Bale Mistake?

Sure hope I didn’t make a mistake by buying these bales. The guy is delivering the bales tonight. I thought at the time he could deliver to mom and dad’s and we’d just pick them up. But I guess the baler didn’t bale them right so some bales are pretty loose (how many times can I say bale in a sentence?)

So now he’s hauling the bales 40 miles down to us. I’m only paying $2.50 a bale since he had problems with the strings. (Is that right, strings?) And the bales should only be moved once and that’s off the trailer and into someone’s barn. The guy did mention maybe paying for some fuel. I’m a little irritated. That wasn’t part of the ad and I hadn’t figured that into the cost.

And about three hours later, I saw an ad for hay bales out of a pasture/field for $3 and that it would be cut later this week if the weather held. I need the hay NOW but I could have scrounged around for a little bit and maybe gotten better hay. Instead I’m getting ditch grass. So I’m a bit nervous. I thought I learned my lesson last time buying hay sight unseen. I’m pretty picky about my hay quality. I’m also spooked about damp hay, ditch hay, and mold.

I guess if it’s crap hay, I can contact the other person (who will put up about 1200 bales) and sell the other stuff at Kramers. I just need something to get me through the summer with Maverick. I don’t want Maverick on pasture because I’ll never work him then. If he’s near the house, I’ll feel guilty for not working him and go out and mess with him. If he’s in the pasture, not a chance I’ll do anything.

So the hay guy is coming tonight about 6-6:30pm. I got the hay shed ready last night for the bales. I also go the hay barn ready for the straw bales. I want to get the straw bales stacked soon so we can get the flatbed back. We’ve learned that if we don’t unload the trailer right away, it’ll never get unloaded.

Mike called our farmer friend yesterday too. Sounds like I’ll be able to get a few small squares of alfalfa too. He cut the alfalfa already (you can see it from my house). Unfortunately it’s rained the last four days and it’s supposed to rain more. I’m not sure if/when it’ll ever dry out. The alfalfa I bought from him last time was awesome. I hope this stuff is just as good. I don’t know if I’ll have any other horses on alfalfa this winter or not but I want to make sure that I have enough in case I take in an oldster that needs the alfalfa. If Bob and Queen keep up their weight I’ll keep them through another winter so I would currently have three to feed alfalfa. Otherwise, it’ll just be Babe. But if that’s the case, then I’ll HAVE to pick up an oldster for Babe (unless I put Brego in with Babe for the winter). It’s a long story and it makes sense in my head but I haven’t blogged about the possibility that my herd may be reduced due to age/health (of specific horses, not mine).

Mike also asked about borrowing a tractor with a three point on it from our farmer friend. The farmer friend has to do a bit of work on the tractor and then it’s ours for a very short time. So hopefully very soon, Mike and I will be going crazy doing a bunch of major fencing. We have a TON of work to do. I’m going to have to make a list of the materials we need and see if I have enough in my account to cover everything. The fencing around here has been going downhill but I’ve been able to piece things together. Unfortunately, with the number of pushy horses around here I have to do something QUICK before they break through what little fencing is still standing. And to top it off neither Maverick nor Brego respect fences. Dude is starting to push on some fence even though he’s surrounded by grass. I will never figure out the why horses eat grass on the OTHER side of the fence. I need to get the electric up and running soon in the big pasture too. There’s always some type of fencing to deal with.

I’m afraid I may not be making much sense. I think I better go before I confuse you more. I seem to be a bit scatter brained here this morning.