[Roxy]

With a lot of mouths to feed, and wondering if we will have a bad winter, it has been on my mind to start finding reasonably priced hay and haylage now.  Storing it is an issue, but the haylage can be kept outside which is a help.
Contacted our usual supplier, and he has a few big bales of hay, from last year.  Collected two yesterday on our big trailer, which will keep the goats going.  Going back for another two, and also some haylage.  He is quite a way from us, but having seen his fields, there are no weeds or ragwort, so I know its good hay.  And if its not right when opened, he will replace it, so cannot grumble.
Just wish I had more storage to keep it all in!!

[Moleskins]

I've been offered some small bales from last year but wasn't sure if it would be as good as hay made this year.
What do you all, or any of you for that matter, think?


Nearly forgot the ? then, getting paranoid about the punctuation and spelling.

[SallyintNorth]

"Over-year" hay is better for horses; in fact some say that you should never feed this year's hay to horses.

We've fed 2, 3 and 4-year old hay to sheep with no problems, and it has always been the case around here that in a good year you make as much hay as you can, and can store or sell; you may make less or none next year so it's always good to have enough over to give you a good start. 

I would estimate that about 1/4 of our winter feeding this year, of cattle and sheep, will be 2011 hay.  There may well be insufficient hay for the ponies (natives), so the Fells could be getting up to 2/3 straw, the Dales' 1/3.  We'll be mixing straw with this year's 'orrible wet silage, for the cattle, too. 

In terms of which is better, it depends on when it was made, how, what leaf, etc, and what it is for.  For feed value, I'd rather feed 2011 July hay (we had a real good spell at the end of July last year) than 2012 August hay. 

Cattle need better hay than sheep, for native ponies very poor hay is plenty good enough.  (For ponies, I want proper meadow grass - lots of timothy, etc - and not monoculture rye grass.)

[sabrina]

I have bought 20 round bales of last years hay from David my lovely farmer who looks after me every year with my straw and taking away the muck heap. Its the hay I bought from him last year so I know it is very good. The price, £15 due to my OH fixing his computer.

[princesspiggy]

i have bought in bulk after last yrs fiasco of losing a weekly supplier mid-winter with 20 hungry ponies to feed.
prices shud go up round here as less bales per acre due to the weather.