The hay consisted of sixty to seventy bales and one large round bale. None of the hay was covered from the elements and since last year it has been out in the rain and snow. Yeah... the hay quality wasn't the greatest. Some of it was black and/or moldy. But cattle aren't too picky and will go through the hay and eat some of it. Sometimes I've found they ate the hay I tossed aside when I thought they wouldn't eat it.
I disturbed plenty of mice. A number of fat mice ran both from the small bales and from the round bale when I worked on them. A number of baby mice I found in the hay did not survive as I am a mean ol' rancher.
The neighbors also had a round metal feeder they let me borrow.
The hay in the small bales used to be good hay until it got wet. The round bale naturally was more protected from the elements and pretty much only the top and the bottom were spoiled. But the original quality of the round bale's hay was not the best. But it was all free so I can't complain.
The round bale was far too large for me to move and I don't have a tractor. So using a hay pitchfork I tore and unraveled half the bale and tossed the now loose hay into the pickup for transport. The cattle ate some of the hay I tossed into the metal feeder so I got another pickup load. I ended up moving half the large bale and piled the hay high above the top of the feeder. This morning the hay level is down to the top of the feeder.
It was tricky getting the pickup in and out of the corral to unload the loose hay as I had to watch that the cattle didn't make a break for it as I quickly drove in and out of the corral. A second person to watch the gate would have been very helpful. But none of the cattle made a break for it. *whew!*
I had a pickup load of what I thought was really bad hay. I tossed it over the corral fence so it lay along the fence. If the cattle ate it, fine. If they used the hay to lay on, fine. The cattle did both. At least they picked through and ate some of the hay before laying on it.
And with the hay laying right next to the fence you'd think that would protect it from being walked on? Nope. A few cattle walked parallel to the fence when eating and walked on the hay.
It was a great day - finally. The temperature was in the mid 60s, the sky was mostly clear, and there was no wind. And the grass looked to be growing. I had my pickup's radio tuned to my favorite radio station while loading and unloading the hay. I was feeling good though by the end of the day I was tired. I slept 10 hours that night.
The cattle eat the hay but I feel guilty feeding it to them when I still have almost twenty bales of my good hay in the barn. I want the best for my 'girls'. But the cattle do seem content and this will finally get rid of this old hay. Whether or not it is my hay, I hate to see hay uncovered and unprotected from the elements and it bugged me every day to see my neighbor's hay unprotected.
1 comment:
That is a fabulous radio station. I'm so glad they stream on the internet. It's just a bummer that I can't get them in my car down here in my little dot on the map of Montana.
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