What a waste!

[Shelly]

We have around 700 acres of hayland, at the most I'll be cutting 200. The rest will be left for a couple more weeks to see if it'll actually amount to anything. I have a brand new CIH WD1203 that is burning up fuel, while a dribble of hay is spilling out the back. Cattle guys around here are in a bad way, lots of cows will be sold off in the months to come. I feel real bad for them. All I need is enough hay to sell to pay for my new outfit. I think we'll be coming up a tad short.

[randiliana]

We literally just got started today. Looks like we will get enough hay for the cows. Don't think there will be any extra feed around this place this winter. I know a lot of people in the area are going to be hard pressed to make enough to get them through the winter. We got the rain, but it was too late to really make a good crop.

[Northern Rancher]

Heck you guys are in the promiseland-we got our first rain last week then it turned 90 with a wind-not looking good at all. Frustrating to rodeo in the mud all over western canada then come home to dust. We already sold off 100 cows but maybe that still wasn't enough-did you figure out who the blonde is yet Shelly lol.

[Shelly]

Too many pretty young blondes around here to narrow it down to just one. Give me a couple of hints.

[codymccue]

half my horse pasture is under water,but my hay fields are dryin up.like NR,got rain last week but then hot and windy...time to start cuttin what there is tho...
you must be gettin smoked out NR...its hazy here.

[Silver]

No rain here either. 1 1/4 inches since the snow left and hot hot hot. Looked at the oats the other day with the intention of spraying but it's obviously too dry for even the weeds. Grandpa allways said if you cant grow stink weed you're in trouble. I think he was right.
Alfalfa is budded but won't flower, it's just kinda shriveling up. Makes me wonder how many cows we'll have to sell this fall.

[Shelly]

I cut our best field yesterday, 80 acres. We might get 50-60 bales off of it.

[Kato]

Our hay doesn't look too bad, not as good as last year though with the slow start.

Our problems are much more expensive. Hubby went to hook up the mower conditioner yesterday and the pto wouldn't turn on the tractor. So it's off to get it checked out. They tell us it may just need an adjustment, or it may be a bigger problem. We hope for the best. Just one other problem though, he blew a big hole in the side wall of one of the rear tires as soon as he got there. Had to run the tractor as fast as he could to the tire shop.

They gave it a thumbs down on repair, and say it needs to be replaced. That's bad enough by itself, but the treads are pretty worn, and it seems that both back tires will have to go. OK, so we get two new back tires. Now we find out that they don't have them, and have to order them from the other side of Winnipeg. Good enough, order the (*&&^ things. They will be here in the morning they say. Then we get a call saying the shop that is shipping them sold them yesterday morning, so we either get no tires for a week or two, or we take a variety that we've never heard of before. Got no choice, gotta start haying, so we say OK give us the odd variety. This morning, gave them a call to see if the tractor has tires yet, and they tell us that the new ones didn't make it. They won't be here until tomorrow afternoon. By that time the mechanic will be closed and can't look at the pto! The tire shop does an emergency patch job on the tire so we can get the tractor to the mechanic, and away we go.

They are working on the tractor right now, but it needs to be split. Some kind of bushing or spline or something is worn out. It won't be ready until Monday afternoon, so we'll be lucky to have the repair done, the tires on, and the tractor home by Tuesday morning. At least it's only five miles to town!

In the meantime, Hubby has fired up the old Deutz with the manual air conditioning (aka windows ), and is going to cut hay.

Looks like we've spent about $4500.00 on haying and haven't even turned a wheel yet! Hopefully things go better next week.

[elwapo]

My neighbour just sold his grass hay at $130 per ton. They took it right behind the baler. Looks like the price of hay is going nowhere but up. I have 220 acres cut right now and should be baling in the next few days.

[George]

You guys seem to be where I was this time last year. This year we have already had about 50" of rain - - - I got thru my hay the first time but all but 1 field got rained on at least once. The alfalfa is coming back great but who knows of a mower I can pull with a boat.

I sold off about 2/3 of my cattle last year and intended to buy back but have not found any worth the money. I normally rotate cattle about every three days but they are still in the frist lot and most of the grass is up to their bellies. I'm going to move them and clip the weeds. I wish my pasture were level enough to hay but they are not. I guess with fescue over their backs they might be able to winter on it with a little protien supplement.

[kolanuraven]

[Blkbuckaroo]

Had intentions of selling some hay over the winter,now it looks like i'll keep it all back for myself.Like everywhere else,not a great grass year unless your on a pivot.I'm not,all dryland ground.Just glad to get anything at this juncture.Heard hay is selling right now for $250 a ton in the nearby valley.