Llamas
    Toulouse Geese
    Tunis Sheep
    White Chantecler Chickens
    White Danish Geese
    Wool

    Author

    Fluffy writes daily about the experiences on the farm and with the bed and breakfast patrons. 

    Archives

    October 2020
    September 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    view old blog site

    RSS Feed

Contact Us
Home

The Fat Ewe Farm 

All text and photos are the sole property of The Fat Ewe Farm  and may not be used without written permission.