Why cut and bale hay and leave it to ruin

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Ritzyroo

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Maybe there is a simple answer as to why this and hopefully someone can explain to me as its so so annoying but driving out today I saw several hay fields in Eversley in Berkshire have been cut and baled (large round bales) but not been taken in off the field and its now raining alot this evening. Why when farmers/hay merchants are saying there will be a hay shortage again this winter, seeing us horse owners again paying over the odds for a bale of hay, why go to all the effort of cutting and baling it to let it sit on the field and be ruined.... or can it still be fed to cows as I know it wouldn't go for horse forage necessarily. plus the fact its now damp will mean it poses a fire risk if it was to be barn stored in the future. More annoyingly is that its the huge round bales so its not as if the likes of us can go and buy it direct off the field as it needs specialist lifting and transporting gear to move the stuff. I do hope there is a sensible reason for why farmers do this as it happens every year. It just seems a waste that forces more money out of already tightly pursed horse owners.........
 
Farmer's aren't there to provide for horse owners, they do so to suppliment their own businesses!

So I really don't think it's up to us to speculate on how and why they do things with THEIR hay!

They probably think we're foolish for not having decent paddock management plans which is why we need their hay most of the year anyway... :rolleyes:
 
I can answer for the Peak Park, because a farmer near me does it. It is because the farming subsidy for "meadow" is higher than for rougher land and to qualify as "meadow" it is required that he take a hay crop off it.
 
Serenity087 said:
Farmer's aren't there to provide for horse owners, they do so to suppliment their own businesses!

So I really don't think it's up to us to speculate on how and why they do things with THEIR hay!

They probably think we're foolish for not having decent paddock management plans which is why we need their hay most of the year anyway... :rolleyes:
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This really.

And a day of rain won't ruin a bale of hay. :rolleyes: If that was so we'd never have any in Northern Ireland!
 
I'll tell my supplier (who funnily enough is at Eversley) that you dont like him making big round bales that are economically more viable to him, and therefore cheaper to us.
I know what he will say though....it will along the lines of "get yourself some decent storage, and a trailer and YOU can buy my ridiculously cheap big bales of hay!"
 
hay is usually baled still a bit green so needs a couple of days to condition so cant be taken into a shed and stacked straight away. the bales you describe shed most of the water due to their shape and the netwrap that binds them. so in theory it would take a hell of a lot of rain to ruin bales past use.
 
Just another perspective:) 'If' the farmer had several fields cut. rolled and ready to bale,he may have forged ahead to bale as much as possible before the rain. Big bale hay left in a field on its side will (as nixxyz said), shed most of the rain and there will be very little wastage. If left on the ground ready to bale a large proportion of it, if not all, would be ruined by rain.
 
A field where I walk the dogs had a dozen or so large round bales which were baled last summer and left on the field. Every time I walked past I thought it was a waste as the hay had blackened and I thought they were ruined. During the winter there were a load of sheep on the field and they were eating the hay and surprisingly it was okay under the first couple of inches or so so it was obviously the farmer's intention to leave the hay for his livestock.
 
We have no facilities to store our hay and have it made into large rounds which we row up and leave. There is very little spoilage as the outer of the bale acts like thatch to shed water. It's certainly better stored outside than in one local forage merchant's barn where you sometimes have to remove a layer of encrusted pigeon and rat poo before you get to good hay.
 
One of the dangers of bringing in hay to early which has not been turned enough to dry it out completely before bailing it or is not completely dry is self-ignition. If they get put away in a barn and are all packed together they heat up and sweat and then set themselves alight.
 
Ritzyroo said:
More annoyingly is that its the huge round bales so its not as if the likes of us can go and buy it direct off the field as it needs specialist lifting and transporting gear to move the stuff. I do hope there is a sensible reason for why farmers do this as it happens every year. It just seems a waste that forces more money out of already tightly pursed horse owners.........
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Pretty much this! The vast majority of farmers use contractors for various bits and bobs now, so I would hazard a guess that the contractor can't get there/hasn't got there in time.
And you must remember that farmers are just selling us their by products, we are not usually top of an average farmers list.
 
nixxyz said:
hay is usually baled still a bit green so needs a couple of days to condition so cant be taken into a shed and stacked straight away. the bales you describe shed most of the water due to their shape and the netwrap that binds them. so in theory it would take a hell of a lot of rain to ruin bales past use.
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This.
 
Some farmers
Don't Supply horse people
I do believe They can however feed hay to cows that has been rained on
So maybe it's for cattle and not horses
 
As I said earlier but it seems to have been missed - unless you all have me on user ignore - the outer surface is arranged in the same way as thatch and sheds water. A thin outer crust develops but the hay inside will be fine. Provided it was properly baled in the first place there will be very little waste.

If you're all so concerned, how about ringing the farmer and asking for an off the field price. I can get two rounds in an 8 x 5 trailer by myself, so a horse trailer should take that easily. I have to admit it's much easier with two or three people though.

A little word of warning though. If you`re wanting to store them under cover and haven't got an airy space be very sure they are dry with a good airflow if you`re going to tarp them. Otherwise you'll spoil them more than leaving them out in the open on their sides.
 
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